Coloring Eggs

Eating Easter Eggs: I'm kind of weird - I only eat the whites of hardboiled eggs! But, as a practicing chocoholic, I love Cadbury Eggs and Robin Eggs - mmm!

This week I'm going to share some info on (what else?) coloring Easter eggs! Whether or not you celebrate the holiday, dying eggs is a really fun tradition :D And there are a ton of ways to do it. The $1 kits from any grocery store work great; you can make your own dyes with vinegar (1TBS), food coloring (a few drops), and water (1/2C); or you can make dyes from natural ingredients (boil in water and vinegar, then strain):

• Pink: strawberries
• Red: beets; rose hips
• Orange: carrots
• Yellow: yellow onion skin; saffron; dandelions
• Green: spinach; kale; artichokes; grass
• Blue: blueberries
• Purple: grapes; blackberries; huckleberry
• Brown: coffee; tea

And that's just the dyes! There are tons of techniques to make gorgeous eggs.

For the first one, I did a couple base coats of yellow, green, and blue. I then did a splattering of blue on it (you can see the streaky layer under the red). Then I quickly dipped it in red, and immediately rolled it on a paper towel, giving it the mottled effect. Don't be afraid to try new things! Combining layers and techniques can make for some very interesting eggs. To get the texture on the second egg, I wrapped a clean egg in my paper towel, soaked with dye from previous eggs. Adjust and repeat as necessary. No dipping required!

This red egg may be my favorite this year. I let it soak in read until it reached my desired color. Then I partially dried it off, dipped it in pink a couple times, and immediately rolled it on a paper towel. I then polished off a bit of it and let some of the pink dye drip down. By not letting it completely dry between dips, it allowed the layers to mix a little bit, and gave it this interesting texture.

So go out and have some fun with your Easter eggs! Check out more egg photos and upload your own in our Flickr Group!

Today's Color Tip: Be bold! And have fun :D


More egg dying tips:
Check out my egg dying tutorial for tips and tricks on Robo Roku!
Southern Living has an easy speckled egg tutorial
Design*Sponge tells you how to make Ukranian eggs with beeswax
Martha Stewart makes lace eggs
Indie Fixx makes eggs with stripes, using electrical tape

See you next week for: Color associations