Project - Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs

Decorating Easter eggs has never really been my thing.  I remember enjoying the process as a kid, but I never really liked the end product.  I wasn't especially impressed with what I was able to create and I didn't even get excited when we had stickers to put on the eggs.  The whole thing just didn't really appeal to me.  But this week I fell down a surprising internet rabbit hole (aren't they always surprising?  You just never know where you'll end up.) and came out on the other side feeling all fired up to do things like dye my own fabric using plants.  (Inspiration came from @kimothyd and Rebecca Desnos.) This has never had any appeal to me whatsoever, but one thing lead to another and suddenly I'm all fired up.  Combine that with a discovery of these beautiful eggs and then some dyed using blueberries by Tinka @tinkaswelt and I was off on a project. 

I've had ideas for testing out natural dyes for eggs before and even saved a few pins but never thought it would be worth the effort.  I had very low expectations for this whole thing.  I didn't really think the eggs would turn out as well as they did with relatively low effort, but I just wanted to try it, even if just to say that I did.  To my surprise, it was both easy to do (though stinky - boiling cabbage is not a scent that I would want made into a candle) and produced great results.  I followed the instructions by Marble Mount Homestead and they were excellent.  I modified only slightly by using just half a red cabbage and a smaller pot, as I was only putting 4 of my dozen eggs in the cabbage water. 

Eggs, prepped and ready for their dye bath

Supplies:

• Eggs, white if you have them, but brown will work fine too
• Red cabbage - for the dark aqua color
• Avocado - for the soft pink/blush color - eat the avocado, save the pit and skins for dyeing
• Blueberries - for the gray/blue color (I used frozen)
• Some kind of small leaves - I used the tops of a bunch of carrots but any herbs, leaves, ferns will work
• Pantyhose, cut into 2-3 inch strips to wrap the eggs
• Distilled white vinegar

Ready for dye

Method:

For each of your dye baths, you're going to simmer the dye materials for an hour before adding your eggs.  This is a stinky business, but worth it.  Since I was only putting 4 eggs into each dye bath, I used 6 cups of water in 3 separate pots and added 1/2 of a chopped up red cabbage to one, avocado stone, cut in half, and skins to another, and 1/4 c. frozen blueberries to another.  Bring the pots to a boil, then cover, and let simmer for an hour.  While those are boiling, prep your eggs.  It's not as hard as it may seem at first glance.  Place a leaf smooth side down on the egg and gently wrap a section of hose around the egg.  I recommend covering the whole egg - I didn't on some of mine and you can tell when they are done.  Tie the hose in a knot secure enough to hold the plant in place, but not so tight you crack the egg.  When the dyes are done simmering, remove the fruits and veggies from the pots, discard, add a splash of vinegar, and very carefully place your eggs in.  Bring to boil, then turn off the heat, and let sit for about 15 min.  This will hard cook your eggs.  Now it's up to you how long you want to leave them in the dye bath.  After an hour, they will have very light color.  I left mine in the dye bath in the refrigerator overnight.  I did gently place them into sealable plastic tubs for this, as I needed the pots and they wouldn't all fit in the fridge anyway.  The next morning, I took them out of the dye bath, snipped off the hose, and voila! 

Eggs dyed with red cabbage, avocado, and blueberries

A few tips:

• Make sure the hose is tight enough to securely hold the leaf while the egg gets jostled.  Otherwise, the design won't be quite as crisp when you're done.
• Placing the leaf smooth side down helps it to stay stuck tightly to the egg so you get crisper edges
• If the eggs are in a small container in the fridge and touching each other and the sides, you might have some light spots in the color.  Make sure the eggs have plenty of space if you don't want that to happen. 

This turned out to be fun and rewarding, and has renewed my interest in dyeing Easter eggs.  There are many other items you can use to get a full rainbow spectrum if you are interested.  I think I'm hooked and will try it again next year. 

Hope you have a wonderful Easter weekend and let me know if you try dyeing some eggs!

Enjoy!

