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Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Wax Painting Easter Eggs

This is a very special egg decorating method that's dear to my heart - I'll call "wax painting". Painting eggs with melted crayon wax is a tradition that's been in my family for generations. My mother taught my sister and me how to do it and it was a family tradition until she passed away in 1988. Up until yesterday it had been 22 years since I decorated eggs this way. It was bittersweet to revisit this old tradition and it took me right back in our tiny kitchen in Minnesota. I was happy share our little family secret with my niece and now I'll share it with all of you, too...

Update: My Aunt recently posted a video tutorial on YouTube - click here to view it.

Here's what you'll need:

::LOTS of crayons
::A muffin tin (we used a 12 cup tin)
::A roasting pan (or any shallow pan that's larger than the muffin tin)
::Pencils (enough for each person)
::Flat head pins (enough for each pencil)
::Clean, cool, and dry hard boiled eggs
::Water

Begin by peeling all the crayons

Then group them into color families

Stick the pin into the eraser on the pencil. This will be your "paintbrush".

Pour hot water into the roasting pan and place the crayon-filled muffin tin inside of it.

Place the pan over a burner on your stove top and heat on medium-low. Once the crayons are good and melted, you can turn the burner down to just a simmer.

::Now, this next part is a bit tricky, so if you find it doesn't work for you straight away, don't give up - it takes some of practice!::

Using your "paintbrush", dip the head of the pin into the melted color of your choice and very quickly drag the pin across the egg, tipping the pin to the side while you do this. The key is to move quickly because it takes seconds for the wax to harden onto the pin instead of onto the egg. The beauty is, if you make a mistake you can easily scrape off the wax and try again. {Tip: to remove the excess wax that will eventually accumulate on your pin, simply dip the pin into the hot water on the outside of the muffin tin.}

This starburst pattern was a favorite of my mother's, but you can experiment with any kind of design you can think of.

You can also dip the entire egg into the wax. (Be careful though -the wax is hot!)


After you've finished decorating your eggs, let the wax harden a bit and then place the entire tin in the freezer. About an hour later you'll have some new crayons! I plan on putting these in James' Easter basket. :)

I should mention that at our little egg decorating party, we used a variety of methods, too - wax and sticker resistance, dye, sponge painting, glitter, and markers.

What a pretty basket of goodies!

James really got into this - I think he'll have green hands for the rest of the week!

17 comments:

  1. Oh, they look awesome!! I will definitely try this, this will be the first year GG and I will decorate eggs, I have gathered up a whole heaps of paints, stickers, dyes, feathers and glitter and I can't wait to see what she comes up with!

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  2. What a great idea! Question about the muffin tins - do you have a special one dedicated to this type of project, or are you able to wash and reuse it for cupcakes again? Thanks!

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  3. Those are beautiful! What a lovely tradition you can share with your son! I'll have to get a lot more crayons, but I'm going to try that sometime. Thanks for sharing!

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  4. Absolutely beautiful. Thank you for sharing something so special... that must've been hard to loose your mom at such a young age. I'm positive she'd be proud of you seeing how creative YOU are too!

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  5. Thank you for your comments!
    Mrsnic: yep, I plan on using this same muffin tin next year since it's really difficult to remove the wax. You could visit your local thrift shop and purchase a second hand tin for just this purpose!

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  6. What an absolutely beautiful tradition!! They are beautiful and it's heart-warming to revisit these types of things. LOVE how you can also get the crayons at the end of the project. Fantastic!

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  7. Your eggs are beautiful!
    That had to be so much fun sharing such a special tradition with James, looks like he was having fun! :)

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  8. Hi Could you elaborate a little on "I should mention that at our little egg decorating party, we used a variety of methods, too - wax and sticker resistance, dye, sponge painting, glitter, and markers" I love how the eggs in the basket turned out but am unfamiliar with wax and sticker resistance techniques, great blog!! Thanks

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  9. oo these turned out so great!! I love them! I also love that you have some crayons to put in James' Easter basket!

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  10. This looks so pretty - what a neat tradition to share with your son!

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  11. We've painted with melted crayons before, but never thought to do it on eggs - what a creative mama you had! These are so lovely. :)

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  12. These are so wonderful. I hope to remember to do this next yr. I just became a follower and now you are at 200. Congrats.

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  13. How wonderful...it's great to keep passing on that family tradition. thank you, Karen

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  14. Hi MA! It's so funny...I got emotional reading your post and tears are coming out. My father passed away 6 years ago, and I still miss him. Your mommy must've been a very special lady... so are you. The eggs are BEAUTIFUL! No wonder you're so creative!
    Hugs from PR

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  15. Thank you for sharing such a beautiful memory with us. Looking forward to trying it out!

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  16. I absolutely LOVE your blog!!! I'm keeping a link to it on my desktop from now on. So creative! Thank you :)

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