Easter Eggs, Natural Dyes

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This was my first attempt at dyeing Easter Eggs using natural ingredients.  The resulting color palette was a lovely pastel shades of green, blue, and cream.

After browsing through the internet and reading about the different ingredients, I decided to use what I had available which were frozen blueberries, frozen spinach, and red onion.   At the end of the experiment, I became quite discourage at the outcome of the colors the eggs took on, not at all the expected colors I thought.  The blueberries made pink eggs…the spinach had no effect on the eggs… and I actually liked the soft pink from the red onion.  After I saw the outcome, I left the eggs to dry and went off to do other things.   About an hour later I came back and discovered  the color transformation of my eggs {see above picture} and the excitement I had about this project came back.

I dyed a second batch of eggs to share the results with you.  Depending on the length of time the eggs were submerged in the liquid will effect how deep the colors will be.  Included in three of the pictures below are the egg color progressions, from the first minute they came out of the liquid to about an hour later.

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This is a basic color guide from the ingredients used, red onion, spinach, and blueberries. Your results may vary slightly from this due to the different conditions, ingredients, and variety of other factors.

Note..… this project will take a few hours to complete because of the amount of time to extract the colors, dyeing and drying the eggs.

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Ingredients:
1    large red onion including the outer skin, cut into wedges
3    cups water
4    tablespoons vinegar
white hard-boiled eggs for dyeing

Instructions:
1.  In a small saucepan, add red onion pieces and water.  Bring the mixture to a boil.  Reduce heat and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes.

2.  Strain, discard any solids and reserve the liquid {yield a little more than 2 cups}.  Stir in vinegar.  Set aside to cool.

3.  Soak  hard-broiled white eggs in liquid until the desired color {1 hour or more}.  Remove the eggs and let them dry thoroughly.

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Ingredients:
2    cups frozen spinach
3    cups water
4    tablespoons vinegar
white hard-boiled eggs for dyeing

Instructions:
1.  In a small saucepan, add frozen spinach and water.  Bring the mixture to a boil.  Reduce heat and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes.

2.  Strain, discard any solids and reserve the liquid {yield a little more than 2 cups}.  Stir in vinegar.  Set aside to cool.

3.  Soak  hard-broiled white eggs in liquid until the desired color {1 hour or more}.  Remove the eggs and let them dry thoroughly.

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Ingredients:
2    cups frozen blueberries
3    cups water
4    tablespoons vinegar
white hard-boiled eggs for dyeing

Instructions:
1.  In a small saucepan, add frozen blueberries and water.  Bring the mixture to a boil.  Reduce heat and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes.

2.  Strain, discard any solids and reserve the liquid {yield a little more than 2 cups}.  Stir in vinegar.  Set aside to cool.

3.  Soak  hard-broiled white eggs in liquid until the desired color {1 hour or more}.  Remove the eggs and let them dry thoroughly.

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Soft muted Easter egg colors displayed in a large oval white platter.

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Have fun dyeing your Easter eggs!

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Posted by Kay