Easter Eggs

I have a soft spot for folk art and find it incredibly inspiring. Over the Easter weekend I visited some small museums dedicated to Sorbian and rural culture in our area. Sorbian Easter eggs decorated with traditional patterns made by the use of hot beeswax, feathers and needles are very famous and you could watch them being made. It's fascinating!

Some eggs in their early stages

Finished eggs with traditional motifs

All the stages an egg goes through - layer by layer wax and dyes are applied

Many years ago in my childhood I painted eggs with this technique for the first time but never with such precision and skill. It takes a lot of practice and a very steady hand to get this good, but it's fun regardless of whether you are skilled or not.

Here are some of my feeble (and untraditonal) attempts of this year's Easter. Inspired by this tutorial at Lil Fish Studios blog I tried turmeric to dye some eggs. It works like a charm and gives the most gorgeous shades of yellow! The first tries with the darkest hues were already eaten when I took my pictures.

The egg to the left is an undecorated white one dyed with onion skins,
the eggs in the middle are dyed with turmeric and
the one on the right first had a bath in turmeric and then in commercial blue dye.

The yellow is turmeric. Red and blue are bought colours.

The blemishes are caused by melted wax when the dyes were used when still too hot. Stains can also be prevented when you blot dry the eggs. These will be eaten so it doesn't matter that much but when you make your eggs to stay longer it's better to be more careful.