Easter Egg Decorating!

'A relaxed mind is a creative mind.' Yogi Tea certainly got that quote right. I am sure I am not the only one who feels like work is going to never end - deadlines are looming closer and the pressure is mounting, but it is important not to lose sight of the bigger picture. Every once in a while it is good to do something completely different and today I am going to try and tempt you to decorate some eggs in time for next Sunday. Even if you don't like eating eggs, they make lovely presents and look beautiful simply placed in a bowl on the table.

On one of the few sunny afternoons in Algiers this week (we have had LOTS of rain), we decided to decorate some eggs using a variety of different techniques. The eggs above show a sample of our creative afternoon. We worked with a mixture of hard boiled eggs and blown eggs. If you are feeling brave, a blown egg is created by piercing two tiny holes into either end of a raw egg, making sure one hole is slightly bigger than the other. Put your lips to the smaller of the two holes and blow the yolk and white out of the bigger hole. Blown eggs last forever as long as you are careful with them whilst boiled eggs last a week or two!

Our eggs were dyed using a mixture of 1 part vinegar, 1 part hot water, 1 part dye; we covered them in cellotape to create a tartan-esque effect before dunking in dye; we cut squares of easter paper up and glued them onto the egg to create a decoupage effect; we dyed the eggs and then painted on top; how creative are you feeling?

I think stickers would be fun as you could cover the egg in polka dots, dye it and then have an amazing polka dot egg. Write a name, a date, a special sign; leave them plain, glue fabric on to them. Remember, the longer you leave the egg in the dye, the darker the shade it will become. To give them a nice gloss, take them out of the dye and decorate as you like, allow to dry and then gently rub with some olive oil.

I particuarly love the onion skin eggs with the leaf motif. Here is a quick how-to for you to recreate them at home. I would like to see some experimenting with beetroot or spices to see the effect the dye has on the eggs. The bonus of the natural dyes is that they are still edible afterwards!

What you will need...

String

Scissors

An old pair of tights

Motif of your choice - leaves, flowers, plastic shapes, letters etc

Onion Skins - the papery outer layers

Eggs - the more eggs you want to dye, the more natural dye product you will need.

• Place the egg in the bottom of the foot and cut the excess tights away.
• Position the motif on the side of the egg and gather the fabric tightly around the egg.
• Tie the tights with string to stop the motif from moving.
  

• Place the eggs into a pan so that they are all touching the bottom.
• Add the onion skins and scatter amongst the eggs.
• Cover with water.
• Bring to the boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
• The longer you leave the onions in the water, the deeper the effect.

• Allow egg to cool and then remove tights and motif.
• Polish with a drop of olive oil.

Don't forget to cover the surface you are working on with newspaper! It makes it easy to tidy up and catches any spills. More Easter crafts, and Algerian Angel photos later this week...

Wishing you all a lovely Easter break.

Charlotte Xx