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The shell game
Easter Egg Decorating
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WHITE OUT: Cianna Crawford watches as her egg dips down into the color fluid with the help of a teacher - as Preschoolers decorate Easter Eggs at New Life Christian Preschool, 2250 E. Western Reserve Road Poland.
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Bo Snyder takes an up close look at perfection as he dips his yellow egg in for more coloring as Preschoolers decorate Easter Eggs at New Life Christian Preschool, 2250 E. Western Reserve Road Poland
Dipping eggs in colored dye brings back memories for some, excites others and provides a time for creativity for artists.
By KATIE SEMINARA
Vindicator Staff Writer
Dozens of eggs, boiling water and plenty of coloring tablets will be a staple in many homes across the Mahoning Valley through the weekend.
With Easter sneaking up and the bunny searching for hiding spots, area residents and families will decorate eggs with dyes, stickers, crayons and paints to celebrate the holiday.
Easter eggs will wind up in a hunt and later will be devoured during a traditional feast.
The artist’s view
Marie Dippolito of Warren doesn’t claim to be an eggs-pert on Easter egg decorating.
But being a graduate of the Cleveland Art Institute and volunteer at Trumbull Art Gallery and the Butler Institute of American Art gives her some merit to provide decorating advice.
Dippolito has a whole Easter egg tree.
“These have a lot of memories,” she said, pointing to her variety of eggs.
“That’s the best thing about decorating eggs. I can still remember doing this with my daughter,” Dippolito said.
The tree has some traditional colored eggs, but Dippolito shared some different ways families can make egg-cellent art for the holiday.
“People can coat the egg with gloss, then cut out decorative napkins or origami paper and put them on the egg,” she said.
Lining the egg carton with wax paper will help the decorated eggs not to stick, Dippolito advised.
For a fun edible egg people can take the yoke out of a hardboiled egg (that’s been shelled) and put a jelly bean inside. Then decorate the outside with flowers or other spring art using gel icing, Dippolito said.
“Easter doesn’t have to take a backseat to Christmas,” she said in terms of decorations.
Veteran egg dippers
Margie Bohnstedt colored Easter eggs until she was 80 years old.
“[Coloring eggs] brings back lots of memories,” the 85-year-old said during an egg-decorating event at Shepherd of the Valley in Boardman on Tuesday.
Although Bohnstedt is legally blind, she sat and listened to her friends share Easter stories while dipping and dying the hard-boiled eggs.
“My sister used to paint bunnies on them; she was a great artist,” Bohnstedt said.
Searching for Easter baskets hidden by her mother and receiving plaster of Paris eggs with jelly beans inside were two other family traditions Bohnstedt recalled.
Egg traditions date back to centuries before Christ was born, when pagans looked at the egg as a symbol of rebirth and the start of spring, according to the American Egg Board. However, in Christian traditions the egg is seen as a symbol of Jesus’ resurrection.
No matter the beliefs, eggs are dipped, colored, painted, glued and plastered with stickers each year by people of all ages.
On average, about 75 million dozen eggs are sold the week before Easter, and the week of Easter more than 90 million dozen are sold, according to the American Egg Board.
When Helen Johnston, 92, was growing up, her family would go through five dozen eggs around Easter time.
“I’m from a family of 14, so we always did this,” she said while waiting for her egg to soak up the dye at Shepherd of the Valley.
Johnston passed the coloring custom on to her nieces and nephews, teaching them how to drop the eggs in the dye on a spoon.
“Everyone wanted to put their fingers in the dye to pick up the eggs,” she said laughing.
Younger decorators
It was easy to egg on the young artists at New Life Christian Preschool in Poland.
The group of 25 preschoolers spent Tuesday morning dunking their eggs in pinks, greens, yellows, blues and oranges. They wore smocks to keep their clothes dye-free and learned how to keep their fingers clean.
“Toothpaste takes dye off the hands,” said school secretary Kelley Szenborn, who was assisting.
Grace Pavkovich, 5, dyed her egg pink and said her favorite part of the process was adding more decoration after the egg was colored.
“I paint it with stickers,” she said.
Although the kids enjoyed the coloring, they were more excited by what the egg-coloring ritual leads to — the Easter bunny.
“The Easter bunny brings surprises and chocolates,” said 5-year-old Kaleb Thompson.
“And he’s going to hide them,” Grace said while dunking her egg into its pink bath.
“I found Easter eggs in the grass and I picked them up and put them in my basket,” said Kaleb’s younger sister, 3-year-old Gracie Thompson.
“I found one in my room once,” chimed in 4-year-old Ryan Nemeth.
After the dyed fingertips were washed, the little ones waited for their eggs to dry before plastering them with stickers.
“And maybe markers, even if it’s a little messy” said pre-K teacher Brenda Harris, noting it’s part of the fun.
DECORATING TIPS:
XIf not using a decorating kit, use food coloring.
XMake sure the water you use is warmer than the eggs and for each cup of water squeeze a few drops of food coloring and add two to three teaspoons of white vinegar.
XFor vibrant colors use the dying tablets from coloring kit and food coloring.
XDip a sponge or paint brush directly in food coloring and press onto the shell to create a design.
XFor layers of color, dip the egg in a light color first and then into a dark color.
XFor half-and-half colored eggs, dip half in one color and the other half in another color.
XUse a wax crayon to create a design before dipping in dye.
XWrap different sized rubber bands around the egg before dipping in color and take them off when the egg is dry.
XAfter eggs are dry use stickers or markers to decorate.
FACTS:
XThe egg is considered an ancient symbol of new life and has been associated with pagan festivals celebrating spring.
XSince new life came from eggs, they became the symbol of nature’s rebirth.
XEggs were painted with bright colors to represent the sunlight and blossoming of spring.
XChristian traditions use the egg at Easter to represent the resurrection of Jesus from the tomb.
XEaster egg hunts and egg rolling contests are two egg-related traditions during the holiday.
XRutherford B. Hayes started the White House Easter Egg Roll in 1878.
XThe annual event happens the Monday after Easter and is a race in which children push decorated, hard-boiled eggs across the White House lawn.
XSome consider egg rolling symbolic of the stone being rolled away from Jesus’ tomb.
XThe week before Easter about 75 million dozen of eggs are sold and during the week of Easter more than 90 million dozen of eggs are sold.
Source: American Egg Board, www.aeb.org and The History Channel web site, www.history.com.