Silver and gold Easter eggs

Decorating eggs for Easter is a little bit different when you have your own chickens. Brown eggs just don't dye the same as white eggs do. Gone are the pastel blues and pinks and in their place are darker, more earthy colors...which are still pretty, just not the same. Trends like the silk tie egg dyeing method just don't work as well on dark eggs. Which is a pity because there are some seriously cool egg decorating methods out there! 

You can color brown eggs for Easter, it's just a matter of finding the right technique.

One of the big trends in Easter egg decorating this year is gold, silver and copper. Unfortunately egg dye kits don't come in these colors which leaves people turning to metallic sharpies, paint pens and spray paint. Though they do make for some pretty eggs, those are all toxic. 

Since eggs are porous and the bloom has been removed by washing then boiling the eggs, there is a very real probability of the chemicals getting into the egg. So I set out to find some type of edible food color that I could use to decorate my brown eggs.

Related reading: How to make rhinestone easter eggs.

Sounds like a tall order, right? I needed a food safe dye that was both metallic and opaque enough to cover brown eggs. I've watched enough episodes of Cake Boss to know this type of thing exists though so I just had to find it. Luckily the first company I checked with makes just the thing I needed! 

The Wilton company makes shimmering food color spray in gold and silver. Party City carries the whole line of colors so I was able to pick them up right away.

Click these links to order the gold and silver on Amazon if you don't have a PC store by you!

Metallic Easter eggs from brown eggs

All I needed was some painters tape and a safe place to spray and I was ready to color some eggs! I used a large cardboard box as my spray box although this product is water soluble and wipes up super easy, so I later realized the box really wasn't necessary. 

Use the painters tape to tape off the parts of the egg you want to remain brown and spray the rest of the egg. It's that easy.

You can play with your designs a lot using this method. Cover the top or bottom half the egg or place the tape on an angle. Cut strips or shapes from the tape. You can even layer colors. 

A few painting tips:

• Use painters tape not paper tape like washi. Washi sticks to the egg too much. Painters tape peels off smooth. Other tapes can remove bits of shell when peeling it off.

• Using your fingernail, make sure every edge of the painters tape is pressed against the egg firmly. If it's not flush with the egg, the paint will roll down under any gaps in the tape.

• Spray several thin coats rather than 1 heavy coat.  Allow a few minutes to dry in between coats. 

• Shake can between coats.

• Wait till the paint is dry to peel off the tape.

• Drips and over spray can be cleaned up with water. Use a wet Q-tip to clean up edges.

• To make dots or shapes punch a hole in a note card with a hole punch. Hold the card against the egg and spray with a quick burst. Allow to dry before doing another spot on the same egg.

You can color about a dozen eggs with each can, more if you're doing designs and leaving some parts of the egg natural. 

What didn't work for me:

I do not recommend the black as it never dried. The color mist comes in just about every color of the rainbow but only the metallic ones dried down to a dry coating. The colors stay kind of wet even after 24 hours. I tried them on fresh eggs and boiled eggs just as an experiment and the color sprays stay tacky on both. 

Keep this in mind of you want to try one of the other colors. The pearl might work, though I did not try that one. If you decide to give it a try let me know how it works out! Have fun coloring your eggs!

Want more ideas for using feathers and eggshells? Check out my other chicken craft tutorials.

~L

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