Forgo the store-bought plastic easter eggs! Using natural dyes to create beautiful Easter eggs is simple, quick, and can be done with ingredients already on hand! That’s right – don’t rush off to the store. Just open your fridge, your compost bucket, or your pantry, pull out a few ingredients and begin making your naturally dyed Easter eggs!
Ingredients for Creating Beautiful Shades of Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs
- Red wine (a cup for the dye, a cup for you!) – LAVENDER-BLUE
- Red onion skins – BROWNISH
- Yellow onion skins – TAN
- Red cabbage – BLUE
- Beets – PINK (although mine tend to turn more brown-purple after exposure to air)
- Turmeric – YELLOW
You will also need white vinegar, boiling water, and a few mason jars.
How to Naturally Dye Easter Eggs
1. Place dye ingredients into a mason jar. You will need 1-2 large handfuls of onion skins or red cabbage, approximately 2 tbsp of turmeric, or 1 cup of beets. Cover with boiling water.
2. Add 2 tbsp of white vinegar and gently place your hard boiled egg in the jar. I used white eggs, but you can use brown eggs. The colors will just be slightly different (for instant, the yellow onion skins will create a more reddish tone).
* Many people suggest straining the plant materials before adding the egg. This is certainly a fine thing to do. I just like the mottled effect that results when the egg comes into contact with the plant matter.
3. Occasionally check on the egg, and pull it out when it is the color you desire!
You can create neat effects by wrapping the eggs in a rubber band prior to dyeing, as seen in the photo above.
4. Hide! If you keep the eggs cool until hiding time, feel free to eat them as you find them!
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Ii love this. What a great way to eliminate toxic dyes. Thanks for sharing.
Love this! I never buy the instant egg dye kit and am always looking for creative, fun holiday crafts. The kids have a lot of fun finding things in the kitchen to decorate their Easter eggs and this way certainly makes the egg dying experience last much longer. I loved your felt eggs too! Thanks Teri!
Glad you liked it! It’s such a fun activity! I also use a lot of the same dyes with silk scarves!
awesome! you motivated me to finally do this, I am using our brown eggs, so we’ll see how it goes!