St. Margaret of Scotland Parish

Easter Eggs

The most common way to decorate an Easter egg uses hard-boiled eggs and a commercial egg coloring kit that uses pastel colors such as blue, pale yellow, violet, and light green.

Some people dye their eggs with colors made from natural materials. Use the skins of red onions to dye eggs red or lavender. Use cranberry juice or the juice from pickled beets for pink eggs. Soak hardboiled eggs overnight in violet blossoms for blue eggs. Use grape juice for lavender eggs.

Etching Designs on Eggs

Some eggs are decorated with an etched design that requires the use of melted paraffin wax. Always work under the direct supervision of an adult! The only safe way to work with the wax is to melt it slowly over a double boiler while you are constantly watching it. As soon as it is melted, remove it from the heat.

First dye the egg your background color. After it is dry, dip the egg into the melted paraffin wax and etch your design by removing some of the wax with a darning needle. Then dip your egg into another color of dye. Remove the wax by heating the egg slightly in hot water and polish the surface by rubbing.

Elaborate Designs

Among the most elaborate Easter eggs are decorated by people in eastern and central Europe--especially by people from Poland and the Ukraine. A person can spend several days working on the design for just one egg. A special type of pen is used to draw to the designs on the eggs with wax and then the egg is dyed.

Before the egg is decorated, it is pierced with a large needle and the contents are blown out of them. The empty egg shell is decorated.

Fabrege Eggs

Peter Fabergé, a Russian jeweler, made beautiful eggs out of gold, silver, and jewels for the czars. Faberge eggs often open to show a surprise inside.

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Date of Last Update:Friday, February 22, 2002 22:36:25 -0500
eggs.html