Could you use some tips on how to blow out an egg and clean eggs for decorating? Hopefully, this will help you get started!
Today I’m excited to share three little tricks for simplifying blown-out eggs. Messy fun, right? If you’re a traditionalist, you might want to stop reading here. Otherwise, read on…
How to Blow out an Egg
Trick #1: Hand Drill
So, if you wanted a hollow egg, and were to puncture it in the traditional way, you might use a needle or a special egg-piercing tool like this.
But, if you’re running short on time or if you know your kids will be giddy at the site of a hand drill (do you see me raising my hand?), you could do what we did.
My Fiskateer friend, Angela (read my interview with Angela here), sent me this awesome little Fiskars hand-cranked drill that’s perfect for preschool hands. My kids (ages 4 and 2) didn’t drill the eggs, but I do recommend the drill if you’re looking for a beginner’s wood-working drill for older children.
I carefully drilled a hole in the top and bottom of the egg, and then blew the eggs out.
But that blowing business is an awful lot of work, which brings me to trick #2…
Trick #2: Baby Aspirator
If you have little kids in your house, chances are good that you have at least one of these lying around. Between my two kids and overly generous L & D nurses, we own about eight of these.
Yes please!!
As much as I like my tools, I also believe in tradition. When your kids are old enough to blow out an egg with their own lungs, this post from The Artful Parent will inspire you to help them give it a go.
Trick #3: A Box and Skewers
Once your eggs are blown out, you’ll want to decorate them.
The girls and I painted a few of our blown eggs with acrylic paint, and we used little espresso cups to keep our hands clean while also keeping the eggs from wobbling around the table.
This plan was moderately successful.
It worked beautifully for painting the top half of the egg, but as soon as you were ready to paint the other side there was the challenge of flipping the egg without ruining our work. Not to mention all that acrylic paint that crusted up on my cute mugs. Ugh.
Which is where this nifty idea comes in handy: Cut a few grooves into the edge of a box, push a skewer through your egg (you might have to make your holes a wee bit bigger to do this), and voila!
I can’t remember where I first saw this, but here are a few other folks that have tried this smart idea: Melissa at Chasing Cheerios used this technique to paint chalkboard and decoupaged eggs. And the Sydney Powerhouse Museum replaced the box with Tupperware, and then made charming hanging eggs.
Are any of these tricks new-to-you? I love learning new tricks…do you have another egg-decorating tip to share?
More Egg Decorating and Egg Activities
In case you missed our earlier posts, here’s what we’ve covered this week so far:
How to Make Natural Dye for Egg Decorating
Make Your Own Egg Tempera Paint
I love the idea of making this easier with a hand drill! Â We just might have to give this a whirl!
Isn’t that cool? I say, why not. You could always try it with one and see what you think.
Great tips! Â I love that you used a hand drill to blow out the eggs 🙂
I’m so glad you found this useful. I had no idea I’d be using that drill to break eggs open — I love those kinds of surprises.
I have always wanted to try decorating blown out eggs, but have been too intimidated. Â Thank you for these tips that make it a little less intimidating. Â I am guessing a power drill would break the shell, right? I don’t have a hand drill, but I think a pin would work okay. Â
Do you have any tips for cleaning out the eggs?Â
I don’t know about a power drill, Rebekah, but I would love to test that out! Whoever tries it first will have to report back to the other person with a full report. Otherwise, pins do work. You’ll want to make the hole that you’re NOT blowing out of a little bit bigger so that the egg can pass through. As for cleaning, I would run hot water through the egg and use your syringe to blow the extra water and egg out of the shell. I didn’t have the patience to let ours dry for very long, but if you plan to keep these for memories, let them dry and drain with the larger hole facing down for 2-3 days. I read on this site (http://www.wikihow.com/Blow-Out-Eggs) that you can alternatively microwave or bake them dry:  Optionally, put all eggshells in the microwave on high for 15-30 seconds or bake them in 300ºF oven for 10 minutes. This may help to make them stronger.
Rachelle, you are the best with your tips!! Â I bet putting them in the micro/oven would help sanitize them too. Â I better get started prepping my eggs given the time it takes to prepare them. Â Thank you!
Another reader just responded with some advice on the power drill — run the drill in reverse with slight pressure, and it should keep the egg from cracking. Yay!
I remember blowing out eggs as a kids and that it was really fun. I don’t remember decorating them afterwards, although we probably did. I have been wondering how we did it. Thanks for reminding me. The skewer is a great idea too.
I’m so glad to hear this brought back some fun childhood memories, Julie. So, do you think you’ll revive this tradition?
I love the last painting trick, but I leave actual egg blowing to my husband who appears to be a pro at that 🙂
Isn’t that painting trick, cool? and yes, if you have a resident egg blower, by all means, take advantage!!
That aspirator trick is fantastic! Â I just tried it and it made it so much quicker and easier 🙂 Â Thank you!
Woo-hoo! It warms my heart to know that this helped your day run smoother. Have a great weekend!
I used a cordless drill, & used the trick for drilling fragile items, namely run the drill in reverse with slight pressure. If you run the drill forward, it will grab the shell & pull it apart
Ah-ha! Thanks for sharing your tip. I didn’t run into that problem with our little hand-cranked drill, but I can see why a power drill would require this clever hack. Thanks for sharing with us — I’m sure that this will help someone with some stress-free egg decorating!
Check out the Blas-Fix egg blower, makes blowing out and cleaning eggs so easy.  Less than $10 but I thought it was worth several times the pice. Love the skewer idea.
When I was writing this article, I came across egg blowers, but never tried one. Thanks for the great tip!
The Blass-Fix blower is amazing, well worth the $9 . 99 investment
Hmm. I don’t know, I like to save the eggs to make scrambles or bake with, and given the things our drills have been used for I don’t think I’d be comfortable using it around food. But I’m definitely going to have to try blowing with an aspirator or syringe! Given the aspirator’s squishy tip I bet it would make a better seal than the syringes I have seen recommended. And I think the skewers are a great idea. We’ve done that for painting homemade clay beads, but I hadn’t connected it to eggs.
We make them same way I used to make them in my childhood days – I clean the eggs, crack them with the tip of the knife and then blow them with my mouth – what do you need the tools for? Isn’t it all about the fun and simplicity of it? The drill is great for making hollow eggs though – the best ways – the tools for nails crafting 😉
My 3 yr old’s birthday is on Easter this year, and she is obsessed with hello kitty. I came across a post about making hello kitty easter eggs. In the post, they used hard boiled eggs, but I would feel better if the eggs were blown out since sharpies are involved. Plus it would make an adorable keepsake for guests! Anyways, I have no idea how to blow an egg out, so thanks for the tips!!
What’s up, everything is going sound here and ofcourse every one is sharing facts, that’s truly fine, keep uup writing.
It’s enormous that you are getting thoughts from
this post as well as from our discussion made here.
Its like you read my mind! You appear to know so much about this, like you wrote the book in it or
something. I think that you can do with a few pics to drive the
message home a bit, but other than that, this is magnificent blog.
An excellent read. I will certainly be back.
Another tip: Taking a skewer and piercing the yoke will make blowing out the egg easier – especially if doing it by mouth.
Thanks for the tip!!
I do this every year for my daughter after the first year of egg coloring and she insisted on trying to keep the boiled eggs she colored. But after I blow them out and clean them I put some sand in them glue the holes on both ends shut, let the glue dry and that way she can color them the traditional way but they sink instead of floating on the top. We have a few eggs from the last four years I’ve been doing this and use them for decorations. Plus my daughter loves looking back at them and trying out new designs each year.
What a great amount of fun my children will have tomorrow doing this.
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