Egg-cellent alcohol ink idea

                                     

I actually purchased these plastic eggs a few years ago at an after Easter sale at Michaels craft store.  They have been sitting in my studio collecting dust so I was determined to work on them this year.  My plan was to color them with alcohol inks to make faux marbled eggs. 

** Note!  never use alcohol inks on eggs that you will eat.  These inks are for decorative use only!** 

The package listed them as plastic eggs and I was surprised when I opened it that they weren’t the shiny plastic eggs you normally find at a craft store.  These had a dull almost chalky surface.  There was a seam to the eggs but you could not take them apart.  

The chalky surface was not egg-actly what I was looking for but the inks worked just fine. 

For this project you get a lot of ink on your hands so if you'd like to try this I'd recommend gloves. 

I put alcohol ink and blending solution in a swirl on a square of white felt and used an applicator with a handle to "pounce" the ink over the egg.  Occasionally I'd blow on the egg to dry the ink faster so I could move the egg around to color the other side.  After they dried I experimented with adding more colors with more blending solution.

I used bottle caps to make the eggs stay still on the table.  Otherwise they’d roll all over the place.

 I was pleased with how they turned out.  Afterwards I felt the need to seal them and add a bit of shine.  The chalky surface was dull and I wanted a shine but not a super high gloss.  

I used Krylon Crystal Clear spray on the eggs.  Right after I used this I remembered I usually use Krylon Kamar Varnish first with alcohol inks since the Crystal Clear can make the inks run.  But it didn’t happen in this case and the inks didn't run at all. 

To hold the eggs while spraying I used the egg carton from the package and turned it upside down.  Sprayed the tops of the eggs, waited 10 min then turned them over and sprayed the rest.  Worked great.  Gave just a bit of shine to the surface but not overly glossy. 

These beautiful colored eggs were completed in less than an hour.  A great addition to my Easter decor.

Supplies used: 

• Carton of plastic eggs 
• Alcohol inks (colors used here were Sailboat Blue, Patina, Purple Twilight, Botanical, Citrus, Flamingo, Watermelon, Sunshine Yellow, Sunset Orange, Raspberry, and Stream). 
• Alcohol Ink Blending Solution
• White felt (I  buy an 8 x 11 piece of white felt from the craft store and cut it into small pieces)
• Applicator
• Disposable gloves
• bottle caps (for holding eggs while drying)
• Krylon Crystal Clear sealer spray