There are so many incredible, handmade Easter egg concepts available online and in periodicals that it is conceivable to dedicate hours to constructing museum-quality eggs.
But I like a more natural, less design style. You probably do not need a project that needs Y-Acto knives and tiny electrical tape decals if you have a young toddler in the house.
Easter symbolizes fertility and plenty, so go loose with nature’s color (in the form of trash and foodstuff you presumably already have on hand).
The custom of coloring Easter eggs has evolved through time, from the early practice of painting eggs crimson in commemoration of Jesus’s blood to what many children will teach you now: they color eggshells to resemble jelly beans.
I read about coloring eggs with onion skins several years ago, and the results are relatively beautiful, mainly if you massage them with grease to add sheen.
Then I agreed to take the idea of coloring eggs with food scraps a step further by making a broader palette.
This year, you will take it a step further, and as the children surrounding me become older, you could throw in a few additional flourishes—no knives or rope, but perhaps some of those rubber band shenanigans. I will notify you.
Keep in mind that the impact of the dyes varies based on the concentration of the stain, the color of the egg used, how long, and how many occasions the eggs are submerged in the paint.
I dyed four eggs using half a blue cabbage, chopped. When making your stain, err on the side of more stuff rather than less. Here is a simple reference guide to get you started.
Tools
- A lidded saucepan
- Dish of white
- A fine-mesh separator
- A second dish or saucepan
- A baking dish or another type of container
- A smooth paper
- Guidelines
Gather the following ingredients:
You may produce individual batches of various colors or one massive cluster of a specific color. To manufacture more or less dye, use the ratios shown above for each component.
Fill a pot halfway with water:
Fill a pot halfway with the amount of water required for the color you’re producing.
Begin by producing the dye:
Bring the water to a boil with the dye materials (blue cabbage, onion peels, etc.).
Adjust the heat as follows:
Reduce the heat to low and cook, wrapped, for 30 to 45 minutes.
Examine the color:
The dye is set when it achieves a shade that is a few shades darker than the color you desire for your egg.
To test the color, dribble some dye over a white plate. When the stain is as black as you want, take it from the heat and set it aside to cool to room temperature. (I placed the pot on my fire exit, and it chilled in approximately 30 minutes.)
Filter the dye as follows:
Pour the chilled paint through a fine-mesh filter into a separate saucepan (or into a dish and then back into the identical pan if that is all you have).
Pour in the vinegar:
1.5 tablespoons of vinegar per cup of filtered liquid should be added to the coloring.
Pour the dye over the eggs:
Place the room-temperature eggs in a casserole tray or other receptacle in a baking tray and gently pour the chilled paint over them. Make sure that the eggs are thoroughly immersed.
Place the eggs in the refrigerator:
Place the dyed eggs in the freezer and chill until the required hue is achieved.
Clean and coat the eggs:
Thoroughly dry the eggs before massaging a tiny amount of oil into each one. Using smooth paper, polish the surface. Refrigerate the eggs until you are ready to consume (or conceal) them.
The Easter Egg Formulas for Naturally Dyed Eggs
Use the following ingredients per cup of hot water:
- 1.5 cups blue cabbage shredded = violet on white eggs, greenish on reddish eggs
- 1.5 cups red onion peels equals purple or red eggs
- 1.5 cups golden onion peels = pink yolks on white eggs, reddish-brown yolks on brownish eggs
- Magenta on white eggs, scarlet on brown eggs = 1.5 cups shredded beets
- 2.5 tbsp ginger powder Equals orange eggs
- Lilac eggs = 1.5 bag Crimson Quip tea
- For every cup of filtered dye fluid, add 1.5 tablespoons of white vinegar.
- Consider using at a minimum of six cups of coloring water per twelve eggs.
- Obtaining the Colors You Desire
Kitchen experts tried this procedure multiple times and discovered that eye drops are more essential than the time spent in the dye.
The darker the hue, the more intervals in the paint there are. What is your point? You may have a lot of fun with the final color.
Finally, Begin with raw eggs and boil them in the dye bath as suggested in this post on onion-skin eggs.
I discovered that the refrigerator approach intensified the hue of dyes such as Quip wine and beetroot. Of fact, this strategy necessitates making some room in the refrigerator.
If you need your eggs to be more colorful and less pale, submerge them in the dye many times, taking care to dry them between spurts.