Dyeing Easter Eggs

...naturally.

You'd think with all the food coloring I have in the house to dye yarn with I'd be set to dye eggs for Easter this year. However I saw an article by Peaceful Parenting about dyeing eggs with natural dyes. Dyes from fruits, vegetables and spices. That sounded like a lot of fun!

Clockwise from top:

beets

paprika

blueberries

spinach

coffee

turmeric

cherries

red cabbage in the middle

All of the dyes I added a tablespoon of white vinegar to except the coffee. And I let the eggs sit in the dye for an hour.

The coffee dye was just strong brewed coffee.

The beets and red cabbage I bought fresh and chopped it up. The spinach I bought frozen. I put them in a pan with enough water to cover and brought to boil. Once it started boiling, I turned off the heat and let it sit for 15 minutes then I strained out the vegetables (the beets we ate while waiting for the eggs to dye. Yum!)

The blueberries and cherries I also bought frozen. I thawed them and mashed them up. I added a cup of boiling water and stirred.

For the paprika and turmeric, I added 1/8 cup of spices to two cups boiling water. The spices don't disolve so when it was time to take the eggs out, you have to wipe them down a bit to remove the powder.

My kiddos had fun asking what the different dyes were from and I think we'll continue to do this every year. I want to try dyeing with onion skins next time and a friend of mine dyed hers with black currant and her eggs came out stunning. If you've tried a different natural dye with great results, I'd love to hear about it.