Natural Easter egg dyeing: Ditch the chemicals for cabbage blue
Dyeing eggs is my favourite 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 obtain eggs in various intense shades. Unfortunately, synthetic dyes are often not healthy. The substances they contain can cause allergic reactions, exacerbate asthma symptoms, or trigger hyperactivity in children.
Blue Easter eggs
To colour the eggs in an intense blue, 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 liquid 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 to 15 minutes, they take on a blue hue, but if you leave them longer, the colour 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
Based on 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 using turmeric. An intense pink colour can be achieved with beetroot pieces, and a more pastel shade with avocado skins. To turn the shells green, use red onion skins, parsley leaves, or spinach.
Always remember to add vinegar, as it stabilises 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 to make some irregular strokes.
Another idea is floral patterns. You can make them with fresh or dried leaves and petals. Press them onto 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 the dyeing process. On solid-coloured eggs, you can also scratch patterns using a pin or needle.
