Traditional Czech Easter egg decorating: storytelling with straw

A collection of eggs decorated with straw. Photo by Jan KameníčekMarcela Hrabovská is an expert from the Czech Republic in traditional egg decorating with straw.

In the following 11-minute video with English subtitles, she discusses the history, symbolism and cultural significance of eggs carefully adorned with barley and oat straw. As she speaks, she demonstrates the process of selecting, splitting and curling the straw, as well as cutting lengths into tiny pieces and using a needle-like tool to glue them to an  egg for intricate, meaningful patterns.

Hrabovská reveals the inspiring and sometimes naughty messages the eggs could communicate. She also discusses how some Czech women once relied on the export of their decorated eggs as a way to produce income.  

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Dye eggs red with yellow onions and make "scratch eggs" for Easter

From left, a brown egg, a white egg dyed 15 minutes in yellow-onion-skin dye, white eggs dyed overnight with scratched patterns made by a paper towel and, next, a knife,Dye Easter eggs red by boiling them with the skins of yellow onions.

Seeing this claim on several websites, I decided to try it. I collected the papery outer skins from yellow onions for a few weeks until there were enough to half fill a 10-quart stainless-steel stock pot. I'd estimate that the amount was from at least a dozen large onions. 

I added six cups of water to the pot, brought it to a boil, pressed the skins down into the water, turned off the heat and let it sit overnight. The water looked nice and orange, just as one website said it would. Then I brought the water to boiling again and let is sit covered until it cooled down.

Next, I poured 4 cups of the onion water into a smaller pot, added 2 tablespoons of vinegar and four white eggs. I threw in as many of the onion skins as I could fit and brought the eggs to a boil. Then I turned off the heat and let them sit for 15 minutes. When I first put the eggs in, they immediately took on the nice orange color of the liquid. Since I was so excited about the possibility of the eggs turning red, I made the mistake of not leaving one out to see how the lighter dye would hold (More on that later.)

When I took the eggs out after 15 minutes, they were about the color of brown eggs. NOT very exciting. So I left out one of the eggs for comparison and put the pot with the other three in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning, those were a more pleasing terra cotta red, but the dye did not take evenly. Some areas had lines in places where the onion skins had touched them in the pot. 

This made me wonder if perhaps the first woman to make "scratch eggs" was disappointed by an uneven Easter egg dye job and decided right then and there to use a sharp implement to save it by  scratching away at the dye to make pretty patterns that would camouflage an unsatisfactory dye job.

Here's a video showing the "scratch" process. (Focus on the work and try to ignore the fly)

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Vision boards as art: A decoupage craft project for a happy new year

Words to live by: Back in the day when kids declared themselves “BFF” or best friends forever, the craft brand Plaid came up with this project idea for a canvas celebrating friendship.

Years later and at the dawn of a new year, we like the finished piece because it emphasizes, in a format meant to be displayed, some of the most important qualities of a strong friendship (you can lean on me, laugh, share good times).

This wordy decoupage project is great way to relax on the eve of a new year with an activity that can set the tone for 2019.

Plaid still makes word stickers for scrapbooking and decoupage projects such as this one, but it's also easy to clip out magazine words and images that speak to our goals or to print them out from the Internet. Such a project is appropriate for today and for the first part of the year because, with the right words and images, it can be a reminder to stay on track with our resolutions and the ways we want to grow better and stronger in the new year.

The beauty of decoupage is that it can be done on a variety of surfaces. Plaid makes its Mod Podge glue and sealer in several formulations:  for paper, fabrics, furniture and even outdoor surfaces. There are matte, gloss, glittered and other finishes. So grab a magazine and clip out inspiring words and images to make yourself a crafty vision board — a beautiful, visual reminder of your dreams and what it takes to be the very best you.

There's still time to get to the crafts store! For a bit more guidance, see our previous instructions to make an inspirational decoupage table.  

