Dyeing Easter Eggs, Naturally!
A Story:
My sister and I are several years apart in age. While she will certainly try to convince you otherwise, I’m the youngest. Seven years difference means that I was (maybe I still am?) the “annoying little sister.” I wanted so badly to pal around with my sis, to be her friend, and to know her secret to being so grown up. Nothing has changed.
I have never really been envious of my sister, except for when it comes to her ability to make gorgeous wildflower arrangements and her pure talent for making the perfectly decorated Easter egg. Imagine having to watch your elegant older sister boil eggs with the pretty decorative plastic wraps, or making delicate blown eggs gilded with unsullied patterns, or somehow managing to dip her eggs into the vinegary dye cups in such a way that they emerge flawless, not a drip or run in sight. Meanwhile, being little, I got a wire dipper, some eggs and enough dye to create what I’m sure was the inspiration for the poop emoji.
In case you are wondering, I’m still the typical little sister: messy, sporadic and untrustworthy when it comes to wearing anything white. And when it comes to dyeing Easter eggs, I’m still the maven of the cat-turd brown masterpiece (and shamelessly so, too!). This year, I wanted to take my Easter egg frenzy to the next level with a self-induced challenge.
The Challenge: Dyeing Easter Eggs, naturally! It is that time of year, after all.
I wanted to only use things I had already available to me. Here’s what I chose: half of a red cabbage that I found in the crisper, two squishy golden beets that somehow got hidden in the produce, some frozen black cherries, onion and shallot skins because I remember reading somewhere that you can dye things with them, and some older-than-dirt Passion tea bags. Oh! And just because I could, I tossed in a wildcard: avocado skins and pits.
Heirloom Shout-Out: I saw on Instagram where this lady (Check out Rebecca Desnos on Insta @rebeccadesnos) dyes beautiful scarves with avocado skins and pits. The avocados turn into this gorgeous, soft rose-colored dye. It’s 100% natural and chemical free (just up my alley) and I figure if it works on fabric, why not an egg?
The Process:
I cut up the cabbage, cubed the beets and diced the avocado skins and pits and put each item into their own pot. I filled each with just enough water to barely submerge each item and then put them on the stove and brought them to a boil. While those began to simmer, I filled the tea kettle and let it get hot until it whistled.
Using large glass jars, I measured out a cup and a half of the cherries into one and opened six passion fruit tea bags and placed them into the other. I poured hot water into the jars and let them steep for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, I boiled the white eggs until hard and set aside to cool.
Once all of the produce simmered for about 10 minutes, I divided the liquids amongst the remaining containers, straining out as much of the produce as I could. While the liquids were still warm, I gently dropped the eggs into each container and let them cool a bit on the stovetop.
As soon as they were cool enough to go into the fridge, I loaded them up for the night. I wanted them to be as bright and cheery as possible, so I checked them in the morning (mainly because I’m unwaveringly nosy) and decided to leave them in until returned home from work.
The Reveal:
This is one of those projects/experiments that makes it so hard not having my own cool kid to share it with. Until then, my goal is to help out my mom (and dad) friends with some inspiration of awesome possum things to do with their kiddos. Homeschooling friends - this is the perfect science project for this time of year!
Without fail, we have my famous, lackluster brown egg. It’s borderline comforting knowing it’ll always be there. I’m not sure what happened, but my dreams of an Avocado rose-colored egg are still floating through the universe, waiting for me to catch up. Regardless, it is a pretty cream brown color that seems to naturally complement the other eggs.
Blue-Grey - Passion tea bags
Sunset orange - Onion skins
Creamy brown - Avocado skin and pit
Blue - Red Cabbage
Pale pink - Black Cherries
Pale yellow - Yellow Beets
Heirloom lessons:
Don’t expect your eggs to be perfect. Besides, what fun would that be? From our avocado rose fail to the dull pink of an over-diluted cherry stain, this project has helped me push my adult perfectionist to the wayside and embrace the funky mess of a little sister that still lives brightly in my heart. Please share if you try this out! And if you think of something new to use for dye, be sure to share that, too!