DIY Easter Egg Dye

Intrigued by the many bloggers posting about natural Easter egg dyes, I finally caved and decided to try it for myself! Here are three white eggs I dyed using purple cabbage. I'll leave it to you to find an exact recipe you like. I basically just winged it, chopping up an entire head (minus the white core) simmering it for five-ish minutes in enough water to cover it before straining it and adding a couple tablespoons of white vinegar.

I submerged my eggs overnight, letting them cool for a bit in the solution before transferring them to the fridge for the rest of their soak.

This egg came out the darkest. It was a lovely deep, slightly teal shade of blue. I've read that if you leave the vegetal/natural matter in the dye, you can get a mottled look. I think I'll try that next time. A marbled effect would look great in this color!

For this egg, I arranged a few dried cherry blossom petals on a square of old nylons/pantyhose and then wrapped this square tightly around the egg, fastening it with a twist tie. I like how some of the dye went through the petals, giving them delicate veins. I was worried they'd just end up looking like giant white spots, but the little detailed lines prevented this!

This last egg came out slightly lighter than the others, for unknown reasons. I think it's interesting that you can get varying shades from the exact same dye bath. It's a nice variation in color without any effort!

I was under the impression that the hot dye, which I only let cool for a few minutes before submerging the eggs, would hardboil the insides. So when I went to crack one for an afternoon snack, I was very surprised to find this instead! I'll have to figure out what went wrong for next time. Perhaps I needed a larger volume of dye.

The remnants of my craft project, all crushed and ready for the compost pile or for dressing the garden! Even in this state, the eggshells are lovely to look at, don't you think?

Next on the agenda is homemade dusty pink dye from avocado pits! I've been collecting them to dye yarn with, but after seeing these results I can't wait to use the dye on eggs too.