Easter Eggs Alchemy

    If someone asked me what food I would bring to a deserted island, I’d have to go with eggs. Not just because of the taste, but because of the versatility. My love for eggs does not stop there—it also extends to painting Easter eggs. There were years when I would paint them at 3 AM because I had worked overtime and there was no other time to do it, but skipping the ritual wasn’t an option. My preference is natural dye, and I always try to experiment with something I haven’t tried before—but I do love some “inedible” techniques as well (like marbled eggs using nail polish). 

    This year, I started by putting boiled white eggs into hot turmeric water that I had prepared earlier. Next, I transferred them into cooked purple cabbage water that I had mixed with sodium bicarbonate to shift the hue. The entire process took two days. I also experimented with placing the turmeric-dyed eggs into a nettle and beet leaf infusion, just to see what would happen. It goes without saying, white vinegar was added to all concoctions. My goal was to achieve different shades of green—and it worked. The last step was to sprinkle gold, black and white speckles on some of the eggs to elevate them a bit. Still quite minimalistic as per usual (if you're looking for more than that, you're on the wrong website, ha-ha). One thing that didn’t turn out as expected was the attempt to imprint fern shapes on some of the eggs using stockings. That technique works best with darker dyes, so the details didn’t quite show up this time. Oh, and this one brownish-red egg was made with a Dr. Oetker dye.

    The next photo is from last Palm Sunday. There's this lovely tradition in the region I come from that I kept. We wash our faces in flower infused water and bless palm leaves and olive branches to commemorate the day Jesus fulfilled a prophecy and entered Jerusalem on a donkey while people greeted him by placing palm leaves on the path in front of Him.

    Since I've had quite a long break from the blog in the past, I thought I'd share some Easter decor photos from previous years that I'd only posted on Instagram. If you prefer videos, there are a few reels over there as well. Hope you're having a lovely spring break.

 He is Risen.