Easter egg dyeing goes natural: Vivid hues from vegetables
Dyeing eggs is my favourite Easter activity. When I have more time, I enjoy spending several 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 a simple 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, worsen asthma symptoms, or lead to hyperactivity in children.
Blue Easter eggs
To colour the eggs in an intense blue hue, you only need half a head of red cabbage – you can use the other half 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 colour.
- Strain out the cabbage leaves and add a teaspoon of vinegar to the coloured water.
- Put in the hard-boiled eggs.
- After 10-15 minutes, they will take on a blue hue, but if you leave them longer, the colour will intensify.
You can leave the eggs in the dye overnight – this method is natural, so you don't have to worry about harmful substances.
Other natural egg dyeing methods
Using the cabbage leaf broth, you can also get purple eggs. Just add a little more vinegar to the coloured water. To get yellow eggs, prepare a broth from turmeric. An intense pink colour is provided by beet pieces, and more pastel hues can be achieved with avocado skins. To turn the shells green, use red onion skins, parsley leaves, or spinach.
Always remember to add vinegar, which stabilizes the achieved colour. 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, before dipping the eggs in the natural dye, such as after boiling red cabbage, apply a little coconut oil on them. Use a brush and make some irregular strokes.
Another idea is 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-coloured eggs, you can also scratch patterns using a pin or needle.
