Easter Eggstravaganza - Cool Ways To Dye Eggs

I guarantee that there is some way to dye Easter eggs that you may not have tried yet. Presenting: a festival of colors! Lots of ways to do eggs—you could fill a carton with many unique egg styles. Have an egg contest at Girl Scouts. An egg fashion show, anyone? How egg-citing (groan!) All of these designs can be polished after drying with a small amount of vegetable oil and a soft cloth. You should not eat these eggs after dyeing unless you are using food coloring, these specific natural dyes listed here, or commercial non-toxic egg dye.

Materials You Will Need For All Dye Jobs:

Bowl for each color dye you are making
Slotted spoon to remove eggs
Cooking oil
Soft cloth

Hippie Granola Eggs

• Red cabbage (blue) Yes, I said blue! You will see!
• Onion skins (brownish)
• Spinach leaves (green)
• Carrots (orange)
• Fresh beets (pink)

Pour 1/2 cup water in each sauce pan. Add your natural ingredients and allow them to simmer for 30 minutes. Then go do something else until the dye is absolutely cool! This is very important! Place your hardboiled eggs in the dye until they are the color you want.

It’s Like Junior Prom!

• Different color crepe paper
• Hot water

This is kind of weird, but it works! Soak crepe paper in hot water in individual bowls for each color. Leave your eggs in the water until they are just the right hue. I don’t recommend eating these eggs because I don’t know what kind of chemicals are in crepe paper.

Boring But Effective Food Coloring Method

• Food coloring
• Hot water
• White vinegar

For each color, measure 1/4 tsp. food coloring in your small bowl. Add 3/4 cup hot water and 1 tbsp. white vinegar to each color. Yes, it is stinky. So horribly stinky! But it is a great way to transfer color onto eggs! Add your eggs and allow them to sit until they are the desired color. Later, make deviled eggs. Mmm...devilish…

Mystery Eggs

• Wax crayons
• Paper towels
• Egg dyes in different colors
• Slotted spoon

Put your mystery design on a hard boiled egg with your white crayon. Dip your egg in the egg dye, preferably a dark color. Leave in the dye until desired color is reached. Where the white crayon was, there will be no dye, leaving your beautiful design! When you polish the egg, most of the wax will come off, but if you want it all gone, you need to put it in the oven at 200 degrees for a few minutes.

Striped Tiger (or Piet Mondrian*) Eggs

• Masking tape
• Different color egg dye
• Slotted spoon

Cut up masking tape with craft knife to make very thin stripes. Place stripes on egg in various patterns. Dip egg in egg dye and leave until desired color is reached. Remove with slotted spoon and air dry. Remove masking tape when dry. Create another stripe pattern, this time covering up some areas that were dyed before. Dip egg in another color, preferably one that will make a new color when added to the old one (Blue/yellow, red/blue, red/yellow) Let dry again and remove all tape. If you did it right, you will have white areas and stripes in two different colors. If you use green and orange, your eggs will come out brown. Which may be what you’re going for? I don’t know.

*Piet Mondrian: famous Dutch Cubist painter whose most famous works included stripes and blocks of color.

Meredith Mooney