We’re at Ellen’s sister Ann’s house for Easter, and we’ve done our traditional egg coloring. The participants this year were Ann and her husband Dave, their daughter Ina, Ellen and myself, and my friend Tim. This is us in the process, but nearly done. The Halloween tablecloth was the only plastic one Ann had.

Here are all the eggs in one basket, literally, a big one. We started with 36 eggs. Most people colored 6 eggs. We have a number of techniques developed over the years using tools like Scotch tape, wax and regular crayons, rubber bands, and food coloring for darker colors.

After all the eggs are done, there is judging in a number of categories we all choose. Usually the judge is Dave, but this year Ann and Dave’s son Zack wasn’t with us to color, he was at his girlfriend Abby’s house doing pysanka egg coloring instead, so this morning he did the judging for our eggs. Most Abstract is by Tim, Most Unusual is by Ann.

Most Colorful is by Todd, Most Beautiful is by Ann.

E for Effort and Most Traditional are both by Tim. This is only his second year, he’s learned fast!

Funniest is by Dave, Technical Achievement is by Todd. The latter used a new tool provided by Ann this year, ring binder hole saver stickers. Worked great!

Most Creative is by Todd, Judge’s Choice is by Ann. Those are all the ones Zach judged, without knowing who did them. We felt bad that Ina and Ellen didn’t win any awards, so we decided to create special awards for them.

Ina got the Cutest award for her Minions.

This charmer by Ellen is Most Eggzact, whatever that means. Really, all the eggs are beautiful, so the awards are all pretty arbitrary, but we have fun with them.

Here are the two pysanka dyed eggs that Zack did with Abby’s family. It’s a completely different technique done on raw eggs with stronger dyes and hot wax. We are thinking about trying it next year, if we can get the tools and dyes by then. They take a long time, but are quite stunning, and after dyeing you can remove the wax and also the raw egg, so the shells can last for many years. Abby’s family uses them for Easter decorating.