Page 21 - April 2022 Parker County 4-H Connection

Easter Egg Decorating with Onion Skin and

Leaf Print
Instructions

1. Just before you start decorating pick some small spring flowers
This method involves boiling eggs in onion skins which releases and leaves from the garden.
pigments that colour the eggshells. 2. Clean all eggs with vinegar to get rid of all oil and dirt.
You'll need: 3. Lay the strip of cut tights down, position the leaf in the middle
8 uncooked eggs (brown shell gives a better result than white) and put the egg on top of the leaf.
dry onion skins (3-4 handfuls) 4. Cover the bottom of a wide pot with ½ of the onion skins and
leaves and flowers from the garden carefully put the wrapped eggs in. Cover the eggs with the
ladies thin tights cut into 6 cm wide strips remaining onion skins.
1 tbs white vinegar 5. I can generally pack 4 handfuls of dry onion skins and 8 – 10
1 teaspoon of lard eggs into a pot 25 cm in diameter.
a big pot (25 cm diameter) 6. Fill the pot with water so all eggs are completely covered and
slowly bring them to boil. Once the water starts boiling leave
It's the best to collect as much dry onion skins as possible in advance. the temperature on medium heat and cook for 15 - 20 minutes.
You can start collecting a couple of months before Easter. You can also This should be enough time for the pigment from the onion
ask in the shops where they sell loose onion as they might have some skin to dye the eggshells.
dry onion peels. More onion skins = darker eggs. 7. Once cooked, remove the eggs from the pot and place them on
to an old newspaper as they will otherwise stain your
countertop.
8. Carefully remove the old tights and the leaf to uncover the
picture underneath. You have to work quickly while the eggs
are still very hot to be able to remove the leaf. If you wait for
the eggs to cool down, the leaf may dry onto the eggshell and
you won't be able to remove it. Unfortunately, rubbing them
off will scratch the color off.
9. The very last step is to make eggs shiny as they become dull
once they dry out. Coating them with the lard or oil gives them
a nice shine and makes their colors more vibrant.
20 PARKER COUNTY 4-H CONNECTION / APRIL