Russian Egg Painting

Working with a real-life Russian last year definitely exposed me to approaching life resourcefully (which, coincidentally, is also my favourite word in french 'debrouillard'). There's something truly rustic about the soviet way of doing things- colouring Easter eggs included. The eastern European way of colouring eggs is eco-friendly, artistic, resourceful (of course), cheap, easy, and tasty (afterwards).

What you will need:

Raw eggs (preferably white)
Onion skins from about 10 onions
Nylons, cut in sections, thicker is better
Leaves or other flat decorables found in nature
A large pot
Water

1) Begin by removing the onion skins and placing them in the large pot with water. Bring water to a boil and then let simmer for about twenty minutes. This allows the onion peels to colour the water.

2) While your onion skins are simmering, take an egg and a leaf, or whatever you want to imprint on the egg, and wrap it around the egg. Next, take a section of your nylon and place the egg and the leaf wrapped around it into the nylon casing. Tie the top and bottom ends of the nylon. This process is slightly arduous as the leaf won't easily stay on the egg while you're placing it in the nylon.

3) When all of your eggs are wrapped and in their nylon casing, transfer them into the onion dye. Bring the water back to a boil and boil the eggs for 10 minutes. If it is your intention to eat the eggs at some point, it is best not to over cook them. But if you want the imprint to really work, let the eggs boil for about 20 minutes. Turn element off and allow eggs to sit in the dye for an additional 10 minutes.

4) Remove eggs from water and allow them to cool. Remove nylon casing and examine how well the imprint worked. Some turn out better than others.