Fun with Easter eggs

OK, talking about Easter eggs now is a just a little ahead of the game.

But there’s no time like the present if you want to make any by Easter Sunday. Matter of fact, if anyone is tempted to turn his or her apple tree into something like this one, they are way behind already!

For those so inclined, here are a bunch of tips and resources for that sort of crafting, or science in the home.

What should the egg look like? The basic bottles of food colors can be taken to more dramatic shades with careful mixing. Don’t want it out of a bottle? There are a whole bunch of natural dye options.

Here’s a detailed offering on “20 Eco-Friendly Easter Eggs” that even includes ideas for non-egg eggs.

With no claims to being green here’s a slide show with still more ideas for non-traditional decorating

Easter egg hunts can be as simple as the one in your backyard, and let’s hope most snow will be gone by then. Or take a high tech urban twist, as with this hunt featuring smartphones in NYC.

Faberge eggs are famous as ridiculously complicated works of jewelry that also symbolized the wealth and excess of Russia’s Imperial Family before revolution toppled all that. While researching this topic I came across a few articles about a scrap metal dealer who found a rare Faberge easter egg at a flea market. According to this report by CNN (with slides) the finder initially expected to melt the egg down for its gold. Eventually he realized it just might be a legendary, long-lost art treasure, which was confirmed by Faberge expert Kieran McCarthy.

McCarthy said he had no warning about the visit.

“A gentleman had walked in wearing jeans, a plaid shirt and trainers. His mouth was just dry with fear,” McCarthy said, to the extent that he could barely speak. “He handed me a portfolio of photographs, and there was the egg, the Holy Grail of art and antiques.”

Though he had not handled the egg itself, McCarthy said, he was “buzzing from top to toe.” He flew to the man’s home to see the object in person and confirmed that it was indeed the Third Imperial Egg.

I want to go back to the German couple, Volker and Christa Kraft, who built up a collection of more than 10,000 Easter eggs. Every year since 1965 they’ve adorned an apple tree with those eggs, or some of them anyway. Here’s a slide show exploring all that. (Good golly, what if the wind comes up or the ladder slips?) It’s an amazing hobby, or obsession, or whatever you want to call it.

Do you have favorite Easter eggs or displays? Maybe we should collect some local photos too and do an NCPR Easter Egg slide show.

They say it’s no coincidence that so many cultures have rituals that celebrate the return of spring. How welcome it all is after a winter as long and cold as this one.