Hatch a happy Easter egg! Vintage Easter crafts from the sixties
Here’s all you need to make these enchanting creatures: poster and spray paints, colored paper, cardboard, glue, soda and broom straws, star seals, cinnamon candies, and cotton. And, of course, the eggs.
Hard cook or remove the contents (pierce a hole in each end and blow; wash and dry). Then off you go on a flight of Easter fancy!
Colored eggshells turned into charming characters
If you catch your children raiding your kitchen shelves, don’t be too surprised; they are probably looking for attractive edibles to use in decorating this year’s Easter eggs. And what an ingenious and inexpensive trimming idea it is.
Edibles — such as dried fruits, all forms of pasta, cereals, popcorn, rice, barley, ice cream cones and, of course, candy — can turn colored eggs into charming animals, “people,” and even creatures from another planet.
Imagination, a little glue and spaghetti soon become whiskers; macaroni or licorice become bunny ears; raisins turn into eyes, prunes or coconut flakes become hair; ice cream cones stand in for hats; and gumdrops turn into feet.
The possibilities are endless and inspire the creativity of both children and adults. And don’t forget the marshmallows — they make marvelous egg stands.
Natural colors for vintage Easter egg crafts
For a more varied color scheme, dip the pasta, rice and such cereals as puffed rice into the same dyes used to color the eggs. The beautiful colors of the dyed foodstuffs and the natural colors of the dried fruits and candies make trimming the eggs such fun.
Start with clean hard-cooked eggs, follow the directions on the dye package for dyeing and then decorate away. (Foods used as trim should not be eaten if glue is used to adhere them to the eggs.)
Eggs, by the way, needn’t be limited to the usual hen eggs. The larger duck, or turkey eggs and the smaller pullet eggs lend variety to an egg-decorating session.
DIY vintage Easter egg crafts: Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?
At Easter time, the answer’s easy: the egg! What’s more, today you can eat your Easter eggs and have them, too.
Just blow the eggs — using the contents for a delicious variety of pies, cakes, custards and omelets — and turn the shells into festive favors such as a perky bunny, a ducky duckling or a stately eggshell church.
Follow the following tips from the Paas eggs-perts and you’ll discover how easy it is to blow, dye and decorate eggs.
To empty the eggshell
To blow an egg, make a hole in each end of the egg with a sharp-pointed ice pick, skewer, or manicure scissors, Hold the egg firmly in one hand.
With the instrument of your choice in the other hand, push the instrument slowly, steadily into the egg about 42-inch to break the inner membrane of the egg: be sure not to twist the instrument.
Enlarge the holes to the size of a small pea. This will make the blowing of the egg easy.
Hold the egg over a bowl and blow through one hole until the egg contents come out the other. Then hold the shell under a faucet letting the shell fill with cold water. Shake the shell well so the water will thoroughly rinse the inside of the shell: blow the water out. Tet the shell drain until completely dry.
There are several “mass production” methods of blowing eggs that clubs, church groups, youth organizations and art classes have found practical.
For instance, last year, members of the Altrusa Club of Memphis, using a dental drill and air hose, blew 90-dozen eggs in one afternoon — eggs they dyed and decorated for a charity fundraising project. Elsewhere, a Scout group used a bicycle pump to blow eggs, and a church group used a sterilized vacuum cleaner blower!
How to dye Easter eggs evenly
For vividly-colored and evenly-dyed eggshells, spoon the dye hath over each shell, turning the shell at the same time. This is especially important he- cause the shells are so lightweight they float.
The vinegar used in conjunction with pure food dyes causes the dyeing action, so if necessary, use more vinegar than called for in the directions — even an extra 3 or 4 tablespoonsful. This added vinegar helps cut through mineral deposits and/or the invisible wax-base protective coating on so many of today’s eggs.
Although many coloring kits have drying trays, a more even dye job will probably be obtained by letting the dyed shells drip dry from a cake or oven rack.
Let shells dry completely before decorating.
To make eggshell bunny: With white household cement or glue, secure large end of dyed eggshell to brass curtain ring. Let dry. With manicure scissors, cut shell from inside ring for flat base.
Cut ears from cotton powder puff or construction paper; glue bit of pipe stem cleaner lengthwise to center of ears for support: glue ears into place. Fashion facial features from construction paper and sequins; glue into place.
Wire together tiny ribbon bow, artificial flower and sprig of greenery and glue into the top hole of eggshell. For finishing touch, glue entire bunny head on cotton powder puff or circle of construction paper.
To make eggshell church: Glue large end of dyed eggshell to the curtain ring. Let dry. With manicure scissors, cut shell from inside ring.
From roof and steeple from rectangles of construction paper; form cross from bits of pipe stem cleaner; through holes made in center of roof and steeple, push cross into hole in top of eggshell; glue all into place.
Draw pointed or arched doorway on construction paper; cut doors at top and center so. they’ll swing free: cut entire doorway and glue into place at front of eggshell. For finishing touch, glue a curtain ring of the church to a circle of green construction paper and secure a bit of greenery to circle and roof.
To make eggshell duckling: Cut web feet, wings, tail and double head-piece from construction paper. On double head-piece, glue sequins for eyes; glue hits of pipe stem cleaner to bottom of web feet for support; “fringe” construction paper tail.
Glue double head-piece above hole in small end of eggshell; glue “fringed” tail in hole at large end of eggshell; glue wings and feet into place.
For finishing touches, glue tiny artificial flower and sprig of greenery in hole at small end of eggshell just under duckling’s chin; bend and glue bit of pipe stem cleaner around head-piece for collar.
