Marguciai - Lithuanian Easter Eggs

Easter, means easter eggs in our house. I was taught by my dad as a kid how to blow out eggs, dye them in an onion skin bath and then etch designs into their shells using a knife.

This year instead of onion skins I decided to try a different natural dye… red cabbage! I shredded up the cabbage, brought it to a boil in a pot of 4 cups of water and then simmered it for twenty minutes. When that was done, I strained out the left over cabbage, let it cool and then added a tablespoon of vinegar and a pinch of baking soda.

I plopped my blown out eggs into my jars of dye and let them sit over night. In the morning I removed some beautifully naturally colored eggs!

Oh I forgot to mention I added a little turmeric to one of the dye baths and the results came out green!

  

After they dried, I penciled on my designs and then scratched them out using an exacto knife. And the final touch is to shine them up with some oil. I just use vegetable oil. It really brings out the designs.

It’s a long process that requires patience, but it’s very meditative and the results are thrilling. One of my favorite craft times of the year!