"Tie" Dyed Eggs - a Pin Review

Original Pin:  http://pinterest.com/pin/203154633162729662

Materials List:

• Silk - scarfs, ties, fabric
• 1/4 Cup white vinegar
• water
• Pot for boiling water

The Steps:

1. Cut up ties or fabric so that each egg can be wrapped. 
2. Use a twist tie or string to hold the fabric on the egg
3. Wrap with a another piece of fabric, such as piece of sheet or t-shirt
4. Put eggs in pot and cover with water
5. Add vinegar
6. Bring to boil
7. Wait 20 minutes, then place eggs, still wrapped, somewhere to cool
8. Unwrap eggs and ooh and ahh. 

My Notes: 

Before I started I actually blew the eggs. The original blogger doesn't do this (and I think blowing them may be a reason mine didn't look as awesome - I'll explain later). If you want to blow the eggs first so that you can keep them as lifelong treasures I highly suggest getting this kit from Ukrainian Gift Shop, Inc. I have had mine for about fiver years and I use it often for Pysanky. 

1. Cut up ties or fabric so that each egg can be wrapped. 

• I purchased two of my ties on Etsy for $4.98 (two on left) and one on Amazon for $2.00 (on right). I know Goodwill usually has these for less, but I checked my Goodwill twice with no luck. I think I live in a small enough farming town that rayon still prevails. 

• I learned quickly that using a tie is very time consuming. All of these had filling and rayon fabric inside so cutting them apart while trying to conserve as much fabric as possible took about half an hour. Also, I was only able to cover two eggs fully for each tie. This is because the skinnier part just isn't wide enough to wrap around an egg so I ended up having to wrap "the long way" thereby using three times as much of the tie as I thought originally. 

2. Use a twist tie or string to hold the fabric on the egg.

• The blogger says to save time with twist ties. I used some turkey twine I had leftover from Thanksgiving. This worked fine for me and I think it helped keep the fabric tighter on the egg. I tied solid knots so did have to cut the string once the eggs cooled (step 8). This process took about another 20 minutes (including step 3 below) - I had six eggs I was working with 

3. Wrap with a another piece of fabric, such as piece of sheet or t-shirt.

• This is were I think my project fell apart. I forgot to get another piece of fabric but luckily my ties had all come with some type of rayon insert so I had enough to use! BUT - I think that this fabric was actually too lightweight. Because I had blown my eggs first they floated in the water (steps below). I think having a fabric that would have absorbed the water (like cotton) would have helped keep them under water. Next time I would stick with cotton fabric. 

4. Put eggs in pot and cover with water. 

5. Add vinegar

• As noted above, my eggs floated in the water/vinegar mix. I used a plate to push them under water, but I was also worried about the fabric burning against the pan's bottom so I moved them around a lot as they were coming to a boil. 

6. Bring to boil

7. Wait 20 minutes, then place eggs, still wrapped, somewhere to cool

• I allowed eggs to boil for 20 minutes even though the were blown. I figured this was a tested amount of time to get the eggs colored. 

8. Unwrap eggs and ooh and ahh.

•  Granted the original blogger didn't say specifically to ooh and aah but looking at her egg results and the many vibrant colors I was prepared to - my eggs were not eggseptional though. They were all muted colors. Nothing exciting. hmm. 

Lessons learned:

1. Next time I would start with a length of fabric instead of a tie. It may be more expensive, but having enough fabric to do a dozen eggs instead of two eggs would be worth the cost. 

2. Have a friend help! Knotting string around an egg twice is really boring work. 

3. Use a heavier fabric for the outside cover - something like cotton that will actually absorb the water/vinegar mix. 

4. I had a lot of white/blank space on my eggs. This is because the fabric didn't touch these parts. I think this all stems from the lighter eggs. Air got trapped between the egg and fabric, but because the egg was so light I couldn't get the air out and therefore the fabric didn't touch. 

5. The colors, I believe, were also very muted because of the light egg syndrome. I kept having to move the eggs around in the pot. They never had a real chance to steep (and add the aforementioned air between the fabric and egg and blah is the result).

6. Be very careful when choosing the cloth or ties. Just because a tie says "100% silk" don't mean they actually are! I know?! The two ties I bought from Etsy were marked as 100% silk, I special messaged the seller to confirm this, but the silver and blue stripes on one and the silver dots on the other were not silk. Because of this these were blank space on the egg.

                       
 

 

7. If your fabric is woven with two different colors on each side, try both sides. They can turn out very different!  

8. If you decide to use blown eggs be careful when unwrapping! Just because the outsides are manageable doesn't mean the hot water that is inside the egg has cooled at all!

Conclusion:

 It is pretty amazing that someone figured out how to do this and I see a lot of potential. I will try using regular eggs to see if my "weight" hypothesis is accurate. I suggest giving it a go! You never know what you may "un-tie."