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
Notes:
Click here for a variety of wooden eggs. I used the wood hen egg, made in Maine!
deb says
really beautiful shades created ♥
deb
{vintage sparrow studio}
Kaity Farrell says
Thank you Deb!! xx Kaity
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?
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
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
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