Natural Easter Egg Dye
I have always been a big fan of dying Easter eggs. It is a fun and creative craft project that ultimately ends in a snack. What more could you want? Truthfully, I really just love deviled eggs, so I will look for any excuse to make them.
Of course there are many commercial egg dying products out there that will help spark your creativity, but if you’re like me you’re not looking for excuses to go to the store right now. I’ve been doing the exact opposite by actively looking for ways to get creative with what I have on hand while making sure to waste absolutely nothing. This is where natural egg dying really shines.
Use clean nylons to hold decorative elements such as leaves or stickers in place.
As a kid, we used to boil eggs in a giant vat full of onion skins and vinegar then let them chill out in the refrigerator until the process resulted in a beautifully deep orange-brown color. For extra decoration we’d slip the eggs into a nylon sock with a leaf before dying, creating a really pretty leaf press design. Unfortunately, I just don’t have the dozen onions worth of skins needed for this coloring, but there are lots of other naturally colorful foods and spices available for this project!
A few suggestions for natural egg dye colors. Experiment with what you have and make sure to add a little vinegar to the dye to make sure the color sticks!
Do a quick google search and you’ll come up with a rainbow of options for natural egg dyes. For any color you choose for your dye you’ll need water; the colorful fruit, vegetable, or spice; and some vinegar to help the color stick. Oh, and hard boiled eggs, of course!
I dyed eggs pink with beets and yellow with curry powder.
For my most recent egg-dying experiment I used the most colorful things I had on hand: beets, and curry powder. In order to get a little design on the eggs I cut some shapes out of contact paper and used a bit of nylon to hold them in place, just like the old days. Read on to see the process I used to create my naturally dyed easter eggs.
Naturally Dyed Pink and Yellow Easter Eggs
What you need
12 hard boiled eggs
1 pair of nylons, cut into sections
Contact paper, stickers, or leaves
1 medium beet, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
3 tbsp yellow curry powder
6 cups water, divided
1/2 cup white vinegar, divided
Directions
Boil your eggs using the method that works best for you. Allow the eggs to cool completely before starting the decorating process.
In one pot, add the cut beets and 3 cups of water. Boil for about 30 minutes, strain out the beets, and place the the beet water in a large vessel or canister (large enough to hold 3 cups of water and 6 eggs). Allow to cool completely.
In a second pot, add the 3 tablespoons of curry powder and three cups of water. Boil for about 15 minutes and transfer the yellow water to a large large vessel or canister (large enough to hold 3 cups of water and 6 eggs). Allow to cool completely.
Gather your stickers, leaves, or custom-cut contact paper shapes and decide on a design. Carefully place your first design on an egg and slip the dye-ready egg into a pre-cut sleeve of nylon. Tightly knot both sides of the nylon to help hold your design in place.
Add 1/4 cup of white vinegar to each of your color vessels, stir, and very carefully add 6 eggs to each vessel. Make sure that the eggs are fully submerged.
Allow the eggs to sit in the dye for at least 30 minutes. For the best results, transfer the vessels to the refrigerator and let the eggs soak up the dye overnight.