“Tie” Dyeing Your Eggs

There are all kinds of ways to color or decorate Easter eggs.  The one we have for you today was the top Easter egg decorating segment of all time on the Martha Stewart show.  This method came from the great grandmother of one of Martha Stewarts staff members. The staff member learned it from her great aunt who in turn had learned it from her mother who brought it with her from her native Germany.  It is a fun project to do yourself and even better with your children or grandchildren, since the outcome feels like “magic” 🙂

To decorate these eggs you will need some silk ties, they must be 100% silk in order for the transfer to work.  I bought several ties from a local thrift store.  They were easy to find and very inexpensive.  Alternatively, if you happen to have some silk fabric in your cupboard you could use that as well, or an old silk shirt or blouse would also work well….anything as long as it is all silk.

Cut each tie open and remove the lining.  Then press each one flat.  Cut the tie into pieces large enough to fully surround an egg.  It helps to wet each piece of fabric before you wrap the egg in it.  Wrap the egg with the right side of the fabric against the egg.  Make it as tight as you can get it as it is the fabric laying against the egg that allows the pattern from the tie to be transferred unto the egg.  Tie the fabric off at the top and then wrap the egg with some string or yarn to help press the silk closely to the egg.

Wrap the whole thing in some white cotton and tie that off at the top as well.  This is to keep the dye from the tie from “bleeding” into the water and coloring any other eggs you are dying at the same time.  You can do as many eggs as will fit into your pan.   The pan must be a non aluminum pan, preferably an enameled one if you have it.  Add 4 cups of water and about 1/4 of white vinegar.  You can double this amount if you are doing a lot of eggs.  Bring the water to a boil and then simmer them for about 20 minutes.

This method will give you beautifully decorated hard boiled eggs. If you want to be able to keep the eggs and use them year after year, you can make holes in the ends of the eggs and blow out the contents.  We will show you how to do that here.

If you choose to blow out the eggs, you will need to use some plates to weight down your eggs when boiling them as they will be full of air once they are blown out, and they will float to the top of the water if you don’t weigh them down.

When the eggs have cooled down enough to handle, unwrap your egg “packages” and like magic they will have the print from the tie transferred to them.

Here is a short video made by the SALT project that will show you easily how this is done:

Note: You can reuse the silk fabric 3-4 times, though the pattern will become lighter after that.

When you have finished and the eggs are cool and dry, rub them with a small amount of vegetable oil on a paper towel to enhance the color and give them a bit of shine.  What a lovely centerpiece these will make on your Easter table, or as a gift for your hostess if you are invited to someone’s home this Easter.  Or, like I will do, you could do one for each guest you are expecting.   Using one egg for each of your guests, write their name on that egg and have them as place cards on your table.

Spending time with you children or grandchildren doing a fun project or enjoying creating something lovely yourself, can only add to the love, joy and the richness and abundance of the season.

P.S. If you decide to try this project (and we hope you do), make sure you go and buy some ties from a thrift store.  Don’t raid your husband or father’s closet or there won’t be love, joy and abundance in your home this Easter….instead there might be a lot of anger, frustration and general unhappiness!  We certainly DON’T want that 🙂