Whether you’re looking to save money or just want to avoid all the extra additives, you’ll want to check out these three natural egg dye ideas.
To make a natural Easter egg, you may be surprised to know that you may already have the items needed to color the eggs.
How do you make natural egg dye?
1. Color for Easter Eggs Using Food
You can make natural Easter egg dye by combining the below dye source with 1/2 Tablespoon of vinegar with some cold water in a saucepan.
Food Color Source Chart:
Pale Yellow: Use orange or lemon peels, carrot tops, celery seeds, or ground cumin
- Yellow: Ground turmeric
- Pinkish Red: Fresh beets, cranberries, radishes or frozen raspberries
- Orange: Yellow onion skins
- Beige to Brown: Strong brewed coffee
- Brown-Gold: Dill seeds
- Brown-Orange: Chili Powder
- Green-Gold: Yellow Delicious apple peels
- Pale Green: Spinach leaves
- Blue: Canned blueberries or red cabbage leaves
Instructions
- Put uncooked eggs and dye source in water that covers the eggs.
- Bring the water to a boil and then reduce heat.
- Simmer the eggs 9 to 15 minutes. The longer you simmer, the darker the color will be.
- Eggs must be simmered a minimum of 8 minutes to cook.
- You can’t always predict the results. But, it’s fun to see what happens.
2. Natural Egg Design Ideas
Instructions
- For a marbled effect, wrap the uncooked eggs in white and purple onion skins, spinach, and/or fresh saffron.
- Secure and wrap the eggs with white string and then place the eggs in the foot of a clean and recycled nylon stocking; tie the stocking in a knot.
- Gently boil the egg-filled stocking—using the same cooking time and vinegar /water mixture directions as above.
- After you remove the cooked eggs–leave them in the wraps awhile to deepen colors.
3. Natural Egg Dyeing Idea
To use this method, start with either hard-cooked eggs or blown-out eggs. Choose dye-source. Some possible color sources for eggshells are listed above. Use judgment on how much of each source to use.
- Except for spices, place a handful – or two or three handfuls – of a dye-source in a saucepan.
- Add tap water to come at least one inch above the dyestuff. This will be about 1 cup of water for each handful of ingredient.
- Bring the water to a boil. Reduce heat. Simmer about 15 minutes or up to an hour until you like the color.
- Remember that dyed eggs will not get as dark as the color in the pan. Remove the pan from the heat.
- With a very fine strainer (or cheesecloth) strain the dye mixture into a liquid measuring cup. Add 2 to 3 teaspoonful of white vinegar for each cup of strained dye liquid.
- Pour the mixture into a small bowl that’s deep enough to completely cover the eggs you want to dye.
- Use a slotted spoon or a wire egg holder from a dyeing kit to lower the eggs into the hot liquid.
- Leave the eggs in the water until you like the color. If you’re using emptied eggshells, stir or rotate them to help the color reach all the shell parts evenly.
- Lift the eggs out with the spoon or holder. Let them dry on a rack or drainer.
Eggs colored with natural dyes have a dull finish and are not glossy.
After they are dry, you can rub the eggs with cooking oil or mineral oil to give them a soft sheen.
Adapted from: aeb.org
In Summary
We hope you have found these natural egg dye ideas useful. Did you end up using one for coloring Easter eggs?
If dyeing Easter eggs the natural way turns out to be too time-consuming for you, we have some other egg decorating ideas that contain the more common egg dying methods.
Wishing you a very Happy Easter!
