Are you looking for an easy and cost effective way to make gold leaf eggs? I will walk you through the process in 4 steps.

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Dying eggs is a tradition in our home. (It’s right up there with carving pumpkins.) Every year for Easter, I try to do something a little different and this year was no exception.

If you have been reading this blog for any amount of time, you know I am a huge fan of making mistakes. Perfection is overrated. Making mistakes is just -well- more fun. So, it’s important to note, that I started this project with the notion of “playing around” to see what I can make that is EASY, COST EFFECTIVE and BEAUTIFUL. To come up with this process that I am sharing with you today – I failed at dying 12 eggs. Dear 12 eggs – thank you for sacrificing your shells in the name of creative pursuit.

So here is my easy, fast and cost effective method for gold leafing eggs. I think you will like it.

Gold Leaf Eggs

As with any project, the first thing we need to do is gather supplies. This list is short and the supplies should be easy to find. Where possible, I have linked the items on Amazon. I have also linked them for you below at the end of this post.

• Hollowed out egg shells or fake egg shells (Don’t use the plastic type that have candy in them)
• A standard Easter Egg Dying kit
• Gold leafing sheets ( I linked an entire gold leafing kit)
• Sizing for attaching the gold leafing (sizing is a type of glue specific for gold leafing)
• 3 small paint brushes
  • An artist’s brush for applying sizing
  • A 1 inch brush for gently removing extra gold leaf
  • An artist’s brush for applying Mod Podge
• Mod Podge
• Thin gold ribbon
• Hot glue gun

Step 1: Dye Your Eggs

In the name of saving time and for the sake of making my life easier, I bought some artificial eggs that have the same textured shell as real eggs.

Truth be told – after ruining 12 perfectly good real eggs – I decided to use fake eggs.

See, the eggs in the photo above? They are fake eggs! Even I was impressed with them. These eggs also came with a dying kit which I used to dye all the eggs. The best part is that a dozen of these eggs, which includes the dye, was less than $2! (I linked them below)

Side note – I don’t like red, orange or yellow egg dye. I prefer blues, greens, and pinks.

Once your eggs are dyed – set them aside to dry. Mine took about 40-50 minutes to fully dry. Don’t worry if the dye on your eggs isn’t perfect. There might be streaks, drip marks or some splotchy areas on the egg shells. This is ok. We are not aiming for perfection. We are having fun

Step 2: Apply Gold Leaf

Gold leaf consists of very thin sheets of metallic gold that is applied to whatever item you are gilding. I wrote a post about gold leafing candle holders. The first secret to working with gold leaf is to avoid any type of draft. Even the draft from a heating /air conditioning vent.

Apply some sizing to about half of an egg and then gently apply a sheet of gold leaf. If necessary you can tear the sheet into smaller sizes so the gold leaf pieces fit on the egg better. You want to cover about 50- 60% of your egg with gold leaf. Use the 1 inch brush to tap down the gold leaf onto the eggs.

Repeat this step for all the eggs you dyed. You will notice that there are still pieces of gold leaf that are not securely attached to the egg. It’s ok when this happens. Not to worry – we can fix it later.

Once all your eggs have gold leaf on them – let the sizing dry. It should take about 30 minutes. At that point, using the dry 1 inch paint brush, gently brush off any loose gold leaf

Step 3: Apply Mod Podge

As you can see in the photos above, for Step 3 all you need to do is paint Mod Podge over your entire egg. Yes, including over the gold leaf portions. Yes, including the dyed areas of the egg. The whole egg gets painted with Mod Podge.

A Little Tip

Here is a tip, it may help if you have a small jar upon which your egg can rest since you will essentially be painting your entire gold leaf egg with Mod Podge. I found that, while using the jar was not absolutely necessary, it did make the process easier.

You will notice that when you paint Mod Podge on to your eggs – that the wet finish looks cloudy. Do not panic! It’s ok when this happens. Just let your eggs dry. If you want, and if you are impatient like me, you can use a hair dryer to help the eggs dry faster.

Step 4: Attach a Ribbon

I was fortunate because I happened to have a spool of gold twine in my stash. (I found something similar and linked it below.) However, you can use any thin ribbon to attach to your eggs. You can even use jute twine. To attach the ribbon or twine, use your hot glue gun to place a tiny dollop of hot glue at the top of your egg to secure the ribbon in place.

Step 5: Enjoy your Gold Leaf Eggs

This is the fun part, you can now enjoy your gold leaf eggs. I decided to hang these eggs on some branches.

Here are some photos that you can pin to Pinterest for future reference. Many people have either an Easter Board or a Craft Board to which they can pin these images. That way, if you decide to make this project next year – all you need to do is click on the image and it will take you back to this blog post.

See that little garden tool wall rack in the background? You can make something similar.

You can also read about how to make the tissue paper flowers on the branches in a separate blog post that I wrote.

Summary

Well, that was easy and fun! If you decide to make these gold leaf eggs, please send me a photo. I would love to see how they turned out. (Or if my instructions could be improved) Regardless, I hope you have FUN decorating eggs for Easter.

Blogger Friends

I always encourage you to check out what some of my friends are up to.

• Cindy at Reinvented Delaware
• Lynne at My Family Thyme
• Julie at My Wee Abode
• KariAnne at Thistlewood Farms

These blogs all feature creative projects, ideas, recipes, decorating tips and more.

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