This is actually the green egg. It really DOES look green in person, but after 30 shots of the same egg, I decided to stop trying to capture the true color. I dyed the green ones using a can of spinach. Oh and I just love the natural markings the spinach put on the egg, darker in some spots, lighter in others. It is just a beautiful color!
This one is actually my "red" one. Well it was supposed to be! It was red for the first couple of days and then it magically turned into this dull grayish brownish color. I used beets for this one, and was expecting a bright red, but after leaving it soak for 12 hours I was left with a pale pink that eventually faded into the color you see below. Next time I wont do canned beets, I will get some fresh one, cause I know they would work much better.
This is the brown one, and looks JUST like the pic in real life. I let this particular egg soak longer than the other, so it has a richer, darker color. I think it is beautiful! Oh and I used very VERY strongly brewed coffee for this one.
My most favorite of all......the blue egg! Obviously blueberries were used to create this awesome looking egg. I just love the naturalness of the color, it definitely stands out amongst the others (and does look a bit better in real life).
This one was another "flop". It was supposed to be my red/orange or burnt orange egg, but it didn't quite turn out that way. It looks like a lighter version of the brown (from the coffee). I used chili power with this one, and have to say that I would like to try this one again, and maybe add more or something to try and get a more red/orange color to come out. But I do love the markings it has on it.
Last but not least is the yellow egg. I really have to say I do love this one too. And it was by far the quickest to dye. The turmeric just soaked right in and made the egg look a wonderful shade of yellow.
Steps for dyeing eggs naturally (my way):
- the afternoon before I let my eggs sit out on the counter to warm up
- that evening I poked a small hole in one end of each egg and a little bit larger hole in the other end
- through the larger hole I swished around the wooden skewer I was using to break up the yolk and the membrane holding the egg to the shell.
- I carefully blew out each egg
- I then cleaned out each egg with a mixture of soapy water and vinegar
- I let the eggs drip dry over night, making sure as much of the moisture as possible was out
- I prepared my mixes (spinach, beets, turmeric, blueberries, chili powder, and coffee)
- each of the dying agents went into a pot with water and a splash of vinegar, to help the color adhere to the egg
- I boiled the ingredients
- I placed 2 eggs in each pot and let the eggs soak
- Then once cooled I transferred each into a plastic baggy (i know NOT very "natural" but since I blew my eggs out they were so light that they were floating on the surface and not getting the full effect of the dying process)
- I let some soak for a couple of hours and others for up to 12 hours
- after removing them I attempted to let them dry, again, but that didn't work so well
- in the end I was left with some beautifully naturally dyed eggs, and a bunch of things to add to my compost bin! Because everything I used was able to go directly in, so not much waste either
This project actually cost less than going to the store and buying an egg dying kit with all those fake chemical colors (no offense to all you reading who used those kits). My most expensive investment was the $1.60 I paid for the darn eggs! The other ingredients either came from my house, my dads house, and i bought the canned spinach and beets for $1.30. So this whole project cost under 3 bucks. AWESOME!
I really enjoyed this project and found it to be very interesting, next year we will do it again, make a few changes, and learn a little more. I want to get the girls more and more involved in the process as they get older, and let them come up with ideas for food items to use as dyes.
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