For many, some parts of Easter are taking on a different look this year. With the soaring price of eggs, traditional coloring and decorating eggs are not happening. Well, some clever people out there are dying potatoes instead. Ward first told me about the Easter potatoes, and I was intrigued. After some Google research, I decided to try it and reserve my eggs for Easter brunch.Most videos I saw involved putting drops of coloring on the potato and then painting. There were a couple of videos in which the potato was put in a cup of dye and magically pulled out colored. I tried that method first because it seemed the easiest, or maybe it was just the most familiar.
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I had some baby potatoes in the pantry and pulled out the light-colored ones to use. I mixed up the dye according to the directions and then soaked the potatoes in it. I checked after 10 minutes and didn't see much change, so I put more dye in and waited another half hour.
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| Here are the results. The potato on the right was supposed to be purple, having soaked in both the red and blue dyes. I was underwhelmed with the results. |
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Next, I got out some watercolor paints that Ward had used in a woodworking project. I tried various combinations and came up with some interesting results.
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| After running out of potatoes, I looked around to see what else I could dye and dyed a few nuts. If I had more to work with, I think I could have perfected my color combinations with the liquid and paste paints. But that was it, and I wasn't going to buy any more potatoes just for coloring. (That's Ward in the background eating chicken while watching me make a mess.) |
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| So, I ended up with a dozen colored potatoes instead of a dozen colored eggs. |
Are you going to color eggs for Easter (assuming you celebrate Easter)?
Until next time...
