The Easter season is rolling around again.\u00a0 Are you going to do the same-old same-old and buy the same old chemically laden dyes that you\u2019ve bought for all of the previous years?\u00a0 Follow these recipes for some fantastic all-natural dyes that will transform the way that you do Easter from this point on.\u00a0 Natural dyes are not as difficult as you think, and you can make them out of stuff that you already have in your refrigerator and your kitchen cupboards.<\/p>\n
1.\u00a0 Place the eggs in a pot.\u00a0 Make sure that the eggs are all in one layer; if all of the eggs will not fit in one layer, then you should either use more than one pot or you should boil the eggs in batches.
\n2.\u00a0 Fill the pot with water until it is about half an inch over the eggs.
\n3.\u00a0 Next, add two teaspoons of distilled white vinegar, unless you are going to be using onion skins to dye your eggs.\u00a0 The onions skins will react with the vinegar and turn your eggs a rather light and unattractive shade of brown.
\n4.\u00a0 The next step is optional:\u00a0 you can add 0.5 teaspoon of alum to the water in order to make the colors of the eggs brighter.
\n5.\u00a0 Next, add the natural dye ingredient that you are going to use.\u00a0 Remember that it is going to take a fair amount of your natural ingredient in order to get your dye color.\u00a0 For example, if you are dyeing your eggs red, you will want to use a whole cup of cherries.
\n6.\u00a0 Next, bring the water to a boil.\u00a0 Then reduce the heat and keep the water at a full simmer for 20 minutes.
\n7.\u00a0 Next, remove the eggs from the water and place them in a bowl that is already covered with paper towels.
\n8.\u00a0 If you want the color of your eggs to be darker, then strain the liquid that you used to dye the eggs and remove the paper towel from the bowl.\u00a0 Add the strained and cooled liquid to the bowl with the eggs.
\n9.\u00a0 Let the eggs sit overnight.\u00a0 However, remember that this may end up in weaker egg shells, as the vinegar works into the egg shell.\u00a0 Remove the eggs from the liquid and let them sit for about an hour to let the shells harden.
\n10.\u00a0 Finally, when the eggs have dried, then you can achieve a glossy look by rubbing vegetable oil on the eggs with a paper towel.<\/p>\n
Ingredients to use for natural dyes:<\/em> There are a number of other options that you could try, such as coffee to get a nice brown or beige color.\u00a0 You may also want to try using red onion skins.\u00a0 You can also experiment by using a number of different ingredients and mixing your shades to see what you can come up with.\u00a0 Encourage your kids to experiment so that they can have fun dyeing Easter eggs!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\nFeel free to experiment with different ingredients to see what you can end up with. These are some tried and true dyes:
\n1.\u00a0 Red or Pink:\u00a0 fresh beets, canned cherries, frozen cherries, crushed cranberries (do not use cranberry sauce or cranberry jelly)
\n2.\u00a0 Orange:\u00a0 yellow onion skins
\n3.\u00a0 Light yellow:\u00a0 ground cumin, orange peels, lemon peels
\n4.\u00a0 Golden yellow:\u00a0 ground tumeric
\n5.\u00a0 Light green:\u00a0 spinach
\n6.\u00a0 Blue:\u00a0 red cabbage or crushed blueberries (make sure that you boil the cabbage for 30 minutes before you use it to dye your Easter eggs)
\n7.\u00a0 Purple:\u00a0 grape juice<\/p>\n