Decorating Ideas: Basic Egg Decorating Tips

You can decorate hard-cooked eggs or emptied eggshells. Hard-cooked eggs are a bit more sturdy than empty shells. They're easier to work with if you're afraid the egg might break. If your hard-cooked egg does crack or the design isn't good enough to keep, you can eat the egg. Emptied eggshells are lightweight. You can hang them on a mobile, an Easter egg tree or a Christmas tree. Emptied eggshells have nothing inside to spoil, so you can keep them on display for years. And, you can use the insides for baking.

If you want to keep a decorated egg for a long time, strengthen the shell before you decorate it. You can use layers of newspaper covered with layers of paper towels or similar paper. Use white glue, homemade flour-and-water paste or wallpaper paste to apply the paper to the egg, just like when you're making papier mache.

If your finished dyed or decorated egg is a real masterpiece, you can protect the design with an outer coating. Evenly coat the egg with thinned white glue, clear or pearlized nail polish, or spray shellac, varnish or craft finish.

Whether you decorate hard-cooked eggs or emptied eggshells, be sure to follow these food safety tips: Wash your hands well in hot, soapy water before handling eggs at every step, including cooking, cooling, dyeing and decorating.

If you want to eat decorated hard-cooked eggs: Refrigerate hard-cooked eggs whenever you're not working with them. Put them in their cartons if you won't be decorating them right after cooking. Refrigerate them again right after dyeing or decorating them.

Make sure the eggs you color aren't cracked. If any crack during dyeing or decorating, throw them away. Also throw away any eggs that have been out of the refrigerator for more than 2 hours.

Use food coloring or specially-made, food-grade egg dyes. Dissolve the dye in water that is warmer than the eggs. Be sure the label says nontoxic on any crayons, pens, paints or other art materials you use. Or, use edible decorations like herbs. (You can use any art materials you like if you're not going to eat the eggs.)

If you want to use the insides of emptied eggshells, ask an older family member to help you empty eggshells. Use the insides of emptied eggshells right after you empty the shells. Use them in recipes which need mixed egg yolks and whites and get fully cooked. Casseroles, custards, quiches, cakes or breads are good ways to use them. Or, to use the insides later, freeze them. Here's how to empty an eggshell.

Wash the egg using water warmer than the egg. Dry the egg. With a sterilized long needle or small, sharp skewer, prick a small hole in the small end of the egg. Prick a large hole in the large end. Carefully chip away bits of shell around the large hole until it's big enough to fit the tip of a kitchen baster. Stick the needle or skewer into the yolk to break it.

Shake the egg large-end down over a cup or bowl until the insides come out. OR, use a baster to push out the contents. Press the bulb of the baster to push air into the egg. Let the contents fall into the cup. If the insides don't come out easily, stick the needle in again. Move it around to be sure both the shell membranes and the yolk are broken. Rinse the empty shell under cool running water. Stand the shell on end in a drainer to dry.

Be careful when decorating an empty shell. It's easy to break it. Before decorating the egg, you can cover the holes in the ends with melted wax or with tissue paper and glue like papier mache. Then, make a stand for it out of a small bottle cap, an empty film canister or a section of a cardboard tube. Or, you can run a loop of ribbon, yarn, string or wire through the holes. Tie the end to make a hanger for your decorated egg.

When your eggs are cooked or your eggshells are empty, you're ready to dye or decorate them.