In springtime of 2021, our town was in lockdown; no public celebrations were scheduled, and no big gatherings were possible. Yet, we wanted to do a fun thing for Easter. Our inner six-year-old selves were alive and well, so decorating Easter eggs was an obvious choice. Not, however, by dully dipping them in the pre-packaged dyes our parents bought every year. No, our ideas were more eggs-travagent! (OK, I will stop with the puns).
Our materials:
- Hollow, clean white egg shells
- assorted plastic and fabric eggs
- food color
- acrylic paints
- assorted papers
- glue
- rubber stamps
- markers
- dot tools
- paper punches
- scissors.
With mimosas in hand, we let our imaginations take flight.
With mixed results…
Blackboard paint was a clear winner. Very dramatic! It dried quickly to a matt finish, giving a good surface to decorate. In this case, acrylic paint was applied in patterns of tiny dots.
Decoupage with tissue paper worked beautifully. Especially in small bits, the paper clings to the dampened shell & dries smooth. It takes paint and varnish well.
Even the failures were interesting, or at least educational. In this case, the stiffer paper cut from an old book didn’t lay smoothly on the curving shell. And the text marker ink simply would not dry. But wiping away the excess ink after a day, this green tint remained. So not a total loss.
All in all, this was a fun time for everyone, and the experiments were worth while. Easter is again on the horizon and we will take these experiments farther this year!
