Dye Your Easter Eggs Naturally
The closer Easter gets, the more excited I am to try all the new and natural ways for dyeing Easter eggs. No Easter has passed in our home without vividly colored eggs and this year will make no difference except for the fact that for the very first time we will be using all natural ingredients to get the colors.
You may be surprised to learn how many plants you can put into action for dyeing Easter eggs. Natural dyes produce even more shades and firmer colors than the traditional decorating kits. Here is how you can get the basic colors:
- Red – red onion skins, red beetroot, red pepper, almond leaves, chilly powder.
- Yellow – yellow onion skins, lemon peels, birch leaves.
- Orange – orange peels, carrot tops, carrot juice.
- Green – spinach, parsley.
- Blue – red cabbage, cranberries, red wine.
- Brown – walnut shells, black tea.
Using plants for dyeing is much easier than commercial dyes. Just put the ingredient of your choice in a saucepan, add the eggs, which have been temperated, water to cover them fully, add 1 soup spoon of vinegar to 1 liter of water, bring to the boil and let simmer for 20 minutes. The intensity of the color depends on how many of the leaves/skins, etc you put in the water and how long you keep the eggs in the mixture.
Here are six step-by-step tutorials that will tickle your fancy and motivate you to try using onion skins this year:
Apart from natural dyes, you can set your imagination free with a lot of additional eco-friendly options:
- You can use duct-tape;
- Transfer silk ties;
- Add patterns with lace tights;
- Create magnetic eggs and stick letters to them;
- Wrap your eggs with baker’s twine;
- Or cover them with Washi tape.
Whichever way you choose to dye your Easter eggs, consider nature, which not only has all the colors in store but needs protection!
[CC photo via Kanelstrand]