Sgraffito-Decorated Eggs

Materials:

a few blown eggs
concentrated-paste food colors
acrylic paints
small, soft paintbrushes
pencil or china marker
craft knife or small awl

* sgraffito (skrafuhtoe)--decoration produced on pottery or ceramic by scratching through a surface of plaster or glazing to reveal a different color underneath.

1. Mix together a bit of paste food colors and warm water--enough to be able to submerge eggs in mixture. (The greater the concentration of paste that's in the water, the darker the color on the egg.) Leave eggs until they have soaked up color. Remove with a spoon and let dry (figure A).

2. Paint out entire egg surface with acrylic paint (figure B). Let dry well. Make sure you apply a rather thick coat.

3. Draw a design on the egg surface with a pencil or china marker.

4. Use the point of a craft knife or a small awl to scratch an image into the surface of the paint (figure C). This will reveal the dyed egg color underneath.

5. The finished eggs will look great grouped on egg stands. Another option is to display them atop candlesticks, using a bit of wax to hold the egg in place.

Tip

You can add more intricate detail to egg designs with fine markers in colors or metallics.