How2Day: Easter Egg Coloring Tricks

Kids love trying new ways of coloring Easter eggs. Comstock/Comstock/Getty Images
Coloring eggs is a time-honored tradition for celebrating Easter in many homes. While using a prepared egg coloring kit purchased in stores is fun, there are other Easter egg coloring tricks that produce a range of beautiful patterns in the finished eggs. Creativity and imagination during the egg coloring process bring an updated look to the traditional Easter egg.

Manipulate the dye by only allowing it to touch certain parts of the egg. Place strips of tape on the boiled eggs. Vary the width and length of the tape. Submerge the egg in the dye and allow it to sit until the preferred the egg has reached the preferred color depth.

Set the egg on a clean cloth to dry. When the egg is dry, peel the tape off the egg. This leaves a mix of stripes where the non-colored white portion of the eggshell shows through the colored portion.

Gather some spinach, fresh saffron, plus red and white onion skins. Wrap one of these around an uncooked egg. Tie in place with string so that the wrappings stay in place. Carefully place the eggs in a nylon stocking. Tie a knot and boil the eggs. Allow the eggs to cool and unwrap them.

Blueberries and cranberries added to the stocking of eggs create the colors red and blue. The other items result in brown, yellow, purple and green eggs. All of them mixing create a marbled look to the finished eggs as the natural dye boils out of the foods.

Cut a sponge into small pieces and clip each piece to a clothespin. The clothespins serve as a handle to your improvised sponge tips. In addition, buy your favorite colors in acrylic paints. All of these items are available at craft stores.

Dip the sponge into one color of paint. Dab paint on your egg as desired. Let each color dry before you use another color on the egg. Designate these eggs for decorating, not eating so your family does not accidentally consume the paint.

Create plaid eggs with food coloring dye and rubber bands. Wrap rubber bands around the egg horizontally. Repeat the process vertically with more rubber bands. Place the egg in a cup of prepared food coloring dye. Make sure the cup is deep enough for the entire egg to be completely submerged. After coloring the egg, set it on a clean towel to dry. Remove the rubber bands. Your egg should have a plaid effect from the contrast of the white shell against the color.

Prepare large deep bowls of edible gel food coloring mixed with hot water after boiling the eggs. After the eggs are cool and dry, gently roll them around on the counter to crack the shells. Do not remove the shells. Place an egg in each bowl of color--several eggs per bowl. Put the bowls on a level shelf in the refrigerator for up to seven hours depending on how dark you want the color.

Remove the eggs, pat them dry with paper towels and peel the shells from the eggs. Your inside out eggs will be streaked with interesting lines of color on the egg whites. Make certain to use only edible food coloring with this method.

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