I know, I know- I haven't been around… I've been hibernating. That's what one does in the winter… and by the looks of it, I should still be sleeping away. I can't believe it is April 20th and snowing! Yes, the snow is beautiful... BUT IT DOESN'T BELONG HERE ANYMORE!
Oh well, I don't think anyone is listening. So, let's just forget about that for the moment. In the mean time, in the spirit of spring, let's dye some Easter Eggs the old fashioned way.
Natural dyes make for some lovely colors. Since there is so much talk about color additives causing more health concerns than we ever realized, I thought that it was time to experiment with food based colors. I looked around on the internet and found a lot of suggestions for making colors, like purple from wine or grape juice and blue from blueberries. My favorite, until i blew the egg up in the microwave while sitting in beet juice, is beet juice. But, based on the color of the inside of my microwave-the color is beautiful- it really can't be improved upon for magenta. Unfortunately, I don't have a good example of the magenta...
Every color that I have here, is from a natural source. (except for the luscious blue egg in the rear of the basket- I just had to have a beautiful blue-I am a photographer, first and foremost!)
I mashed about a cup of blueberries into a small glass with two tablespoons of vinegar and about 1/2 of a cup of water. The blue is a nice dusty grey blue. The uneven color and mottling on the egg is because of my leaving the blueberry pulp in the glass. Vinegar allows the color to set. It will probably also flavor your egg if you leave the egg in the color long enough.
The warm brown was the result of using coffee grounds in 1 cup of deeply brewed coffee... I love the mottling that occurred because of the grounds rubbing up against the shell of the egg.
Anyway, it's loads of fun to be creative with your dyes.
Wow, those are some gorgeous eggs. I tried dying eggs with food based ingredients a couple years ago and loved the outcome. I used tumeric and beets also. Will have to try the blueberries. Red cabbage was an excellent color source as well as onion skin. Both produced surprising colors.
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