Coloring Easter Eggs Naturally
It's fun and easy to use foods and flowers to make your own natural Easter egg dyes. The two main ways to use your own dyes are to add dyes to the eggs when boiling them or to dye the eggs after they have been hard-boiled. It's a lot faster to boil the dyes and eggs together, but you will use several pans if you want to make multiple colors. Dyeing the eggs after they have been cooked takes as many dishes and more time, but may be more practical (after all, most stoves only have four burners!).
Try both fresh and frozen produce. Canned produce will produce much paler colors. Boiling the colors with vinegar will result in deeper colors. Some materials need to be boiled to impart their color (name followed by 'boiled' in the table). Some of the fruits, vegetables, and spices can be used cold. To use a cold material, cover the boiled eggs with water, add dyeing materials, a teaspoon or less of vinegar, and let the eggs remain in the refrigerator until the desired color is achieved. In most cases, the longer you leave Easter eggs in the dye, the more deeply colored they will become.
Here is the preferred method for using natural dyes:
You can use fresh and frozen berries as 'paints', too. Simply crush the berries against dry boiled eggs. Try coloring on the eggs with crayons or wax pencils before boiling and dyeing them. Happy Easter!
Natural Easter Egg Dyes
| Color | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Lavender | Small Quantity of Purple Grape Juice Violet Blossoms plus 2 tsp Lemon Juice Red Zinger Tea |
| Violet Blue | Violet Blossoms Small Quantity of Red Onions Skins (boiled) Hibiscus Tea Red Wine |
| Blue | Canned Blueberries Red Cabbage Leaves (boiled) Purple Grape Juice |
| Green | Spinach Leaves (boiled) Liquid Chlorophyll |
| Greenish Yellow | Yellow Delicious Apple Peels (boiled) |
| Yellow | Orange or Lemon Peels (boiled) Carrot Tops (boiled) Celery Seed (boiled) Ground Cumin (boiled) Ground Turmeric (boiled) Chamomile Tea Green Tea |
| Golden Brown | Dill Seeds |
| Brown | Strong Coffee Instant Coffee Black Walnut Shells (boiled) Black Tea |
| Orange | Yellow Onion Skins (boiled) Cooked Carrots Chili Powder Paprika |
| Pink | Beets Cranberries or Juice Raspberries Red Grape Juice Juice from Pickled Beets |
| Red | Lots of Red Onions Skins (boiled) Canned Cherries with Juice Pomegranate Juice Raspberries |
If desired, before dyeing the eggs, draw shapes, pictures or inspiring words on them with crayons or a piece of wax. The wax won't absorb the color so the designs will show through. Using a crayon, simply draw a design onto your eggs and then dye as you would any other Easter egg. Your crayon design will be accentuated by your choice of dye!
Rubber bands are all you need to make tie-dyed eggs. Use a collection of different sized rubber bands. Wrap the rubber bands, one at a time, around the eggs. Make sure to leave some of the egg shell exposed so it can be dyed.
Thanks to chemistry.about.com/od/holidayhowtos/a/eastereggdyes.htm for the information found on this page.