Monday, April 6, 2009

The Egg

Easter eggs are a thing of beauty, especially when done the old Swiss way. My mom's side of the family is from Switzerland. Her grandfather came across the plains in a handcart. She grew up coloring her Easter eggs in this way, as have we. Pas is for wimps. This method takes great skill and artistic skills.

Step 1: Gather interesting shaped weeds, plants and flowers. You will want a wide variety. You never know what is going to work the best.  A couple of flowers that never fail are mums and daisies.

Step 2: Take a raw egg and tie your plants to the egg with thread. Make sure you secure the leaves well.

Step 3: Add as many leaves and flowers as desired, but leave some white parts showing and tie them securely (don't worry about using too much thread, the dye get under it).   Wrap all the eggs you want colored and set aside.

Step 4: (you have actually started this step ahead of time) Have a large pot of brown onion skins boiling on the stove until the water is a dark brown. Carefully place your wrapped eggs deep into the pot, covering them with water and skins.

Step 5: Put a lid on the pot and bring to a boil and then boil the eggs for 20 mins. Then carefully find your eggs and remove them from the pot and place them in a sink filled with cold water.


Step 6: Carefully unwrap the thread and remove the plants and flowers.

Step 7: If you want to shine them up a bit, put a little vegetable oil on a paper towel and rub your eggs with it.  Behold your eggs!

13 comments:

Jen said...

Wow!!!What a project:) They look fabulous!

Kendra@My Insanity said...

Those are really neat! I'm looking at using natural dyed this year. Thanks for the inspiration!

Marcie said...

Those turned out so pretty. We are pretty boring here...the little dye tablets are all my kids get. Great eggs!

Unknown said...

gorgeous!

Soon, Then said...

Those are gorgeous! But do you eat the eggs after they've boiled for a whole 30 minutes?

Unknown said...

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Lori said...

I saw this post here a few days back and I was uber impressed...beautiful & so artistic!

I saw your post again today when I visited design mom's site. :)
I look forward to seeing you next week.

Kristin said...

I just found you via Design Mom. Those are beautiful, thank you for sharing!

Melissa Banigan said...

I just showed the picture of the eggs to my daughter... we're going to give them a try! Thanks for the post, and happy Easter!

Kristin - The Goat said...

I dyed my eggs this way once, but I didn't use any flowers or string. Yours are gorgeous! I may have to do this again.

Lynette said...

Yes, you can still eat the eggs after boiling them for 30 min. Occassionally, if there is a hair line crack, some of the dye may go through and onto the egg, but it doesn't change the taste of the egg or make it less edible! We use them for deviled eggs or egg salad sandwiches all the time!

Davielle aka Princess Magpie said...

oh, oh, oh -- I wish I had seen this 48 hours ago, when I was planning OUR eggs. the stores were sold out of the dying TABS, so I ended up doing things with vineger & food coloring, like we did even BEFORE my childhood :-) -- you know, like 200 years ago. BUT these, these are magnificent and it's how I want to do my eggs in 2010. HAPPY EASTER to you and thank you for posting this. Big sigh. -- Davielle

Kitty said...

Glorious eggs! I also found you through Design Mom. I'll have to try these next year. Thank you for the lovely pictures!