Easter egg designs with easy non-toxic egg-white decoupage

Easter eggs decoupage: designs cut from assorted papers are held in place by egg white for a non-toxic option. (Photos by Kimberly L. Jackson)Easter egg designs with decoupaged scrapbook paper cutouts and other materials are lovely, but if you glue on the designs with traditional decoupage medium, you can't eat the eggs. And the hollow shells of eggs drained out through holes are far too fragile for the Easter egg hunt.

Planning for this Easter Sunday on April 5, we drained a lot of eggs to test various methods, and it made me remember that my mother had used egg white as emergency glue when I was a child. I decided to see if it would work to stick cutouts from newspapers and napkins to eggs. It worked on boiled eggs, emptied egg shells, plain egg shells and shells that had been "painted" using McCormick's super easy food color and vinegar paint.

Egg-white Glue for Non-toxic Easter Egg Decoupage: Crack open an egg and separate the yolk from the white (refrigerate the yolk for another use), placing the white in a shallow bowl. Add 1 teaspoon of water and whisk gently. 

Materials for Non-toxic Easter Egg Decoupage: To be sure the dyes are non-toxic for eggs that will be eaten, cut out patterns from paper table napkins (the napkins shown are from Dollar Tree). If the eggs will be used for decoration, patterns can be cut from newspaper, scrapbook paper or magazines. 

Color for Non-toxic Easter Egg Decoupage: If you want color, the hands down easiest technique is to mix a drop or two of McCormick food color in a tablespoon of vinegar. We had eight color options working with the traditional "Assorted" colors and fun "Neon!" colors. The color drops also can be mixed if you need even more options. We used caps from seltzer bottles both to mix the egg colors and as stands for the eggs to dry on.

Three-step instructions

The egg-white decoupage technique works on plain and colored eggs.

1. Use cotton swabs to dab paint evenly over egg shells if color is desired. Two coats may be needed for some colors. Let shells dry fully.

2. Place selected cutout design into the bowl with egg white glue. To avoid curling, avoid fully soaking napkins. Newspaper, magazine or scrapbook cutouts should be soaked through for easier smoothing. 

3. Carefully place the cutout as desired on the egg shell, and smooth in place gently. Let egg designs dry fully on bottle caps. In our testing, the designs were still in place a full month after having been applied. (April 10, 2023 update: all the paper designs we  tested are still in place and have not cracked or yellowed.)

 Egg-shell diorama frame: Gently crack the center of a raw egg. Pick away pieces and then use nail scissors to carefully cut an oval-shaped opening. Wash the inside of the shell with soapy water and let dry fully. Paint the egg shell as in Step 1 above. Let dry.

Use white craft glue to adhere trim around the cut opening. Fill the inside of the shell with cotton balls (as shown on the above photo's left side at center).  Trim a wallet-size photo slightly larger than the opening. Bend at sides and tuck into the egg shell for a fun Easter photo frame.

Glue a loop to the top of each egg, and they can be hung. Try painting a cluster of bare branches white then hang several of the eggshell frames from them to make a whimsical Easter tree decoration.     

Tasting party: Condiment servers double as a cute place for cheese

Aged Wisconsin cheddar, BelGiosio pepato and Great Midwest habanero jack to pair with pale ale. Courtesy of Wisconsin Milk Marketing BoardCheese usually tastes best at room temperature, so presenting it on a cheese plate or board is a good option when cheese is the main food event, such as at wine and cheese tasting party.

It's a good idea to keep a little chill under the cheese, however, when it won't be the center of attention, such as at a Super Bowl Party where it will be among many delicious options snacked on over an extended period.  

This image from the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board shows an attractive presentation of that idea. Here, cubes of aged Wisconsin cheddar, BelGiosio pepato and Great Midwest habanero jack are stored in a chilled container. Check out eatwisconsincheese.com for more cheese information and recipes.

Finding the container that's holding the cheese took some web searching.

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