happyeastereggs

Egg Decorating Ideas and the History of Easter eggs

Easter Egg Stands Paper towel rolls cut into 1-inch long pieces make great egg stands.

Spotted or Stripped Eggs

Spotted Eggs: Put about 2 tsp. of cooking oil (Canola works well) in your dy.
(You might want to make two containers of your dye, so you don't mess up all
of your regular dye.) When you dip in your egg, it makes the dye not stick to
the places where the oil is, thus making mysterious spots on your egg .

Stripped Eggs: Wrapping electric tape around an egg won't make a clear
stripe, but it can make a really cool design! Take one or two pieces and wrap
them around or stick them in various places. Then dye your egg. The dye will
seem in along the edges of the tape and make great patterns.

Marble Eggs

Large glass jar
Crayon stubs
Vegetable grater
Hot water
Waxed paper or newspaper
Empty egg carton
Clear acrylic spray (optional)

Grate peeled crayons over waxed paper. Fill jar with very hot water. Drop bits
of grated crayon into water. Add hard boiled or blown egg as soon as crayon
begins to melt. Twirl egg in water with spoon. the wax should make a design
on the egg. Carefully remove egg and set upside-down in egg carton to dry.

Sponge Painted Eggs

Liquid tempra paint
paper cups (for each color)
small pieces of foam or sponge
clothes pins (for each color)
egg cups
clear acrylic spray

Place hard boiled or blown eggs in egg cups. Partially fill paper cups with
different colors of paint. Clip a piece of sponge to a clothes pin and dip into
paper cups, use the clothes pin as a handle. Lightly dab the sponge over the
top half of the egg. Let dry. Turn egg over and repeat procedure. Let the egg
dry completely. If using blown eggs, spray with acrylic spray for a permanent
finish.

Waxed Eggs

Wax crayons
paper towels
egg dyes in different colors
slotted spoon
cooking oil
soft cloth
Draw a heavy crayon pattern on hard boiled egg. Dip egg in egg dye, preferably
a dark color.Leave in dye until desired color is reached. Remove with slotted
spoon and place in 200 degree F oven for a few minutes until wax is melted. Wipe
with paper towel and dip again in lighter dye to fill in pattern where wax was. Polish
finished eggs with cooking oil and soft cloth.

And here is another way to use wax

"Light a candle and drip some was on your egg. Congratulations! You now
have spots! Now, you can dye it your next color, let it dry, and ad more wax.

Dying Easter Eggs--the Natural way!

This Easter, why not color your eggs using nature's very own dyes? It's

possible to come up with a great number of colors using natural ingredients

that can easily be found in almost any kitchen.

Pale Red: Fresh beets or cranberries, frozen raspberries

Orange: Yellow onion skins

Light yellow: Orange or lemon peels, carrot tops, celery seed or ground

cumin

Yellow: Ground turmeric

Pale green: Spinach leaves

Green-gold: Yellow Delicious apple peels

Blue: Canned blueberries or red cabbage leaves

Beige to brown: Strong brewed coffee

To dye the perfect Easter eggs the natural way, here's what to do:

1. Put eggs in a single layer in a pan. Pour water in pan until the eggs are
covered.
2. Add about a teaspoon of vinegar.
3. Add the natural dye appropriate to the color you want your eggs to be.
(The more
eggs you are dying at a time, the more dye you will need to use.)
4. Bring water to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
5. Remove the substance you used to color the eggs. Put eggs in a bowl.
If you want your eggs to be a darker shade, cover them with the dye and
let them stand overnight in the refrigerator.

The History of Easter Eggs
The Decorated Easter Egg
The egg is nature's perfect package. It has, during the span of history, represented mystery, magic, medicine, food and omen. It is the universal symbol of Easter celebrations throughout the world and has been dyed,
painted, adorned and embellished in the celebration of its special symbolism.

Before the egg became closely entwined with the Christian Easter, it was honored during many rite-of-Spring festivals. The Romans, Gauls, Chinese, Egyptians and Persians all cherished the egg as a symbol of the universe.
From ancient times eggs were dyed, exchanged and shown reverence.

In Pagan times the egg represented the rebirth of the earth. The long,
hard winter was over; the earth burst forth and was reborn just as the egg miraculously burst forth with life. The egg, therefore, was believed to have special powers. It was
buried un der the foundations of buildings to ward off evil; pregnant young Roman women carried an egg on their persons to foretell the sex of their
unborn children; French brides stepped upon an egg before crossing the threshold of their new homes.

With the advent of Chrisianity the symbolism of the egg changed to represent, not nature's rebirth, but the rebirth of man. Christians embraced the egg
symbol and likened it to the tomb from which Christ rose.

Old Polish legends blended folklore and Christian beliefs and firmly attached the egg to the Easter celebration. One legend concerns the Virgin Mary.
It tells of the time Mary gave eggs to the soldiers at the cross. She entreated them to be less cruel an d she wept. The tears of Mary fell upon the eggs, spotting them with dots of brilliant color.

Another Polish legend tells of when Mary Magdalen went to the sepulchre to
anoint the body of Jesus. She had with her a basket of eggs to serve as a repast.
When she arrived at the sepulchre and uncovered the eggs, lo, the pure white
shells had miraculous ly taken on a rainbow of colors.

Decorating and coloring eggs for Easter was the custom in England during
the middle ages. The household accounts of Edward I, for the year 1290, recorded an expenditure of eighteen pence for four hundred and fifty eggs
to be gold-leafed and colored for Ea ster gifts.

The most famous decorated Easter eggs were those made by the well-known
goldsmith, Peter Carl Faberge. In 1883 the Russian Czar, Alexander, commissioned Faberge to make a special Easter gift for his wife, the Empress Marie.

The first Faberge egg was an egg within an egg. It had an outside shell of platinum and enameled white which opened to reveal a smaller gold egg.
The smaller egg, in turn, opened to display a golden chicken and a jeweled replica of the Imperial crown.

This special Faberge egg so delighted the Czarina that the Czar promptly ordered the Faberge firm to design further eggs to be delivered every
Easter.
In later years Nicholas II, Alexander's son, continued the custom. Fifty-
seven eggs were made in all.

Ornamental egg designers believe in the symbolism of the egg and celebrate
the egg by decorating it with superb artistry. Some use flowers and leaves
from greeting cards, tiny cherubs, jewels and elegant fabrics, braids and
trims, to adorn the eggs.They are separated, delicately hinged and glued
with epoxy and transparent cement, then wh en completed, they are covered with a glossy resin finish. Although the omens and the mystery of the egg
have disappeared today, the symbolism remains, and artists continue in the
old world tradition of adorning eggs.

Great link's for egg Decorating Decorated Egg Ideas Easter Egg safty tips

Back to Easter Page all backgrounds created by Tink Please see Tink's free Easter background set's on enterance page, along with links to free Easter graphic's.