Watercolour Eggs for Easter

Watercolour Eggs for Easter

Every once in a while I stick my brush into some watercolour paints and dabble a bit with them on some paper.

There are a couple of techniques used with watercolour paints that create texture or help to move the paint around in unusual ways.

Why not try it on eggs, I thought?  So I did.

Before starting you should know that I used the same plastic eggs that I used in other tutorials.  They are purchased at the dollar store, they are white and come in a carton, and they feel like real eggs.

This method would also work on hard-cooked or blown-out eggs too.

Here is a List of Materials

White Eggs - As many as you want to make either plastic, hard boiled, or blown

Watercolours - In tubes, in cakes, or pencils

Round toothpicks or small brush handle

Flat artists brush

A piece of dry foam the type used for arranging flowers or foam meat tray

Small awl

A container of water

Table Salt

Rubbing alcohol
Tin foil plate

Method

1. Start by punching out the bottom of the plastic egg with the awl.
2. The 2nd picture is showing you the size of the hole made with the awl.
3. Insert 2 round toothpicks into the hole.  This will be your handle.
4. Using the watercolour pencils cover the egg with as many colours as you want.  Children would like this part.  Remind them to colour the ends of the eggs too.

    5.  Using a brush dipped in water start moving the paint around.  This is the fun part.  The pencil lines will start to dissolve and turn into paint.

6.  Colours will start to blend together.

7.  Add more water as needed.  Keep moving the paint until the pencil lines are gone.  The paint will now be runny and flowing all around the egg as you turn it.

8.  Once it gets to the stage that it is good and runny and you think it might drip onto the table generously sprinkle salt all over the egg.  Right away you will notice that the salt arrests the flow of paint and stops it from dripping or moving.  Set the egg in the foam to dry

        

         When the egg is completely dry brush all the salt off with your hands.

As you can see from the above picture, the salt makes interesting textures and no two eggs will be exactly alike.

Note:

If you are using hard-cooked eggs or blown-out eggs watercolour paints may work better than watercolour pencils.

The pressure from the pencils may cause the egg shells to crack or break.  In that case, follow the instruction below.  The paint works equally well on plastic eggs.

A.  These are my messy trays of cake watercolour paints and two tubes of watercolour paint.  The bottom tray is a child's paint tray.  Nothing fancy.

If you opt to use paints instead dip your brush into water and start working the paint.  When you fill your brush paint your egg.  You can rinse the brush and add a different colour, as you wish.

    Continue using instructions 7 and 8.

    

B.  When using tube paints it is best to work from a palette.   A tin foil plate or paper plate will work.  Squeeze a small amount of paint from the tube onto your palette.  Squeeze out as many colours as you want to use keeping them separate from each other.  Start with very small amounts of paint.

Again, fill your brush with water and go into the paint to wet it and get it to the right consistency.  Paint the egg.  Add additional colours or not as you wish.

  In picture B above two colours blue and green were used.

    Continue following the instructions above for 7 and 8.

C. This picture just shows the colour combinations used on the eggs.

D.  Because they are watercolour eggs the paint will re-activate if they get wet.  If you plan to use them outside or anywhere where they might get wet, including table top they should be sprayed with a clear sealer or wax.  Don't use a water-based sealer as it will re-activate the paint.

Try a different technique and use rubbing alcohol to move the paint.

Paint the egg as in the instructions above.  Don't use salt.  Instead, wait until the paint starts to dry and then dip a very small brush into alcohol.  Start painting lines in the paint.  As soon as the brush touches the wet paint you will see the paint move away from the alcohol.  Once the paint dries the alcohol is ineffective in moving the paint.

The picture above shows some effects you can achieve using the mediums talked about.

This was a fun experiment and I like the results.  I think kids would like making them.  My granddaughter is coming this weekend.  We will make some together.

Thanks for stopping by.

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