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The stores are already full of ready-made sets for Easter creativity. But it is scary to go shopping now, and no one has canceled the quarantine. You can use what is in the kitchen to turn eggs into works of art.
1. Onion peel
The old grandmother’s way. Depending on the amount of husk and the cooking time, the color of the resulting eggs can vary from sandy to dark chestnut. You can leave the eggs in the husks after boiling, then the color will become even more intense.
Before placing the eggs in the broth, the husks should be boiled for about half an hour. Or pour the husk with water per day, and then cook for 20-30 minutes.
By the way, if you wrap the eggs with onion husks, fasten them with threads, and then just boil them, an interesting marble pattern will remain on the eggs. Another way: before boiling, wrap the eggs with a piece of lace, wind threads around them, stick pictures so that they do not slip during boiling, wrap the egg with nylon. You will get a nice pattern.
2. Colored threads
Wrap the eggs with threads (silk, woolen, floss are suitable) and cook in water with the addition of soda. As a result, you will get interesting colored streaks. Since it is not possible to assess the safety of thread dyes, be careful not to crack the eggs during boiling. If they do crack, then it is better not to eat these eggs.
3. Pieces of silk
Boil the eggs in baking soda water. Wrap them in multi-colored silk rags, tie with thread. Boil the eggs again in the same water. Cool and remove the shreds.
In addition to silk patches, you can use any fabric that fades. We wrap the eggs in it, fix it with a thread and cook in salted water, and put the eggs in cold water and bring to a boil. Ready eggs must first be completely cooled, and only then remove the fabric.
4. Vegetables-fruits
You can use natural dyes – vegetables, fruits and berries. Eggs need to be boiled and only then grated with pieces of fruit (vegetables, berries) or dipped in juice / broth. The dwell time depends on the desired color saturation and dye retention.
- Yellow – turmeric (it can be added when cooking) or saffron.
- Green – spinach broth or juice.
- Purple – beet broth, beet juice.
- Orange – carrot juice.
- Pink – mashed strawberries, cranberry juice.
- Gray blue – mashed blueberries or blueberry juice.
- Blue – a decoction of red cabbage leaves (you need to leave eggs in it overnight).
The broth in which you need to soak the eggs is prepared as follows: pour cold water into a saucepan, add vinegar at the rate of a tablespoon per liter of water, grate vegetables, add to water. We put the spices just like that. We boil water for about half an hour, let it brew for another hour. Put eggs in the broth, bring to a boil, after 5 – 7 minutes, take out and fill with cold water.
Or we put ready-made eggs in the broth, but then they will have to insist longer.
5. Birch leaves
A decoction of young (or dry) birch leaves will give the eggs a golden yellow hue. To do this, the birch broth is infused for about half an hour, then eggs are dropped into it, and the dishes are put on fire. After the broth boils, the eggs are boiled for 10 minutes. One difficulty – the leaves will have to be harvested ahead of time.
6. Rice
Dip wet eggs in rice, place in golf, tights, or simply wrap tightly with gauze, tying the edges, and cook in onion skins. The eggs will turn out brown with a white speck.
7. Beads
Melt a paraffin candle and dip an egg in liquid paraffin. After that, you can decorate the resulting “canvas” with beads. This work is very painstaking: we take the beads with tweezers, heat each one over a candle and apply them to the egg so that the beads stick. Thus, you can lay out any pattern on the egg – if you get confused, it will be very beautiful.
8. Drawing with a needle
An exquisite pattern can be applied to already painted eggs by scratching it with a needle. It will take neatness and a steady hand, but the results will be worth it.
9. Watercolor
Offer your child a new canvas – let him paint a boiled egg with watercolors instead of a regular sheet of paper. The kid will be able to present his creation as an Easter gift to dad or grandparents. But keep in mind – the watercolor will get dirty.
10. Food colors and thermal stickers
The easiest and fastest way to get beautifully colored eggs for Easter. In the dye solution, the boiled egg must be kept as stated on the package, but with thermal stickers it is even easier: put on the sticker on the boiled egg, put it in a spoon and dip it in boiling water.
Hostess a note
In order for the paint to lay down evenly, the eggs must first be degreased. To do this, wash them with warm water and soap or rub with alcohol.
To prevent the eggs from cracking during cooking, before placing them on the stove, they need to be “warmed up” – take them out of the refrigerator beforehand or immerse them in warm water for a short time.
To make the resulting color more saturated, add a little vinegar to the water with the dye (acetic acid eats away the shell, making the surface more rough and susceptible to dyes).
Rub the colored eggs with vegetable oil for shine.
If you will serve colored eggs on the table, use only special organic or natural dyes.
By the way
You can not paint eggs for Easter in any color. According to the priests, you shouldn’t try to surprise your family and paint your eggs black. After all, Easter is associated primarily with the holiday, and black cannot be called festive. The most iconic color is red.
Quarantine features
This year you do not need to go to church to consecrate Easter cakes, Easter eggs and eggs. Consecrated water will be delivered to their homes so that believers can sprinkle Easter treats themselves. Read more about this HERE.