This is the first year I’ve made fused glass Easter eggs, so maybe I was more focused on this much-anticipated spring event than usual. Or maybe it’s pure coincidence – but with only a week to go until the big day, my beloved henny penny began laying again, after her winter break.

I never use those first few eggs, but I thought it was a great opportunity to have some fun, given the season. So I tried my hand at dyeing hard-boiled eggs, using what I had around me.

First I tried the tissue paper technique, when you wrap each egg in one or more colours of crumpled tissue paper, then tie into a coffee filter bag. Dunk the parcel into a cup of vinegar until totally saturated, then take out and leave to dry. I couldn’t stand the smell of vinegar in the kitchen, so I put the egg parcels in the shed to dry overnight.  Unfortunately I was a bit disappointed with the results the next day. I knew you were supposed to use ‘bleeding’ tissue paper, and it turns out the coloured King’s Forge Glass tissue paper I use to gift-wrap my glass, didn’t bleed enough to leave a strong colour on the eggs.

So I went to plan B – marbled eggs, using food colouring, hot water, vinegar and cooking oil. First, put hot water, a spoonful of vinegar and a little food colouring into a cup. Dunk the egg in (use a spoon or rubber gloves so as not to colour your hands), until the egg has a light colour on it, then place on a tissue to dry. Meanwhile in another cup, put hot water, vinegar, a teaspoon of cooking oil and a good spoon of a different colour food colouring in, and give it a stir. Place your dried, coloured egg in and swirl it about. You’ll see the second colour making a pattern over the top. When you like the result take it out – it only takes a minute or two. If you leave it in, it’ll completely cover the original colour.

And there you have it – multicoloured eggs! (You can rub more oil over, if you like them to have a bit of a shine). I put them in a duck-egg blue bowl, on a bed of moss, and added a few fused glass eggs too, just for fun! Happy Easter everyone!