Fare Isle

Naturally Dyed Wood Easter Eggs ~ Vegan Friendly DIY Easter Crafts

DIY

I have been missing out on dyeing eggs for years now. I don’t know why it took me so long to think of using wooden eggs! But, needless to say, I was so happy to do this special traditional spring craft with Iley this year. I wanted to make natural dyes from plants and spices we had in the house. It’s so magical to see the colors they produce, and is also a fun science experiment to do with your little ones.

We used dried hibiscus flowers, onion skins, anatto powder, turmeric powder, dried yellow dock root, frozen blueberries, purple cabbage, and dried elderberries. I rummaged through my apothecary shelves and scraped the onion bin at the market for onion skins (crazy lady alert), and picked up a head of purple cabbage at the market. Some materials gave us much better results than others, and from what I’ve seen online, different results from using wooden eggs instead of real eggs.

Our favorites are hibiscus, which produced a bright dark pink, turmeric, which gave us a bright warm yellow, and blueberry which produced a fuchsia and faded to more of a purple. I was hoping the purple cabbage would produce a blue, like I’ve seen on real eggs, but it was more of a pale violet. The elderberry produced a lack-luster brown, so i think if you are going to use berries of any sort use fresh or frozen. I think blackberries or raspberries might give off good colors. And then I also thought of using pomegranate but it’s quite pricey to be going off and making dye out of. I think for blue I will try using indigo next time. {I really need to get an indigo vat going again!}. We tried spinach for green, but that was a complete fail. Then I remembered I had liquid chlorophyll somewhere (it’s a good iron supplement) and so we tried to get a green with that, but it gave a very dark-brownish green. So now I have those eggs in the turmeric dye to see if it brightens them up a bit. I will update if it works! You can overdye your eggs in multiple colors to get different colors too. The possibilities are endless.

I hope this little guide is helpful to all of you who have wanted to dye eggs, but like me did not want to use fresh eggs. Please share your results if you try it out!

see detailed tutorial further down, along with sources for the wooden eggs…

D.I.Y. Naturally Dyed Wooden Easter Eggs

print tutorial

hibiscus dye
4 tablespoons dried hibiscus flowers
2 cups boiling water
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
method: add hibiscus to a jar, pour in boiling water then vinegar, then stir. add wooden eggs to jar and weigh them down with a flat wide rock or object. let eggs soak in dye for at least 1 day, up to 3 days. then remove eggs, rinse under the tap and pat dry with a towel. eggs will dry out and color will fade slightly over time. hibiscus produces a bright dark pink and fades to more of a red.

anatto dye
2 tablespoons anatto powder
2 cups boiling water
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
method: add anatto powder to a jar, pour in boiling water then vinegar, then stir. add wooden eggs to jar and weigh them down with a flat wide rock or object. let eggs soak in dye for at least 1 day, up to 3 days. then remove eggs, rinse under the tap and pat dry with a towel. eggs will dry out and color will fade slightly over time. anatto produces a pale orange-yellow.

turmeric dye
2 tablespoons turmeric powder or grated fresh root
2 cups boiling water
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
method: add turmeric powder to a jar, pour in boiling water then vinegar, then stir. {if using fresh root-simmer in boiling water for 5 minutes then add to jar} add wooden eggs to jar and weigh them down with a flat wide rock or object. let eggs soak in dye for at least 1 day, up to 3 days. then remove eggs, rinse under the tap and pat dry with a towel. eggs will dry out and color will fade slightly over time. turmeric produces a bright warm yellow.

onion skin dye
2 big handfuls of yellow or red or a combo of onion skins
2 cups boiling water
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
method: simmer onion skins for 5 minutes, strain liquid into a jar and make sure to squeeze out liquid from the skins (when cool to the touch), then add vinegar, then stir. add wooden eggs to jar and weigh them down with a flat wide rock or object. let eggs soak in dye for at least 1 day, up to 3 days. then remove eggs, rinse under the tap and pat dry with a towel. eggs will dry out and color will fade slightly over time. yellow onion skins produce a burnt orange color. red onion skins will produce more of a reddish hue. i used a combo of the two.

blueberry dye
1/2 cup frozen or fresh blueberries
2 cups boiling water
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
method: add blueberries to a jar, pour in boiling water then vinegar, then muddle the blueberries with the back of a spoon. add wooden eggs to jar and weigh them down with a flat wide rock or object. let eggs soak in dye for at least 1 day, up to 3 days. then remove eggs, rinse under the tap and pat dry with a towel. eggs will dry out and color will fade slightly over time. blueberries produces a bright fuchsia and fades to more of a purple color.

purple cabbage dye
4 cups chopped purple/red cabbage
2 cups boiling water
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
method: simmer cabbage for 5 minutes, strain liquid into a jar and make sure to squeeze out liquid from the cabbage (when cool to the touch), then add vinegar, then stir. add wooden eggs to jar and weigh them down with a flat wide rock or object. let eggs soak in dye for at least 1 day, up to 3 days. then remove eggs, rinse under the tap and pat dry with a towel. eggs will dry out and color will fade slightly over time. purple cabbage produces a pale violet color.

elderberry dye
1/2 cup dried elderberries
2 cups boiling water
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
method: simmer elderberries for 5 minutes then both liquid and berries to jar. add vinegar and stir. add wooden eggs to jar and weigh them down with a flat wide rock or object. let eggs soak in dye for at least 1 day, up to 3 days. then remove eggs, rinse under the tap and pat dry with a towel. eggs will dry out and color will fade slightly over time. dried elderberries produce a brown with a slight hint of purple. i would use fresh or frozen if done again.

yellow dock dye
4 tablespoons dried yellow dock root
2 cups boiling water
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
method: simmer yellow dock in boiling water for 5 minutes, then add both liquid and root to jar. add wooden eggs to jar and weigh them down with a flat wide rock or object. let eggs soak in dye for at least 1 day, up to 3 days. then remove eggs, rinse under the tap and pat dry with a towel. eggs will dry out and color will fade slightly over time. dried yellow dock root produces a very pale yellow. i would use fresh next time. (results are not even pictured because it was so pale)

Notes:

Click here for a variety of wooden eggs. I used the wood hen egg, made in Maine!

Comments

  2. Erin Kelly says

    I am wanting to stain a couple of my child’s wooden toys using these natural dyes. How well did the wooden eggs keep? Will the fruits & vegetables eventually cause a rotting smell?

    Reply

    • Kaity Farrell says

      Hi Erin, The color fades but if you seal them with beeswax after they are completely dry the color will last. I have not had issue of rotting smells. Hope that helps. xo Kaity

      Reply

  3. Anthony says

    Hi Kaity – beautiful colours!
    I’ve had good results with Tumeric too, even more so when i cooked it in oil first.

    However, i was wondering, in your recipes, what is the role of the vinegar?
    Many thanks,
    Anthony

    Reply

    • Kaity Farrell says

      Hi Anthony!
      Thanks for your question. I’m happy you had good results. I am not sure of the exact chemistry behind it, but the vinegar helps set the dye onto the medium and produce a more vibrant color.
      xx Kaity

      Reply

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