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Prepare hardboiled eggs or blown-out eggs. Blown-out eggs take a bit more time to prepare but they last longer than hardboiled eggs. Pat the eggs dry to remove any moisture on the surface. |
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Decorate the egg with small stickers, smoothing them down especially along the edges. |
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If you prefer to have more creative rein on the stencil designs, you can draw and cut out your own images from sticker paper. Another option is to cut simple shapes and lines from masking tape or electrical tape. You can even use a pair of craft scissors to make rickrack stencils and other fancy-edged patterns. |
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With the stencils in place, the eggs are ready to be colored. You can either dye the eggs or paint them with acrylic paint:
a.) Painting the eggs
Use as many colors of acrylic paint as you like. Paint on dots and other little details. Once you're done painting, set the egg aside to dry.
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b.) Dying the eggs
Make an egg dye by mixing ¾ cup water, 1 tablespoon white vinegar, and about 10 drops of food coloring. Immerse the egg into the dye for at least 5 minutes. The longer it sits in the dye, the deeper the color will be. Remove the egg from the dye and allow it to air dry.
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Once the eggs are dry, you can peel off the sticker stencils or masking tape. |
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Whether you painted or dyed the eggs, the areas covered by the stickers or masking tape remain white, contrasting nicely with the brightly-painted or dyed eggs. |
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Masking tape is somewhat porous and if you used them, you will observe that some of the dye will seep through the tape. It does create a somewhat unique effect, but if you prefer to have clean white patterns, use electrical tape instead. |
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If you want to color in the white areas, you can immerse the dyed egg into a second color of dye. As with the first dipping, let the egg sit there for 5 minutes or more. The longer it remains in the dye, the darker the color will be. |
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Another important thing to note is that allowing more time in between dippings (or dying) allows for the color to set better. If you immediately proceeded to the second dipping like I did, the colors from the first dipping would be considerably washed off. The original deep magenta lines on this egg have turned into a bright pink shade. The good thing though is that the little veins or lines that seeped through the masking tape have been washed off as well. In the end, I'm quite pleased with how this egg turned out. |
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Come up with your own unique-looking stenciled eggs by experimenting with both shapes and colors. For more egg dying and decorating ideas, browse through our other tutorials:
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