Nothing is more lovely or interesting than Easter eggs dyed the natural way. The only drawback is having to eventually crack these shells and peel all that beauty away!
After soaking the eggs in equal parts vinegar water, I wrapped them with leaves from marjoram and carrot tops, along with some flower petals ( purple hydrangea blossoms and deep magenta calla lily blossoms that had been frozen). The wrapped eggs were stuffed into small nylon or net bags, tied tightly, then each egg immersed into a separate jar filled with water, wild blackberry juice, blueberries, or tumeric added. On some of the eggs, the leaves didn't leave much color, but acted as a resist, with the colored juices in the water filling in around them and leaving clear leaf prints etched on the eggs. On other eggs, the net bags also acted as a resist, leaving their print behind, making interesting designs. The two blue eggs were not wrapped with any plant material, but simply immersed in wild blackberry juice with a couple of drops of blue food coloring added. That was my only deviation from "natural" in an attempt to get some variety in color. I simply couldn't imagine not having at least one or two robin-egg-blue eggs for Easter. It is too early to try Japanese Indigo leaves, as it is still early spring here and my seedlings are only 3-4 inches tall. Although, in the picture above, the blue in the center of the purple egg in the upper right corner was from one of the bluer hydrangea blossoms, so that may be a future option for obtaining blue.
These are some of my favorites:
 |
| Favorites - side 1 |
|
Notice the outline of the net bag on the purple egg in the lower left corner, and the carrot-top leaf prints on the purple egg in the upper left corner and on the more brown egg in the upper right corner of the picture below.
 |
| Favorites - rolled over, side 2 |
A simple click on any picture will enlarge it giving a a more detailed view.
Beautiful
ReplyDeleteThank you, Debbie. I dyed some eggs last year using coreopsis blossoms, but the eggs did not turn out anywhere near as interesting as this year's dyed eggs.
ReplyDeletegorgeous...just be careful with plants that might be toxic as eggshells are porous. i'm not entirely sure about eating calla lilies!
ReplyDeleteThank you, India. Yes, we haven't eaten any of these eggs. I cooked other eggs for eating, these for decoration. I plan to take them to a guild meeting in a couple of weeks so that the girls can see and handle them, then I will have to decide what to do with them...they are just so pretty it is hard to even think about throwing them out! Perhaps I will be able to salvage a few pieces of shell to keep.
ReplyDeleteThese are just so gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteThank you. I was absolutely amazed when I unwrapped them! Maybe I need to try the calla lily and hydrangea blossoms on cloth next. Of course, it is the blackberry juice filling in around the blossoms that really makes them stand out.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your blog thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete