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Coloring Easter Eggs with Plant Based Dyes
8:22 PM Posted In creative crafts , Easter eggs , healthy lifestyle , natural dyes , Natural Remedies , organic Edit This 0 Comments »
If you would like to start a new healthy tradition with your kids at Easter time how about making your Easter Egg dyes "the old fashion way" plant based dyes!
No more synthetic food dyes. Although they are FDA approved these colors include synthesized petroleum derivatives and even coal tar. Even the ones that are labeled "natural" come from things like carminic acid, commonly used in red food coloring. It comes from dried crushed bodies of pregnant female scale insects called cochineal.
When you use plant based dyes for coloring eggs you know exactly what your getting.
The colors are more vibrant, and we as parents can have a greater sense of relief knowing the source of the dyes! This also becomes a creative project to share with your children, compared to dropping a tablet into a cup of water. It opens up doors for our children to become more in touch with earth materials. It teaches them a better way and lets them know there are other choices.
Some of these materials work best when they are boiled with the eggs (they will be noted below), and some work well made ahead and used by dipping or soaking the eggs. If you are using juice, just use it straight. Bulky materials will be boiled with the eggs or boiled and allowed to cool for dipping. The longer you let the eggs soak, the more intense the color will be (for the boiled versions, you can remove them from the heat and allow to cool in the dye bath).
You can use your favorite egg-dying tricks here as well: Like crayons for a batik effect or rubber bands for a tie-dye effect. If you like a glossy egg, you can rub the dyed eggs with vegetable oil when they are dry.
Red
*Red onion skins, use a lot (boil with eggs)
*Pomegranate juice
Orange
*Yellow onion skins (boil with eggs)
Yellow
*Lemon or orange peel (boil with eggs)
*Carrot tops (boil with eggs)
*Celery seed (boil with eggs)
*Ground cumin (boil with eggs)
*Ground turmeric (boil with eggs)
Yellow Brown
*Dill seeds (boil with eggs)
Brown
*Strong coffee
*Instant coffee
*Black walnut shells (boil with eggs)
Yellow Green
*Bright green apple peels (boil with eggs)
Green
*Spinach leaves (boil with eggs)
Blue
*Canned blueberries and their juice
*Red cabbage leaves (boil with eggs)
*Purple grape juice
Violet Blue
*Violet blossoms
*Red onion skins, less amount than you need to make red (boil with eggs)
Lavender
*Diluted purple grape juice
*Violet blossoms plus squeeze of lemon (boil with eggs)
Pink
*Beets, fresh or canned
*Cranberries or cranberry juice
*Raspberries
*Red grape juice
Also you can wrap the eggs with onion skins and then in cheesecloth
and it will have a marble effect.
On Easter when eggs are removed from the refrigerator to be displayed in baskets, How about gathering twigs and leaves and herbs from the garden to make a beautiful display of your creative work. Not only will it look lovely but you'll add a natural aroma to your home, straight from the garden.
Be creative, and most of all let the kids participate. It helps to develop creativity!
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