OurTeachingBlog

Tie-Dyed Easter Eggs (sort of)

Posted on April 18, 2014

On Wednesday, we chopped up silk ties and transferred their patterns to Easter eggs. One tie’s colours did not transfer for some unknown reason. I promised those kids (and the others with successfully tie-dyed eggs) that I would post the directions so that more eggs could be dyed at home if you have a chance. Here are the instructions:

Materials: vinegar, silk ties, cotton (t-shirt material works), string, a glass or enamel pot (I have used stainless steel and it worked too), vegetable oil*

Cut up silk ties or silk scarves into pieces big enough to easily cover the surface of the eggs. Cut up the cotton into pieces also large enough to completely cover the eggs

Wrap the silk around the egg so the egg is completely covered and so the darkest part of the silk is touching the egg shell. Now wrap the cotton tightly around the egg and silk to hold the silk in place. Use a long piece of string to anchor the material in place. When it is holding the material around so it doesn’t move, tie the string.

Add 3 tablespoons of vinegar to a pot of water and bring it to a boil. Place the eggs in the boiling water and keep them in the water (with at least a rolling boil) for 20 minutes.

Take the wrapped eggs out of the pot and let them cool in open air with the material still on them. Once they are cool, remove the wrappings and you should have a beautifully-decorated egg.

*Although the class did not do this, you can rub the eggs with vegetable oil to give them a shiny appearance.