Monday 11 February 2013

How to make Seed Bomb Easter Eggs



If you're looking for a non-chocolate gift to give this Easter, then this may be just the ticket.

It's not difficult to make, you just need a little patience, so older children should easily be able to make them.

I think it's such a great present to give.  Imagine the fun the recipient will have stealthily seeking out areas of urban wasteland to brighten up, indulging in a bit of guerrilla gardening, and smiling that secret smile when the flowers start to bloom.  And frankly, who doesn't want an excuse to throw eggs?

Seed bombs, if you've not heard of them are a method of populating areas with plants.  The term as first coined back in the seventies when the Green Guerrilla movement first started.

For this make, you will need:

A carton of eggs
Some wild flower seed
Transfer letters (or if you have pretty handwriting, a non-toxic pen)
A large needle (darning type)
A candle


Start off by giving yourself a hernia blowing your eggs.  I did mine over a period of a week, saving the shells, otherwise I fear I would have blown some blood vessels also.  You basically need to prick a hole at each end of the egg and blow like billio.  Red Ted Art is braver than I and shows pictures of how to do it.


One tip, make sure you remove your lipstick first, because that just looks WRONG.

I chose white eggs from the Posh Hen company, and if you can get them fresh from the farm that's even better because they won't have a date stamp on.

If you wish, you can dye them pretty colours and this site has some great instructions for using natural, food based dyes.  However, I was quite taken with the pure whiteness.

Once your egg shells are empty, make sure you rinse them out thoroughly with warm water, and leave to dry both inside and out.  This might take overnight.

Next you need to seal up the top hole (pointy end of the egg).  Do this by dripping a drop of hot wax from a candle onto the top of the egg.  Once the wax has cooled and hardened you can neaten it up by scraping with your fingernail over the surface, and the hole should remain sealed.


At the rounded end, this will be where you fill with seeds.  You may want to make the hole a little bigger by carefully working your needle around the hole.

Next comes the part which takes a little patience.  You can use plain wild flower seeds straight from the packet (be sure to use indigenous ones), or like I have use this shake and rake stuff.  It's pre-mixed with a 'spreading medium' - that's sawdust to me and you.  It will help the seeds stretch further though.

This part takes a little trial and error.  You might find rolling some paper up into a little funnel helps, or pouring the seed mix onto a piece of paper and folding it up to pour (like how you clear up spilled glitter). But generally I just sprinkled pinches over the hole and poked it down!


Finally, when you have enough seed inside (you don't need to fill them completely, that would take you forever!) you need to seal the hole again with wax like before.

Then, you can leave as they are, or add mottos and words on.  I used one word motto which acts as the instructions for use too.  You can hand write this on, or if your writing is appalling like mine, use transfers.


I peeled off the label from the original egg box and added a Happy Easter label, ready for gifting.

Featured on Fun Crafts Kids 

39 comments:

  1. Love this for so many reasons xxx

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    1. Thanks Anthea. Hope you give it a go. x

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    2. Wonderful, Brilliant! Thanks for posting :0) Lyn from Ontario Canada

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  2. Fantastic idea! What a wonderful way celebrate Spring too!

    Maggy

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    1. Thank you Maggy and thanks for featuring it in your Easter round up x

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  3. Sounds really interesting, may have to give it a go

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  4. Wow, wow and wow I love this idea sooo much. Genius. I must share this on my Facebook page, I hope that's OK. x

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    1. Ahh thanks Emma - loving your enthusiasm! x

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  5. I've pinned and stumbled this too, I just lurvvvve it! :-)

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  6. LOVE it Liz, although my first thought was how much fun Miss6 would have smashing them off walls :)
    Michelle xx

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    1. Thanks Michelle. Tee hee, smashing them against walls is ok - as long as they are outside walls! You don't want flowers growing out of the carpet! x

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  7. What a lovely idea, will definately be adding to our 'to do' classroom list. Guerilla gardening really took off in our town last year; wonder if I could make the hole big enough to stuff some sunflower seeds in :)

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    1. Oh how cool! I love the idea of a whole classroom of kids lobbing seed bombs!

      Making the hole big is not the problem. It's the sealing it up again after. Hmmm...maybe some wet paper like papier mache to plug the hole?

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  8. What a wonderful idea! My oldest kid will love the idea of blowing the egg and filling it and the others will love to throw them all over the garden, so we'll have beautiful flowers all over the place.

    Thanks so much!
    Maria

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  9. Brilliant! I may just have to do this myself x

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  10. Are they planted or just broken randomly?

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    1. Hi, no the fun is to throw them and see where they scatter. x

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  11. I totally love this idea! My tip for easy egg blowing is to get yourself a blas-fix. It's a handy little gadget that blows the eggs for you! Costs about £6 from Panduro Hobby. Worth every penny and has the added bonus of only making one hole in the eggs. No more red faced egg blowing yuk ;-) ♥

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  12. I totally love this idea! My tip for easy egg blowing is to get yourself a blas-fix. It's a handy little gadget that blows the eggs for you! Costs about £6 from Panduro Hobby. Worth every penny and has the added bonus of only making one hole in the eggs. No more red faced egg blowing yuk ;-) ♥

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    1. interesting gadget, intrigued as to how it works with just one hole......

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  13. Such a fabulous idea! I had to have a chuckle when you mentioned giving yourself a hernia blowing out the egg yolk! I can totally relate. Elise @ Creative Play Central

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  14. Ooh this is a cute idea. I definitely want to try this, but I also know that I am a lazy mare and probably won't get around to it.

    Do you then just lob the eggs at the ground? Because I have to say, that sounds fun.

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  15. In our area, cascarones, confetti filled eggs, are a popular part of Easter celebrations. They have a large hole in the bottom that is covered with a piece of tissue paper that is glued down with thinned down glue. I definitely think that our cascarones this year will have to have some wildflower seeds in them.

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  16. What a fabulous creation: I shall regret all the money I spent on buying seed bombs now!!

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  17. Oh my goodness Liz they look amazing but you must have the patience of a saint! Pinned them for a brave day :)

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  18. I love this idea. I showed my grand kids how to blow the eggs. I will have them come help me and save buys a gadget to do it! Thanks!!

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