Transform your Easter eggs: Natural dyes for vibrant colors
Dyeing eggs is my favorite Easter activity. When I have more time, I spend a few hours creating various patterns on the eggs. This year, I decided to paint the eggs using only natural dyes. Everyone knows the method with onion skins, but I think eggs dyed blue are much more interesting.
Before Easter, you can buy egg dyes for pennies—it's an easy and quick way to get eggs in various intense shades. Unfortunately, synthetic dyes are often not healthy. The substances they contain can cause allergic reactions, exacerbate asthma symptoms, or cause hyperactivity in children.
Blue Easter eggs
You only need half a head of red cabbage to color the eggs an intense blue. The other half can be used as a side dish for dinner.
- Chop it into fairly large pieces, put it in a pot, and cover with water.
- Simmer for about 1 hour until the broth turns a strong purple color.
- Strain out the cabbage leaves and add a teaspoon of vinegar to the colored water.
- Put in the hard-boiled eggs.
- After 10-15 minutes, they take on a blue hue, but if you leave them longer, the color will intensify.
You can leave the eggs in the dye even overnight—this method is natural, so you don't have to worry about harmful substances.
Other natural egg dyeing methods
You can also get purple eggs using cabbage leaf broth. Just add a little more vinegar to the colored water. To get yellow eggs, prepare a broth from turmeric. Beet pieces provide intense pink color, and avocado skins provide more pastel shades. To turn the shells green, use red onion skins, parsley leaves, or spinach.
Always remember to add vinegar, which stabilizes the achieved color. After removing the eggs from the broth, it's worth greasing the shells with vegetable oil.
Natural patterns on eggs
If you want a marbled effect, apply a little coconut oil on the eggs before dipping them in the natural dye, such as the red cabbage broth. Use a brush and make some irregular strokes.
Another idea is to create floral patterns. You can make them with fresh or dried leaves and petals. Press them to the surface of the shells, then cover the eggs with pieces of cut nylon stocking. Tie them securely at the ends so the flowers or leaves stay in place during dyeing. On solid-colored eggs, you can also scratch patterns using a pin or needle.