-KB

Project - Pussy Willow Wreath

It's April!  The birds are singing, the sun is shining, flowers are blooming...not even close.  This is April in Maine, which means that it's cloudy, cold, and supposed to snow this afternoon.  There is nothing blooming and we still have a significant snow pack.  But it's not all doom and gloom, the sun is getting stronger and we are supposed to get into the 50s later this week.  Mainers truly appreciate those (relatively) warm days, and I will probably have to work to convince the kids not to wear shorts to school that day.  This is the time of year when I feel most impatient and the least like living in the rhythm of the seasons.  I want to drink iced coffee, plant the garden, and ditch the sweaters, but it's going to be a while.  I'm working to embrace all that is good about this time of year, which is not the mud - so much mud, it's things like seeing the buds on the trees, taking the time to plan a garden, and remembering that soon enough it will warm up and really be spring-like.  Then it will be a busy time of planting and soaking up all the outdoor living we can cram into those precious days.  For now, patience.  And making wreaths out of the available spring-heralding materials: pussy willows.  (Drat that name, right?)

Wreath-making supplies, including the requisite cup of hot coffee

Pussy willows are abundant this time of year, starting in late February, until they bloom in a few more weeks.  You can usually find this kind of willow tree near swampy or wet areas, and I prefer the branches of older trees, as they usually have more catkins on them.  I harvested an armload of the branches, in all their wild glory, and cut them down to make a cheerful wreath. 

To make my wabi-sabi little wreath, I started with a grapevine wreath that is approximately 6 inches in diameter.  I cut the branches into sections ranging from 6-8 inches long, and chose to pre-wire little bundles of branches and then wire them onto the wreath.  The project took about an hour from start to finish, and is now happily handing in the kitchen. 

Project Materials:

• 6 inch grapevine wreath
• 65-80 pussy willow branch sections, each 6-8 inches long
• Paper-wrapped floral wire
• Floral wire (I used a very thin and pliable, 26 gauge wire)

Process:

First, make coffee.  Not for the wreath, just for enjoyment.  Then, trim your willow branches into 6-8 inch sections.  Gather the branches into small, fan-shaped bundles with 5-6 branch sections in each, and wire together near the base, using the floral wire, or whatever you have on hand that will do the job.  I found the thin wire to be flexible and easy to work with, but strong enough to hold the finished product.  Mine is hanging in the kitchen, not exposed to wind, so you may want something stronger if yours will be outdoors.  Once you have all the bundles put together - I used 14 bundles in my wreath - begin assembly.  Start by laying one bundle on the wreath, and using the paper-wrapped florist wire to secure it to the wreath.  I wrapped the first section twice to firmly secure it.  Begin layering the wreath by placing the next bundle over the wired section of the first, so it hides the wire, and wrap it in place.  Add the next in the same manner, and so on.  Some of your bundles may be fluffier and fuller than others, so try to alternate those.  Keep taking a look at the whole picture so you don't end up with sections that are packed too densely.  (That's a "do as I say, not as I do" piece of advice.  I have one section that I wired too tightly with too-thin bundles and I don't recommend it.  Live and learn.) 

After you've secured all the willow bundles to the wreath, snip your wire, leaving a 3-4 inch tail to twist into a hanging and loop and secure the end into the wreath.  Look at the wreath and fluff and adjust the bundles to even it out.  You can tuck in extra single branches if you have any particularly bare spots.  The wreath is done and ready to be enjoyed.  I recommend hanging it somewhere where it won't get bumped and jostled too much, as some of the catkins may fall off. 

Let me know how it goes if you try it, or if you have any questions. 

Enjoy!

-KB

Wreath Making

Happy Holidays! 

Making evergreen wreaths for the holidays is a long-standing tradition this time of year.  It's one that I had always wanted to make a part of my life, but never seemed to get around to it.  I thought it would be difficult, and when I first tried it nearly 20 years ago, I thought it was.  But last year, after a fun adventure into the woods hunting for Christmas trees, my aunt sat down with me and showed me how it's done.  She has such an easy air about her - she's not a perfectionist so I didn't feel like she was judging me the whole time, and at no point did I feel overly embarrassed by my ignorance of the whole wreath-making process.  She made it fun and approachable and I learned to embrace the imperfection of the wreaths I made. 

All good projects start with coffee

This year I felt sufficiently confident to undertake wreath-making on my own.  I used the boughs we cut from our own Christmas tree, clipping them into small tips that I could easily wire to the wreath.  I used a simple metal form and some flexible but strong wire to assemble it.  I placed the tips in groups of threes and wired them tightly to the form.  At first, the wreath looked a little hopeless, but as I kept adding more greens, it started to shape up.  It's far from perfect, but I'm happy with it.  I topped mine off with some cedar and boxwood clippings, and burlap for hanging. 

What do you think?  Any wreath-making happening in your household? 

Wishing you all a quiet and joyful holiday season. 

Enjoy!

-KB