To make Easter egg dyes that are fast and virtually fool proof, put a few drops of food coloring into a small glass bowl, add 1 tbsp. of white vinegar, and stir. Dip in hollowed out eggs and turn a time or two. Your results will be pretty and consistent. However, if you have a bit more time and are ready for an adventure, try making your own natural egg dyes. The results will be stunning, completely inconsistent, and tons of fun
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
- Natural dying agents (red cabbage, turmeric, yellow onion skins, beets, cranberries, or coffee)
- A 3 quart pot
- White vinegar
- Alum
- Strainer
- Small bowls, relatively deep
- Hollowed out eggs
- Paper towels and a drying rack
WHAT TO DO
1.We chose to make four batches of dye. For the first, we cut up red cabbage into small chunks, put it ina pot, added 4 cups of water and 2 Tbsp. white vinegar. Bring this to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes.
2.For the second, we removed the skins from enough yellow onions to make 4 cups of skins (pressed down tightly). Add 4 cups of water and 2 Tbsp. white vinegar. Again, bring to boil and simmer for 30 minutes.
3.For the third batch we put 4 cups of cranberries into a pot, added 4 cups of water, and 2 Tbsp. white vinegar. Once again, bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes.
4.For the fourth batch, we put 4 Tbsp. turmeric into pot, added 4 cups water, 2 Tbsp. white vinegar.Bring to boil and simmer for 30 minutes.
5.Dip hollowed eggs into dye solution. Try dipping them in hot dye for a few seconds to see how you like the color. You can simmer eggs in solution for several minutes, or you can let mixture cool to room temperature and soak eggs overnight. If you want a deeper color, try adding 1 tsp. alum to the dye mixture. There is no right way to proceed with this step. Practice and see what you like! You will need to turn the eggs over and over. No matter how many times you do this, chances are the color will be uneven. You may be disappointed at first, but this is just all part of the fun. By the time you have finished, you will have eggs that are one of a kind, wildly interesting, and nothing like you would have envisioned
RESULTS!
- The red cabbage dye produced deep teal eggs after only a few moments of dipping.Half an hour later, the dye turned eggs a soft blue.
- The onion skin dye produced a soft salmon color. This dye was the easiest and mostconsistent of the dyes we chose to use.
- The turmeric dyed our eggs a lovely deep yellow for the first try. We did more a day or so later using the same dye. This time the turmeric had “settled.” Resulting eggs had golden splotches, uneven streaks, and speckled spots. They look weathered, antiqued, and, we think, absolutely stunning.
- To make chartreuse eggs, soak eggs in turmeric dye for several minutes, then dip briefly in red cabbage dye. Sure enough, yellow and blue make green. An unusual shade that we loved.
- Our biggest surprise came with the cranberry dye. Because cranberries stained our plastic bowl pink,we assumed we would create a pink egg. Wrong!!! Cranberry dye resulted in a soft pewter gray egg with deeply mottled patches.
