DIY Natural Easter Egg Dyes

Easter is a great time of year for crafts and celebrations. Decorating Easter eggs is a family tradition. If you do not want to use artificial food coloring, or if you are just out, then you can use some of the tips in this article to dye your eggs with natural foods and drinks that you may already have in your home.

For each of the color suggestions below, make sure that you mix the main color ingredient with a little bit of white vinegar like you would if you were using food coloring. Using vinegar will help the color to stain onto the egg easier.

Also, the longer you leave the egg in the natural dye, the darker the egg is likely to become.

Natural Easter Egg Dye Ingredients by Color

Red

Fruits and berries are your best bet for dying eggs red. Dark berries, like cherries, will give your egg a brilliant red color. Using other red berries, like raspberries and strawberries, are more likely to dye your eggs pink instead of red.

To make this dye, blend a cup of berries with a tablespoon of vinegar.

Orange

The best way to make orange eggs is to use carrot juice. Carrot juice is usually darker than orange juice, so it will give your egg a color that is closer to orange than yellow. If you would rather use orange juice, leave the egg in the juice/vinegar mix for at least ten minutes.

Yellow

Different fruit juices are also great for dying eggs yellow. If you want an orange/yellow color, then you can use orange juice. Other juices that are great for dying eggs yellow are pineapple juice and lemonade. If you are using lemonade, you do not need to add sugar to the mix. With all of these juices, make sure that you do add vinegar.

Green

Leafy green vegetables, like lettuce, kale, and spinach, will be the most useful to dying the eggs green. To make a dye out of leafy greens, put the vegetable in a blender with a dash of vinegar added. Blend the leaves until they make a liquid.

If you do not have leafy greens at home, then you can instead use pickle juice. This is a great alternative, as you do not even need to add vinegar. Plus, it may add some extra pickle flavor to the boiled egg within, which should make for a tasty treat later.

Blue

Blue is one of the trickiest colors to make into a natural dye. Herbs and flowers will work best for this. Some bright blue flowers are the cornflower and the butterfly blue pea plant. To use either of these flowers, boil the flowers in a cup of water. When the water is cooled, mix in the vinegar. Both of these flowers are likely to produce a light blue dye. If you want a darker blue, try to mix it with one of the purple dyes.

Purple

Many blue colored foods will make purple dyes, blueberries being the main fruit for this. To use blueberries, blend a cup of them and add a tablespoon of vinegar. Once the fruit has turned into a liquid, it is ready to use.

Some red foods, like red cabbage and beetroot, also make brilliant purple died. To use either of these foods, you can boil the vegetable in a cup of water. Once the water is done boiling, strain out the vegetable and use the water, which you will add the vinegar too.

Wine or grape juice mixed with vinegar will also produce a purple color. This is likely to produce a dark purple, whereas the other dyes will produce a lighter purple color.

Pink

To make pink dyes, you can either use red dyes for a short amount of time or try to use some of the following fruits: strawberries, raspberries, or grapefruit. To use any of these, blend a cup of the fruit and add a tablespoon of vinegar. When the fruit has turned into a liquid, it is ready to use.

Brown

To make a brown natural dye, it is best to use brown drinks. Dark colored teas, coffee, cocoa, and cola will all dye the egg a brown color. Mix a cup of any of these drinks with a tablespoon of vinegar. The longer you soak the egg in these mixes, the darker brown your egg will turn.

If you are using cocoa, you can simply mix water, cocoa powder, and vinegar. You do not need to add sugar. If using cocoa, coffee or tea, you do not need to heat up the beverage. Even cold left-over drinks will do the trick.

Black

Black foods are hard to come by, so the easiest way to make black dye is to mi other dyes together. Mixing equal amounts of red, green, and blue dyes together will make a black/gray dye.

Mixing two parts of brown dye with one part of red dye can also make a blackish color. This will more look like a geological black, like a rock, but it should do the trick for coloring your eggs.

If the color seems a bit off (which it might, depending on what foods you are using to make your dye), you can adjust the number of colors mixed.

Do you have any suggestions for other natural dyes? If so, comment below or contact us! Happy Easter!

 

Resources:

https://www.wikihow.com/Make-Black-Food-Coloring

http://www.instructables.com/id/Blue-Foods-Colorful-cooking-without-artificial-dy/