DYEING EGGS NATURALLY

Painting eggshells is a fond family activity in many households this time of year.  Instead of using artificial dyes and food colouring why not use household ingredients to naturally dye your farm fresh eggs?  Common food items such as red beets, onion skins, and tea can be used to turn plain white eggs into marvelous colourful gems. Kids- friendly, using natural dyes is a safe and fun activity for the Easter long weekend!

I asked my dear friend Tania Love, Master natural ink and dye maker, for some useful tips on what to use to cook up  lovely colours for this years Easter egg basket.  Here are her suggestions:

For purple & blues:

blueberries, macerate, and then squeeze out the juice
purple cabbage
berry berry tea

For pink
beet juice

For yellows
turmeric
onion skins
tea

Tips:

Tania recommends making a tea like infusion with the different ingredients, then dipping the eggs in the different bowls of colour. You can also create patterns on your egg by painting with beeswax before and after you dye the egg to create layers of colour and a batik like pattern.  To view more of Tania’s work visit her website www.tanialove.com

Happy Easter!

xo denise