A Natural Way of Coloring Eggs
This Easter try dying your eggs naturally. This is such a neat way to dye eggs and kids love it. It also gives you an excuse to go on a nature hunt with your kids, or if you don’t have flower or vegetable gardens try looking in your spice cabinet and kitchen for other items. You may be surprised at what you come up with.
Here is a list of natural ingredients and the colors they make.
* Red Onion Skins - soft lavender to red, depending on how long you boil them or how many skins are in the pot.
* Beet Juice or Cranberry Juice - different shades of pink.
*Beets, cranberries, frozen raspberries- deep red
* Blueberries – blue
* Dill seeds - brown - gold color
* Grape juice – lavender
* Grass – green
* Strong coffee - beige to browns
* Paprika - orange eggs
* Red Cabbage Leaves - a lovely shade of robin’s egg blue (yep, blue not red).
* Yellow onion leaves or skins, Turmeric, orange and lemon peels, cumin, carrot tops- yellow eggs
* Yellow Delicious apple peels - green/gold color
* Spinach - green eggs
To dye eggs that you can eat you will need:
* White vinegar
* Eggs
* Water
* Your choice of natural dye item
Here’s what you do:
Wash your eggs first if they are the store bought variety. Store bought eggs have an oil coating and the dye will get better results if they are clean.
1. Hard-boil your eggs.
2. Add 2 - 3 tablespoons of vinegar to a quart of water along with your natural ingredients. If it is a solid, like spinach you can use up to 4 cups. For spices you will need about 4 tablespoons. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Let cool then strain.
3. Dip the hard-boiled eggs into the dye. The longer they are in the more colorful they will be. Turn the eggs every so often so the color will come out even. If you want your eggs to be a darker shade, cover them with the dye and let them stand overnight in the refrigerator. (The more eggs you are dying at a time, the more dye you will need to use.)
4. Remove the substance you used to color the eggs. Allow to dry in egg cartons. Refrigerate eggs you intend to eat.
More Egg Designs to Try:
There are many other options to coloring Easter eggs, you just have to have fun, and egg-speriment!
Onion Skin Eggs
Gather lots of onion skins; the dry outer layers. (try to get a good variety like plain brown; red onion also makes a good color) Gently wrap them around *raw* (Un- hard boiled) eggs and hold them in place with rubber bands. Hard boil the eggs like usual. Unwrap them and WOW! Beautiful colors and designs! You may polish with vegetable oil for a nice gloss.
Wax Eggs
It’s fun to write something on the egg with a light colored crayon - white is the most fun. The dye doesn’t stick to the wax crayoned letters and they appear white (or brown if it’s a brown egg) after the egg is dyed.
Tye-Dye with Rubber Band Wraps
Materials:
- Egg dye: For and extra bright color use food coloring paste, available at party supply shops. Dissolve a dab of paste or 6 drops of regular liquid food coloring in a cup of hot water. Stir in 1/4 cup of vinegar.
- Rubber bands, cut in various length widths long enough go around the egg several times.
Wrap rubber bands around the egg, covering it completely. When you dip the covered egg, the dye will seep under the bands in some areas and be blocked out in other areas. Remove from the dye when the color is bright enough. Blot dry with paper towels and remove the rubber bands. If you wish, repeat with a new color. If the rubber bands pop off the egg, try using thicker ones.
Marbelized Eggs
Materials:
- Egg dye
- 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
Lightly stir the oil into a bowl of egg dye. Immediately dip the egg into the liquid. Or stand the egg in a small cup and slowly spoon the oil-water mixture over it. When the egg dries, repeat the steps with another color for an interesting color combining effect. TIP: For cleanup, wash all dipping containers in hot soapy water and rinse with vinegar to get rid of oil.
Fingerpaint Eggs
Materials:
- Paper plates
- Tempera paint
Put a few colors of paint on the paper plate. Hold the egg n the ends with your thumb and finger so you can rotate it while you’re stamping. Dip your finger in the paint, dab off the excess on a paper towel, then gently press your finger onto the egg.
Crepe Paper Eggs
Materials:
- Boiled Eggs
- Tissue Paper or Crepe Paper
Wet the egg and place pieces of colored tissue paper on it. Set it aside to dry. When the egg dries the tissue paper falls off and the colors stay behind.
Most of all have fun and have a happy Easter!
~Heather~
Witch Hollow Primitives