While in Spain we unleash our fever for torrijas, monas and other traditional desserts such as pestiños, fritters and fried milk, half the world fills its Holy Week with eggs and chocolate figures. All traditions can coexist and the tradition of decorating Easter eggs it is a very fun activity to have a good time with the family.
As a sweet tooth who has grown up in a Murcian-Swiss family, in my memories of Easter there was no trace of French toast, but there were Easter parties painting eggs and looking for many others accompanied by chocolates, chicks and more sweets in the garden to fill our baskets.
The traditions linked to eggs already have a long history full of symbolism, and although in a large part of our country the Easter mondaythere are still many regions that maintain the traditional monkey accompanied by its eggs, which can also be decorated.
The customs of these Christian festivals also have their more commercial side and every year related products reach us in stores, but they also make it easier for us to encourage us to decorate our own Easter eggs. There is many ways to do it and we can be as creative as our artistic gifts allow.
natural dyes
In the past it was not easy to find specific commercial dyes to paint eggs and families resorted to something as traditional as take advantage of resources that nature itself gave. If lately the kitchen has been claimed zero waste or anti-waste use, we can also apply it to decorate Easter eggs.
Keep in mind that natural dyes will rarely be as intense and striking as commercial ones, so in this case it is especially recommended to have white eggs. They can be dyed following different methods, with or without vinegar. These are the easiest colors to obtain, for a liter of infusion that allows us to dye about 8-10 eggs, depending on size:
- Beet. You can use commercial juice, the liquid from a cooked preserve or homemade raw beet smoothie. It usually leaves a dark brown color with reddish tones. If we have raw beet we can take advantage of the leaves and stems for the infusion.
- onion skin. We need a good amount, at least 8-10 ordinary brown onion skins. It stains the eggs reddish brown or light brown.
- Turmeric. Four heaped teaspoons for yellowish or sand-like tones.
- Red cabbage. Four thinly julienned leaves will dye the eggs bluish.
- Instant coffee. We need about 100 g of coffee, which can be decaffeinated, to obtain brown and light brown colored eggs.
- hibiscus flower. When dry, marketed for infusions, three or four tablespoons give us an attractive dark color between anthracite and very intense red.
- Saffron. A teaspoon of strands can be enough to dye a liter of water in shades between gold and orange; It depends on the quality and freshness of the spice.
In all cases, you have to start from old eggs -not expired, at least 7-8 days-, and make a infusion of each ingredient. To do this, we will bring the water to a boil and then cook with the chosen product over a very low heat, without boiling, for a minimum of 10 minutes, better up to 30 minutes over a very low heat. Three procedures can be followed:
Strain each dye bath and cook the eggs in it, making sure they are at room temperature so as not to break, over medium heat, 10-12 minutes. Scoop out the eggs and let the dye cool. Submerge the eggs again and leave overnight in the cold infusion.
Add three tablespoons of white vinegar feed each dye bath and cook the eggs as described in the previous step. In this case, they should not be left submerged overnight.
Cook the eggs before in normal water, separately, and add a splash of vinegar to each dye mixture before making the infusion. Allow to cool slightly, strain and submerge the already cooked eggs. Cover and leave for about five hours or overnight.
Unless they are kept in the refrigerator, it is recommended do not consume Eggs that have been cooked for more than three days, even less so in very hot or humid environments. To give them greater shine, the shell can be rubbed gently with vegetable oil, coconut oil or lard.
Leaves and other decorations
To level up the decorated eggs we can add small decorations such as fresh flowers and leaves, ensuring that they are suitable for consumption and are very clean. We can use edible flowers that are already sold in stores or our own, and also take advantage of aromatic herbs such as parsley, dill or coriander leaves, strawberry leaves, carrot leaves, etc.
All you have to do is boil the eggs, allow them to cool slightly and adhere the chosen decoration to the shell using a piece of stockingtrying to keep very tight tying a knot in the excess fabric. We can then dye the eggs following the methods described above, removing the stocking at the end of the process.
You can also play with the decoration of small objects with intricate shapes such as embroidery, silk scarveslaces, etc
Dyes and markers for boiled eggs
Much easier to use are the commercial stains and paints that they already sell specifically for Easter egg decoration. They are very popular and common in other countries, particularly in Central Europe such as Germany and Switzerland, and also in Scandinavia. In my case, they came directly from Switzerland through my family, although today they are much easier to buy in Spain thanks, above all, to online sales.
Most brands are German and offer different finishes and shades, from basic flat colors, to marbled or felt-like effects. They are not excessively expensive and are very easy to use, with few differences between some manufacturers and others. It is usually indicated to use eggs already cookedand preferably white for much more vivid and intense results.
Eierfarben HEITMANN Vivid Color Egg Paint – 5 Cool Liquid Colors – Easter – for painting Easter Eggs, Green, Blue, Yellow, Orange, Red, 4062196077958_SML
Heitmann Easter Egg Paints 5 Liquid Cool Colors Azo Free Marble Colors
Heitmann 5-Liquid Easter Egg Colors with Felt Scarf, Multi-Colour
Another option that can be combine with the dyes or with the paints and decorations that we have applied manually, it is that of the markers. Perhaps it is one of the most recommended for children who already enjoy drawing normally at home or at school, and there is less risk of filling everything with stains, as happens with dyes.
We can use any food grade markersuch as those found all year round in specialized stores to decorate, for example, glazed cookies, but it will be more practical to acquire a concrete set for Easter eggs. There are colored ones and also the simple black marker, with which we can make simple drawings such as funny faces.
JOLIGAEA 12 PCS Edible Marker Pens, Food Color Baking Pens, 10 Colors Biscuit Marker Pens, Dual Tip for Cake Decorating, Easter Eggs
Heitmann Egg Colors 60008 – Malstifte for Easter Painting, Set of 6
stickers
The Easter sticker sets make it even easier for us, which are not too different from those that we can find in stationery and craft stores all year round. In this case, sheets with designs and party-specific figures Easter and can be combined with eggs already painted or decorated with dyes.
You have to pay close attention to the indicated size because they are usually stickers littlesince they are designed to be able to combine many in the same egg, or to decorate small plastic and wooden eggs, and also for other Easter crafts, such as cards and others.
Naler 20 Sheets of Children’s Stickers Crafts Stickers Easter DIY Decoration
LIHAO 8 Sheets Easter Stickers Egg Patterns Bunnies Easter Stickers for DIY Kids Easter Decoration
We can always design our own stickers or print templates and drawings that we find online -in English there are many free resources- using adhesive paper. Copy shops can print them on that paper with a more professional finish if we don’t have a suitable printer.
Fabrics, paper and more decoupage
The decoupage technique It is very popular among fans of crafts and craft decoration projects. It basically consists of decorating objects and surfaces with cutouts of other materials, generally fabrics and decorative paper.
If we have skill it can give results very attractive in Easter eggs, although it is used more with eggs of materials inedible (wood, plastic, polystyrene…) or empty shells, as it complicates the task of peeling them to eat them, and it can be a shame to break them.
Mod Podge (900112/301), 236ml 8oz. Matt, White, 236ml
We can use any glue or glue specific to this technique, the most popular being perhaps the brand Mod Podge. With matte or glossy finishallows to adhere with great precision and a fine and clean finish pieces of fabric, wallpaper, newsprint or magazines, gift wrap, pinocchio, patent leather or crepe, etc.
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