I spent the evening dying Easter eggs using silk ties, I am absolutely amazed. (Suzannah and I said almost nothing but "ooh" for a good 20 minutes.) I am absolutely amazed how well they worked. The dye isn't food safe, so we can't eat them, but who really wants to eat these? They're too impressive. I just wonder if you could blow the egg out, then dye it and not have to throw them away.
Silk Dyed Easter Eggs
Tutorial by www.ourbestbites.com
Materials and Tools
-Raw Eggs
-Glass or enamel pot (but pretty much any non-aluminum pot will be fine)
-Silk ties, blouses, or boxers, cut into pieces large enough to cover an egg
-An old white sheet, or pillowcase, or tablecloth, or random fabric, cut into pieces to cover silk-wrapped eggs
-Twist ties or string
-4 tablespoons of white vinegar
-Warm water
-Vegetable oil
-Paper towels
-Tongs or spoon
1. Remove seaming from ties and any lining on the inside. You just want a piece of the silk. Cut silk into a square (or a piece) large enough to wrap around a raw egg.
2. Wrap an egg with a piece of silk, making sure the printed side of the material is facing the egg. Silk can still be used if it doesn't fit perfectly around egg. Just try to make as much smooth contact with the fabric to the egg as you can. The pattern will transfer better if it is right up against the egg. Any part that is folded or wrinkled will leave kind of a tie-dyed pattern (which is a good thing, it’s pretty that way) Secure with twist-tie or string.
3. Place the silk-wrapped egg in a piece of white sheet, pillowcase, or old tablecloth and secure tightly with another twist-tie or string.
4. Place the egg(s) in the pot. Fill pot with water to cover eggs completely. Then, add the 1/4 C of white vinegar.
5. Bring water to a boil, turn heat down, and simmer for 20-25 minutes.
6. Remove eggs from water with tongs or spoon and let cool on a pile of paper towels or in a colander.
7. When eggs are cool enough to handle, you can remove the fabric.
8. To add a little bit of lustre to your eggs, put a dab of vegetable oil on a paper towel and rub onto the egg.
My favorite part of the cake is the layers, all five of them. I did a gradient from dark yellow to white with an easy raspberry filling in between.
I slacked off and got busy with school, I didn't do too much for a few months until Christmas time. Merry Christmas! Mom gave me a small budget and asked that I do a Christmas/wintery display in the nook above the dining table. I absolutely love decorating and went to town at Hobby Lobby. I think Mom almost died when she saw I was buying dark red feathers and gems to put in the garland, but I like how it turned out.
This cake needs a little bit of work still. It's a lemon cake with a raspberry filling and a white chocolate mousse icing. Next time I just need to make more mousse and add just a touch of sugar to the raspberry filling. Still, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The only thing different from the recipe is I added a package of white chocolate instant pudding to the mousse, I made this before and without that it's way too runny.
