Easter is only a few days away and with Earth Day coming tomorrow it is just the right time to share some fine sustainable and organic ideas for egg coloring and decorating.
Coloring:
You may be surprised to learn how many plants are willing to share their dye with the Easter eggs. Natural dyes produce even more shades and firmer colors than the traditional decorating kits. Here is how you can get the basic colors:
- Red - red onion skins, red beetroot, red pepper, almond leaves, chilly powder.
- Yellow - yellow onion skins, lemon peels, birch leaves.
- Orange - orange peels, carrot tops, carrot juice.
- Green - spinach, parsley.
- Blue - red cabbage, cranberries, red wine.
- Brown - walnut shells, black tea.
Just put the ingredient of choice in a saucepan, add the eggs, some water to cover them fully, add 1 soup spoon of vinegar to 1 liter of water, bring to the boil and let simmer for 20 minutes.
The intensity of the color depends on how many of the leaves/skins, etc you put in the water and how long you keep the eggs in the mixture.
Decorating:
There are so many inspiring ideas for eco friendly egg decoration but here are a few of my personal favorites.
You can press herb leaves to your eggs, enwrap tightly with a piece of stocking which you tie in the back and boil. Here you can follow the whole process.
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| Photo: http://cafechocolada.blogspot.com |
Use duct tape in a similar way to achieve impressive geometrical shapes.
Another sustainable idea is to draw on the eggs with a thin wax candle after boiling and before coloring them.
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| Photo: Kanelstrand |
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| Photo: http://www.teener1416.etsy.com |
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| Photo: Carol Browne |
And now, for the most daring - you can try drilling your eggshells to create unique Easter eggs just like the Slovenian artist Franc Grom.
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| Photo: Rag & Bone |
How are you coloring your eggs this Easter?
If you are ready with your Easter decorations, leave a link in the comments for all to find and see.
I love the Japanese Washi eggs! The herb leaf eggs are neat too. I will definitely give those two methods a try.
ReplyDeleteThese are all great - so different from the store bought little dye tablets and vinegar we grew up with. And drilling ?! an egg - what patience he must have! It is just beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for adding my silk tie tutorial to your post! :)
ReplyDeleteJanyclaire, you are welcome, I couldn't resist posting your easy to follow and fun tutorial.
ReplyDeleteSo many beautiful ways to decorate eggs! We just dyed some, though they were brown eggs so the colors are more muted, but still beautiful. My son and I colored the warm eggs with crayons, which melted nicely onto the eggs. I think they'll be pretty on the table tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteThank you for adding my Easter eggs to your wonderful article! Love the other methods too!
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