[ transplog ]

A wild hair asserted itself on Good Friday: the unaccountable and sudden interest in dyeing eggs with natural dyes. Usually the joy of fussing with Paas tablets and the hexagonal copper egg sling is enough fun.

But the Interwebs revealed many possibilities for an earthy-toned rainbow: beets, turmeric, onion skins, spinach, blue berries, coffee, and more.

Natural dyes require less activity but also more time to leave their mark on the eggs. After boiling the eggs as normal, they bobbed gently in their respective dyes overnight. A more responsible egg master might have turned or rotated them: we did not. The onion skins produced a brilliant, marbleized tone that was the winner of this experiment.

And the overall result is indeed a lovely one, you might agree:

A plate of naturally dyed eggs, starting from the green egg at left: spinach/green bean, beet stalks, onion skin, and turmeric.

Seven eggs dyed naturally

After a night spent bobbing in boiled beet stalks with vinegar, each egg has a subtle but very pleasant toning.

Grandmothers know best: eggs dyed with onion skins proved the surprising power of an oft-discarded scrap.