Egg-stra, egg-stra, read all about it! Tomorrow is Easter, so it’s time to get crackin’ on your egg decoratin’. Scrambling for ideas? Mark Addison, lifestyle contributor to Better Homes and Gardens, hooked The Post up with tips to create some last-minute eggs that will get your holiday on a roll.
BOIL THEM SLOWLY
The key to a great boiled egg is tender love and care. Addison advises peeking in cartons of large or extra-large eggs at the grocery store to find the smoothest ones.
At home, don’t just plop those suckers in the pan.
“Bring the water to a boil, then turn off the heat. Put the eggs on the bottom in one layer and let them sit in hot water for 15 minutes, or 18 for extra-large eggs,” says Addison. Piling them on top of each other means a greater chance of cracking.
Then transfer the eggs directly into a cold water bath. Carefully add ice when the water becomes warm to the touch. “This helps keep the eggs from cracking, and also helps when you peel them,” he says.
USE GEL-ICING COLORS
A box of Paas egg dye, about $5 from the grocery store, will do just fine, but Addison suggests using Wilton gel-icing colors (available at stores such as Michael’s or Kmart) — eight-color sets are $10.99. Use a toothpick to completely dissolve 1 tablespoon of gel into ³/₄ cup of hot water. Stir in
1 teaspoon of white vinegar.
This next part is complicated, so pay attention: Place each egg on a spoon and lower them one at a time into the dye. “Make sure the [eggs are] covered, and move them around a little bit to avoid hot spots,” says Addison. Leaving an egg in for longer will give you a darker color, but after 10 minutes, that egg won’t get any darker.
* TRY MINI GLUE DOTS
These glitter polka-dot eggs are sneakily easy. The secret: mini glue dots, typically used for scrapbooking. “The reason they look so perfect is because the dots give you the perfect amount of glue,” says Addison.
Place the dots strategically on your egg. “You literally just dip it in extra-fine glitter, and just roll it slightly on the glue dot,” he says. “Then pat, pat, pat the glittered dot with your finger, and brush off the excess.”
**DEGGOUPAGE DELIGHT
Get egg-cited; this is a real crowd-pleaser. Begin by using decoupage glue to cover a plain egg with several pieces of base paper. Newsprint worked great for our Post egg, but crepe paper will do the trick and also give you some color. Glue overlapping strips onto the egg, don’t stress — all the layers of paper and glue will hide the imperfections. After you’ve got your base, glue call-out pieces — the words or pictures you want people to see — on top. We used Post section logos, but you can print whatever you want from an inkjet printer.
“This is going to dry fairly quickly, but then we’re going to seal it with decoupage glue to give it the shellac look,” says Addison. Cover thoroughly, then let dry atop a shot glass.
**NO DYE, NO PROBLEM
Not up for worrying about spills? Test out some neat dye-less designs using washi tape, a decorative Japanese masking tape (at left on the bottom, middle) available at craft stores. After you find a color or pattern you like, cut off a strip of tape roughly the egg’s circumference (about 6 inches for a large egg). Cut into two thinner strips — a more narrow strip will prevent puckering.
“Start placing the strip at the top of the egg, go all the way around, match it up at the top and trim it off,” Addison says. Repeat the process with several strips, and mix-and-match colors to create trendy patterns.
Craft store appliqués and classic candy dots also make for an easy egg dress-up.
*THE RUBBER BAND SECRET
To give your eggs fun striped designs, strap on varying widths of rubber bands before dunking. Addison prefers the thick bands used to hold broccoli at the grocery store. “They really grip onto the egg, and you can do some fun Charlie Brown eggs by pulling the band up in certain places,” he says.
To make a groovy dual-tone egg with a stripe, place a band around the middle, hold half the egg in one dye before switching it around and doing the other end. “It’s like a bathing-suit tan line!’ says Addison.
If you’re not too eggs-hausted, visit markaddison.com for more tips, and grab the April issue of Better Homes and Gardens.
gregorymiller@nypost.com