How to Dye Faux Easter Eggs

I've gotten so many inquiries about the faux Easter eggs that I posted about on Instagram  and yesterday's Easter post that I decided to share more deets.  

I found these plaster decorating eggs in the Easter section at Walmart.  They are $1.97 and advertise that they can be dyed and decorated exactly like regular eggs.  Of course, I loved the idea of being able to dye these eggs and display them for weeks before Easter without worrying about them spoiling.  Plus, I can reuse these faux Easter eggs for year after year.  Win, win! 

Photo Courtesy of For the Love of White

While I love the finished result of these eggs, there are a few lessons I learned about these fake chicks that I'm going to share with you. 

Lessons Learned When Dying Faux Eggs: 

1. Use a Spoon to Hold to Bottom of Cup

First, the plaster eggs are so light in weight that they float on top of the dye when you add them to the cup.  To prevent this, I had to add a spoon to each cup to hold the eggs under the coloring. 

2. Use White Vinegar Only- No Water

The plaster eggs do not absorb color as much as a real egg.  The first time I tried this, I held each egg under the water for hours (yes, this is not exactly a kid friendly task as the kids want immediate results).  Even at the end of this session, the hues were very pastel.  Only the pink shades came out vibrantly.  I used the classic Paas Coloring kit from Target.  The next time, I filled the cups with vinegar only and the results were slightly better.  Still, most of the results ended in very pastel colors.  The below picture was taken after these eggs stayed in the "vinegar-only" dye overnight.  I love them these shades, but I'd have thought they'd be majorly dark! 

3. Pink Shades Yield the Darkest Hues

In my experience, the pink color tablets yielded the darkest results the fastest.  Here's my bowl of "pinkies."  You can see the various shades based on the duration they were in the dye. 

4. Experiment with Different Dye Kits

I tried a gel kit where I dropped the eggs into baggies to coat the eggs with color.  Epic fail.  The gel never dried on the eggs and always appeared streaked.  I tossed them before I could get a photo.  But trust me.  Disaster. 

5.  Have Fun Decorating!

I used a copper-gold leaf paint on a handful of the eggs to add details.  I want to experiment with acrylic paints and nail polish to see the results. 

 

 

 Overall, I love the results of the faux eggs.  I have seen other brands on the market, too (try Michaels) and they may yield better results.  I'll keep you posted on my findings. 

Have you found a particular dye that works great on the faux eggs?  Please share!
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