jillgoes: Spring Craft #2

With only 2 1/2 weeks left until Easter, it's time to think about EGGS. Easter eggs. I'm kinda bored right now at the thought of dying eggs using the same process we've done here for about the last 30 years. This year I wanted to try something new.

I'd seen pictures at various times of string eggs, and because I'm still gathering up the various components to create my awesome Easter/Spring mantle display, I decided to give these eggs a try. Last week while I visited daughter Lindsay down in Lancaster County, we spent a few pleasant hours making them together one afternoon while little Ellie napped. We had a lot of laughs as we compared eggs. Of course, she assured me that the quality of my eggs fell far short of her superior eggs.

Here's what you need for this project:

Several skeins of embroidery floss
Water balloons
Mod Podge Stiffy Fabric Stiffener (or other similar product)
Paper plate
Baker's twine
Twig tree

I started by cutting the threads into strips about 15 inches long. It will be messy once you start dipping them into the solution, so it's good to have them cut before that step. I found that one skein of embroidery floss covers about two eggs, if you don't mix colors. Next time I do this, I will experiment mixing colors on the eggs, and using several shades of one color on an egg.

Blow up enough water balloons into the size you want your eggs to be. For some reason, these little balloons were hard for us to blow up. Probably because they are meant to be filled with water, not our wind. Stretch them a lot first. You don't want to blow a gasket in this step.

Pour a large puddle of the Stiffy into a paper plate. You will be dipping the floss into this goop one strand at a time.

Now start to cover an egg. Drop one strand into the Stiffy. Push it around if needed to be sure it is completely soaked. Pick it up with one hand, using fingers of the other hand to slide off excess goop from the strand. Then start winding the strand around a balloon.

Continue applying strands until the balloon is as covered as you'd like it to be. You need to have enough so that it will hold its egg shape once the strands are dry and the balloon is popped.

We continued wrapping until we had used up all of our embroidery floss, and until our hands were so messy we couldn't imagine doing even one more egg. Place the wet eggs on a surface to dry where they won't ultimately stick. Waxed paper is a good choice. We left our eggs there to dry overnight.

You may remember that I advised earlier that one skein of floss will make approximately two eggs. If you look closely in the picture, we have eleven eggs. One of those eggs is not like the others (I'm singing an old Sesame Street tune in my head), because we did an experiment. The dark pink egg was done in the same manner as the others, but using narrow ribbon. Note to self: don't try this again, it doesn't work. It makes a stupid looking egg.

Let the eggs dry overnight, then pop the balloons with the tip of a sharp knife or a pin. Gently pry the balloons out of the eggs. Use a tweezers to get them out if needed.

After we did this, I selected the six best eggs to use for on the egg tree . The others had questionable egg shapes, or the strings hadn't been properly overlapped, so that those eggs looked more like slinkies than eggs.

One egg was disqualified because of its odd shape and because it had been applied with too much Stiffy. You can see the excess dried Stiffy on the egg in the picture.

Making these eggs was a fun learning process. I will know better how to do it next time, and hopefully if you give them a try, you will avoid some of our mistakes.

I decided to hang the eggs using green and white baker's twine. If you have any leftover embroidery floss that would look good too.

I'm pleased with the way the eggs and the egg tree turned out. I have a large fireplace mantle, so it can easily accommodate the size of this finished piece ~~and the puppy cannot eat it up there.~~

What do you think?