How to Blow Out an Egg

This is an easy and effective method for blowing out eggs, which is a great way to decorate for Easter.

Eggs and dyes are the two central elements of Easter crafts. Decorating eggs perfectly isn't hard; just follow our tips! We've tried marbleizing, gilding, polka dotting, and glittering every kind of egg there is, from gigantic shimmery ostrich eggs to dainty dappled quail eggs. Here's what we've learned after all that experimenting: If you want to save eggs from year to year or turn them into ornaments to hang from the branches of an Easter tree (known in Germany as Ostereierbaum), blow them out instead of hard-boiling the eggs before dyeing them.

You can use our editor's trick outlined here, step by step, using an aspirator or bulb syringe (available at drugstores). Otherwise, there are specialty tools and kits that can be purchased for this purpose, two of which are Best Pysanky's Professional Four-Piece Egg Blower Set and Aunt Marge's Egg Blower.

What You'll Need

Materials

  • Eggs
  • Craft knife
  • Paper clip
  • Bulb syringe
  • 0 Bowl
  • Egg-blowing kit (optional)

Instructions

  1. To empty a raw egg, pierce the top and bottom of each with a craft knife, turning the knife in one hole to widen it slightly.

  2. Poke a straightened paper clip through one hole and "stir" to break up the yolk.

  3. Hold the egg, larger hole down, over a bowl, and then blow the contents out with a bulb syringe.

  4. Rinse the shell well and let dry.

  5. Optional, if using a kit: Holding the egg in one hand, put the needle of the one-hole (or "bias-fix") egg blower through the hole you have created. Gently squeeze the bulb of the egg blower with the other hand to create pressure inside the egg, forcing the egg insides out of the same hole.

Originally appeared: THE MARTHA STEWART SHOW, MARCH 2008
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