Happy Easter... April Fool's!
Level: Easy
Active Time: 1 hour, Total Time: 6 hours
Price: Under $10
April Fool's! It's not Easter just yet, but we do have a great last minute Easter project for you! Here's our step by step tutorial for naturally dyed eggs, and this is no joke!
For this project, the portions and ingerdients will vary greatly depending on the number of eggs you want to dye and what color you'll want your final product. For the purpose of this post, we will be giving instructions on how to copy our colors, but also provide resources for other colors. If you have questions about a new color you'd like to try, please let us know in the comments below or send us an email and we will be happy to guide you through your fun!
What you will need:
6 Eggs - Hard boiled
1 Cup frozen blueberries - for the blue violet color
1/4 cup instant coffee - for the amber color
1 small beet (about the size of 2 eggs) - for the magenta color
3 cups of water, divided into 1 cup each
6 tablespoons apple cider or white vinegar
3 Solo cups (or other containers in which to dye eggs but solo cups are perfect for submerging 2 eggs in 1 cup of liquid)
Rubber gloves if desired, we didn't use any, but our hands definietly got dyed but not for too long:)
To add flower silhouettes to your eggs as seen in the picture above you will also need:
Flower Heads
Bread Ties
Scissors
Nylons
Instructions:
Select 2 pots or pans in which to boil water for the beet and blueberries, and a microwave safe container to heat the water for the coffee.
Grate the beet into the pan of 1 cup of water and bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer (covered) for about 15 minutes before turning off heat to allow to cool slightly.
Meanwhile, in the other pot, add 1 cup of water and the 1 cup of frozen blueberries and bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer (covered) for 15 minutes also before turning off heat.
Heat the 1 cup of water in the microwave safe container for 2 minutes and add the instant coffee.
Now to prep the eggs, if you just want a solid color, you have no prep work, but if you want to try a fun natural element like the flowers we did, you will need to gather your flower heads, old nylons, bread ties, and scissors.
Place an egg in the toe of the nylon, then gauge the length you will need to cover the egg and tie off the top with a bread tie then cut (making sure you don't let your egg drop when the nylon is cut).
For the rest of the eggs, tie off the previous cut in the nylon and repeat the process.
To add the flowers, wet the surface of an egg with water and put the flower face down on the egg.
Now carefully put the egg in the nylon (It will help if you stretch the nylon out before trying to place the egg with flower into the nylon pouch you've created).
Repeat this step with the rest of your eggs.
You can also add tape to create a pattern like I did below:
At this point, your liquids should be simmered and started to cool, which means they are ready to strain into the solo cups.
PLEASE make sure your liquid has cooled enough before transferring to the PLASTIC solo cups. Once the liquid from each container has been strained into the solo cups, you will need to add 2 tablespoons vinegar (we used Apple Cider vinegar, but others have used white vinegar) into each solo cup. This will help the dye adhere to the egg shell.
Carefully place two eggs in each solo cup, (making sure they are submurged completely).
Then place the cups in the fridge if you plan on eating these eggs at any point.
After the eggs have been in their dying liquid for 4 or 5 hours (the longer they are in the dye, the darker the color should be) use a spoon to scoop them from their cups of liquid.
Place on a paper towel on a plate or directly on a drying rack.
Try to touch the eggs as little as possible as any touch may create a lighter spot on the final shell color.
If you've added the flowers, you will need to cut the nylon, remove the egg, and peel off the flower if it didn't come off with the nylon.
Repeat the removal process for your remaining eggs.
Allow these eggs to dry in the fridge again if you plan to eat them later.
Tip: The eggs will have a spot from where they were touching a surface while drying, to incorporate this spot you may want to sponge or blot the eggs are they come out of the dying liquid to create an all over marbling or speckled pattern. Also, some eggs turn out super random (see below) just roll with it:)
And that's it! Your beautiful, naturally dyed eggs are ready to show off. We can't wait to try this with other ingredients for more colors!
We hope you enjoyed this tutorial for naturally dyed easter eggs. Please leave us a comment and picture if you made this project! We'd love to see your results.
