Dyed Easter Eggs
I've been experimenting with natural dyes for as long as I can remember, whether as a kid smearing grass stains on my jeans or rubbing different rocks on the driveway to see what kind of colors each rock made. As an adult, I've made dyes with everything from goldenrod to lobster claw mushrooms. When I briefly worked as a dyer demonstrator at Genesee Country Museum, I was given the luxury of using real indigo plants and red cochineal – the exoskeletons of the cochineal bug from South America.
Making my own Easter Egg dyes seemed, well natural, but I didn't always love the results and often ended up with what looked like either plain old brown eggs or faint off-white ones. With practice, and over time, I've found that I can make some colors that put even my Americana hen to shame.
Natural dyes do not yield the same Kool-Aid-like colors you can buy in a tablet at the grocery store, but instead create a pallet of earthy tones and pleasant hues. Natural dyes take a little longer, too. Instead of dropping a tablet into a bowl followed by a quick dip of your egg, you must cook up dyes ahead of time and steep your colors. Each dyed egg must then soak for several minutes. I find this a plus in our fast-paced world; slowing down with your children and taking time to create a basket of lovely dyed eggs together is a wonderful opportunity to tune into your kids, talk about what the holiday means to you and your family, and just spend some quality – albeit messy – time together.
Your kids will be fascinated when approached with the idea of stewing up veggies and spices to make colors, and you'll want to save a few extra eggs and a pot or two for simply experimenting. When brewing up your bounty of colors keep in mind that the stove top requires careful supervision with kids. If you are working with younger children, you can make most of the dyes ahead of time and put them in quart size mason jars to use cool. The cool process can sometimes take longer but if you make the dye rich enough I find it doesn't add much more time.
Below you will find a list of favorite dyes stuffs – most of which you can locate at your local grocer market or may already have in your spice cabinet.
Veggies, fruits and spices to try for different colors:
• BLUE: Canned blueberries, red cabbage leaves (boiled), purple grape juice
• BROWN OR BEIGE: Strong coffee, instant coffee, tea, black walnut shells (boiled or soaked for several days)
• BROWNISH-ORANGE: Chili Powder, boiled onion skins
• GREEN: Spinach leaves (boiled), but this is a tough color to create! I've had great success double dipping an egg dyed yellow in turmeric and then dipped again for a few minutes in grape juice!
• GREENISH YELLOW: Yellow delicious apple peels (boiled)
• LAVENDER: Red zinger tea or double dip pink egg lightly in purple or blue dye
• ORANGE: Yellow onion skins or carrots (boiled and steeped), paprika
• PINK: Beets, canberries or cranberry juice, raspberries, red grape juice, juice from pickled beets.
• RED: Lots of red onions skins (boiled), pomegranate juice, canned cherries (with syrup), crushed raspberries
• PURPLE: Hibiscus tea, red wine
• YELLOW: Orange or lemon peels (boiled), carrot tops (boiled), chamomile tea, celery seed, ground cumin (boiled), ground turmeric (boiled and steeped – a favorite color choice) or saffron.
For a textured bird's egg look, dab a still wet egg with a sponge or add pieces of colored tissue paper for fun effects!
Natural dyes are a wonderful tradition to start and if you have children who love to experiment in the kitchen or the art room, natural dyed eggs are a conduit to creativity with nature, not to mention the pride in making it all from scratch!
Angela Cannon-Crothers is a contributing writer to Rochester & Genesee Valley Parent Magazine. You can visit her online at angelacannoncrothers.webs.com
