Easter Eggs

One of my favorite things to do around Easter time is to dye eggs.  I love to see how many different colors that I can do, and textures that I can get using oils.  Onion skins, grape juice, turmeric, pomegranate juice, raspberries (all using vinegar as a mordant), and frozen spinach ( with baking soda for a mordant) all make great dyes.  Place rubber bands around the eggs to make stripes, or use melted wax to make designs--on eggs placed in cold color baths.  Colored sharpie pens can be used to make intricate patterns on the egg shells.

The quickest way to use natural dyes is to add color agent to water that the eggs are boiled in.  If a deeper color is desired, leave in colored water and refrigerate overnight.

If a fruit or vegetable has color when it can be used to color eggs.  Some results will be surprising.