Madly Plaid

Creating a plaid pattern on an egg shell may seem difficult and time consuming but working in batches and with an easy color combination, one can make beautiful plaid eggs in no time at all. I work by the dozen and make 6 different dye baths. To start make the 3 primary and 3 secondary colors (red, blue, yellow, green, orange and purple.) Once you experiment with these try other combinations, I just find the 6 basic colors easiest and most effective.

Tape off a dozen eggs using 1/4" artist's tape. Eye ball the center of the egg (be careful because the hole you drilled can be misleading) and run 2 strands completely around the length of the egg, dividing it into quarters. Then run another piece completely around the circumference. Using a popsicle stick, bone folder or your finger name press down the tape to ensure there are no wrinkles or bubbles the dye can creep into. Using an exacto knife make a slit in the tape at each hole. Run the egg through a bamboo skewer like we did in the basics of dying only this time there should be no need for the sticky tack. If you were close to the points of the egg when "drilling" your holes to blow the contents out, the tape will be a sufficient support to hold the egg steady. Roll the eggs through their dye baths until you are satisfied with the tint (roll 4 eggs in each of the primary colors. Reserve the secondary colors for now.) After the eggs have dried remove from the skewer and remove all of the artist's tape.


Next tape of all the eggs with a 1/8" artist's tape. Using two pieces dived the colored 1/4 section of egg, now dividing the egg into eights. Next run two more pieces around the circumference, above and below the center white stripe. Leaving at least a 1/4" between the white stripe and the tape on either side.

Run the egg through a skewer the same way as you did for the first dye. Now spin these eggs through their second dye bath. If using the 6 basic colors suggested above this is how you should go about this step: Blue Eggs - 1 in Red, 1 in Yellow, 1 in Green and 1 in Purple. Red Eggs- 1 in Yellow, 1 in Blue, 1 in Orange and 1 Purple. Yellow Eggs- 1 in Blue, 1 in Red, 1 in Orange and 1 in Green. This will give you 12 gorgeous yet uniform eggs. After the eggs are completely dry pull off the tape. If you go too heavy on the first dye, some of the color might pull off with the tape. It's no big deal, the egg will look great anyway. If you go for too long in the second dye bath, the colors may bleed and the lines you've already created may blur slightly. Wear your favorite tacky golf shorts for inspiration and get mad for plaid this spring.