It was about 11 pm and I was on my way to bed when my random impulsive nature had the sudden urge to marble indigo blue Easter eggs. It’ll be quick I lied to told myself. All I needed for marbled eggs was indigo blue nail polish and water. I’ll do just one plastic egg and then I’ll head to bed like every other normal and sane person on the planet.
There was only one flaw in my plan, well maybe more than one, but the one big flaw (other then me) was…. I don’t own blue nail polish.
I still looked though. You know how it goes, it’s like that 2nd look in the fridge when you know nothing has changed from when you looked 10 minutes ago but you look anyway hoping the desired object will magically appear. Despite this strategy having never worked before, I was feeling positive; tonight could be my night!
Nope, I still don’t own any blue nail polish. However, I did notice my box of oil paints and thought, hmmmm oil paint should float in water; that might work.
Two hours later, I was in indigo marbled egg heaven!
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Indigo Marbled Egg Supplies
Please note that this process is meant for plastic decoration eggs and not food
Indigo Egg Supplies
• White Plastic Eggs or Styrofoam Eggs
• Oil Paint Medium Such as Linseed Oil
• Turpenoid or Turpentine
• Disposable Plastic Containers
Optional
• Gloves
• Paper Towels
• Chalky white spray paint
• Ball Head Straight Pins (Egg Drying Rack)
• Small Styrofoam sheet (Egg Drying Rack)
How to Marble Eggs with Oil Paint
If you’re not careful this project can get messy so lay down something to protect your surface and keep paper towels handy. Also, oil paint and turpentine have a strong smell, you will want a well ventilated area to work in. These eggs are for decorative use only and not for edible eggs.
Earlier in the week I coated cheap plastic eggs with white chalky spray paint for a separate project and had several left over. They worked well for this marbling experiment too.
Start with a disposable plastic bowl of warm water. Next, thin dark blue oil paint with oil medium such as linseed oil in 3 small disposable containers. Each container will have a different thickness from thin to thinnest. After I thinned the paint with linseed oil I thinned the paint even more by adding Turpenoid. I mixed my paint with an old paintbrush but anything such as a plastic spoon will due.
Add a few drops of the various mixes in the warm water. Start very small because you can always add more but if you add too much you get a big blue egg. After the paint drops are added, swirl the dots together.
Dip your egg in half way and then turn it over and dip in the back side. For me, it took several eggs before I got the result I wanted. At one point I got overzealous and added too much paint in my water so I dumped the water and started over.
Don’t forget the gloves.
Because I did this project on the fly, I didn’t initially wear gloves. I took this picture the next day so I would have an example to show you. Do you see the blue on my gloved fingers? Well that is exactly what my fingers look like under the glove too. Yep, I look like I strangled a smurf. As desirable as that sounds, I don’t recommend it. I’ve washed my hands multiple times and I have a feeling I’ll be living with this look for a while.
Quick Drying Rack
For an easy drying rack, use a simple Styrofoam sheet and place ball head pins close enough together to suspend the egg. It works great!
Each egg was a little different and my marble patterns got better as the night when on. It took a little practice to get the hang of it but once I did, it was soooo fun.
As you can see, I got carried away. I must have done 3 dozen eggs.
I have another project I want to use the indigo marbled eggs in. Hopefully I’ll get the time to complete and post that one too.
As always, if you have any questions you can leave those in the comments below or click on my contact page and send me a email.
Happy creating and have a wonderful week,
Oh and if you liked this project, I would love it if you pinned it!
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Jen your gorgeous eggs are my feature this week at Sweet Inspiration. Congrats!
Thank you so much Mary!!
I for one am super glad that your impulsive nature and urges struck because these eggs are gorgeous Jenny. Did you use French ultramarine? Stunning
These are so beautiful!
oH my goodness, I have blue nail polish!! Great idea and tutorial! Sharing and pinning 🙂 Have a wonderful Easter!
These eggs are gorgeous, and truly look like porcelain. Thanks for sharing this method with us.
These are just stunning! Thanks for sharing the at Talk of the Town. I’m giving the a shout-out at Knick of Time this weekend.
Angie @ http://www.knickoftime.net
Wow! The indigo marbling worked really well. The look absolutely fabulous in the white milk glass footed bowl. I have a lot of blue and white transferware and I can envision them massed together in one of my blue willow pieces. I will definitely pin this and think about trying next Easter.
These turned out beautifully Jenny!!!!
They are gorgeous, but both turpinoid and oil paint ate toxic. Dont eat them. Same with nail polish.
Hi Violet, yes oil paint on not meant for anything edible. These are meant for plastic decoration eggs. I did mention this in the post but maybe I need to add it in a few more places. I wouldn’t want anyone to miss that and get the wrong idea. Thanks for stopping by!
Happy Easter,
Jenny
The eggs are really beautiful! But I have a question: how long do they take to dry thoroughly so that the oil paint doesn’t stick to anything? I really resist using oil-based paints and turpentine, etc. Can you do this with more eco-friendly products and get the same or nearly the same results?
Hi Naomi, with my eggs the dry time varied. When the paint was really thinned with the turpintine, they dried instantly but others that had thicker splotches of paint took 24-48 hours the really dry. I can totally understand your resistance to oil paints and I’ve been racking my brain on other ways. The oil paints were my first experiment. I want to test some other paints. I just ordered some inks to give a try but I have yet to test. I’m working on it!
XO, Jenny
Absolutely gorgeous!
These are so pretty! Love the indigo blue! Pinned to share!
Beautiful! I really love this look, and I’m pinning.
Thank you Cynthia
Even if you don’t have kids, those are gorgeous and I’d sprinkle them around my kitchen for some spring color. Gorgeous!
The blue marbeling looks amazing…. we don’t color eggs, but I wonder what else that could be used for.
Hi Gentle joy. I made my eggs because I plan on using them around the table centerpiece and for other decorations around the house.
I also want the put yellow tulips and the blue eggs in a grapevine wreath for a great door wreath. I thought the blue and yellow would be pretty. they are very vivid and have a great color so I think they would be pretty in a little glass bowl on a table too. Those are just my initial ideas. whatever doesn’t get used this year in crafts will go into the Easter storage bin with the other decorations and I’ll pull them out next year and use again. 🙂
Xo, Jenny
wow they are gorgeous xx
Thank you so much Chris!!! Hugs, Jenny