Threaded Easter Eggs

 

            Today's Snack: Once you collect the insides of the eggs for this project, you'll have the ingredients for a yummy, high-protein snack. You can save most of the blown-out egg whites and yolks in a covered container in your refrigerator, but pour the equivalent of about two eggs into a small dish to beatand eat  before you store the rest. Just scramble the beaten eggs with a little milk in a pan sprayed with cooking spray with a little salt and pepper, and a handful of shredded cheese if you would like.

 

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Supplies:

 

n       white glue

n       pretty colors of soft, smooth, thin embroidery thread, cut in short lengths

n       a small nail

n       a watercolor brush

n       small scissors

n       a dozen eggs

 

            Let's make colored Easter eggs and forego the mess of colorings and dyes. Even better, there's no need to hard-boil eggs and then keep them cold so they don't spoil. We're going to empty out and dry up the eggs, then decorate them, so that they'll last from year to year.

 

With a small, sharp nail, poke several tiny holes in the top and bottom of a raw egg. Carefully keep poking into the shell until the tiny holes merge into one, about a sixteenth of an inch across.

 

            Stand over the kitchen sink. Using a lot of force but at the same time, gently, blow into the hole in the top of an egg until the yolk and white dribble out the bottom. Set aside and let dry, preferably overnight.

 

            Mix a little water with some white glue. Gently holding an egg, paint the glue around the top third or so of the egg. Leave a length of embroidery thread in order to hang the egg later. Starting a few inches from the end of the thread, begin to wrap the thread around and around the egg. Press gently with your fingers if necessary to keep the lines straight.

 

            Paint more glue all around the middle third of the egg when you're ready, and then the bottom third. Keep wrapping. When one piece of thread runs out, you can start a coordinating color for stripes, or large blocks of different colors, or keep your egg a solid color.

 

            At the bottom, wrap the last piece of thread over the hole, and snip the end so that it lays flat.

 

            Let dry.

 

            You can glue a tiny store-bought fabric ribbon to the top to conceal where the embroidery yarn you left for hanging attaches to the egg.

 

            You can make or purchase an "egg tree" to hang and display your threaded Easter eggs, or put them in a basket for a centerpiece.