Easter egg decorating has always been a tradition in our house, even before we had a munchkin around. Although Jerry swears by good ol' Paas for his decorating traditions, I decided to try something new this year. Of course, Martha has complete instructions (along with color glossary) for dyeing eggs using a variety of natural, homemade dyes. All in all, our dyes resulted in much the same color variations as shown in Martha's glossary:
The one weak link in our dyes was the beet dye, and I think this is probably because I was a bit lazy: I got all of the "ingredients" from Trader Joe's, and the only beets they had were already peeled and packaged in sealed, plastic bags (sometimes going to yet another store for food is just too much!). I'm guessing that some of the potency of the beet color was probably lost in the processing. So, our "lavender" (fourth down on the left) is pretty weak, and our pink (top left) is also extremely pale. However, we were thrilled with the gorgeous colors from the red cabbage (the light and dark blues), the turmeric (yellows), and the onion skin (oranges and russets). The coffee worked well (dark and light brown), but they look like standard brown eggs to me; I guess I'm a bit more impressed with the brighter, more vibrant colors. It was a bit tricky keeping track of which we boil, which are soaked in room temperature dye, and for how long, but I'm very pleased to see such vibrant colors from these very natural dye sources. On the down side, it did seem to be a bit wasteful... I'm not sure anyone wanted to eat cabbage or beets that had been boiled for 30 minutes in vinegar water!
These are so pretty! Love the color range.
Posted by: amy | April 11, 2006 at 04:56 PM
I think your eggs are beautiful. The pastel colors look just like the ones I used to get from a friend who raised chickens. His chickens laid ones that were lovely pale shades of green. They make a nice contrast to your deeper colored eggs. I do love the deep purple ones. You did good all around!
Posted by: Eleny | April 11, 2006 at 05:07 PM
They're all pretty, but I love the dark blue.
Posted by: rose | April 11, 2006 at 07:17 PM
Those are beautiful colors! I'm with you on the not wanting to be wasteful, but it's great that you used natural dyes, even if the dyestuff was not eaten. Better for the planet, I assume. I don't know if boiled vinegared cabbage can be composted...
Posted by: Amanda | April 11, 2006 at 07:24 PM
These colors are so rich...the eggs are beautiful, Kelly.
Posted by: Jan | April 11, 2006 at 07:38 PM
Wow! These came out so beautifully! Well done!
Posted by: joleen | April 11, 2006 at 07:54 PM
Beautiful! I saw this on tv the other day and just couldn't get it together to do it (I just bought a pack of food coloring to do it the easy way). It's nice to see somebody's doing it, and with such gorgeous results.
Posted by: Krista | April 11, 2006 at 08:52 PM
that is brilliant! i haven't been to the martha site in a while so thanks for sharing.
Posted by: leslie | April 11, 2006 at 10:27 PM
These look so great, Kelly! The blue ones look especially pretty. :)
Posted by: Fiona | April 12, 2006 at 02:51 AM
I love your eggs! I tried the coffee version last year and had the same conclusion as you did, that they looked like regular brown eggs. Which dye did you find to be the easiest? I'd love to try one more batch this year. I just don't think i have the time to try them all...I'd love to know what you find the best dye/results. thanks!
Posted by: molly | April 12, 2006 at 05:18 AM
These are so beautiful! Beats Paas for sure!
Posted by: Jessica Hood | April 12, 2006 at 06:06 AM
what lovely eggs! i am so impressed by how many times you tackle martha projects. i flip through the magazine and think to myself, that is really cool, but man im way too lazy. way to go you! looking forward to this months cake saga as well!
Posted by: hannah | April 12, 2006 at 06:41 AM
These are great, but I am a traditional Paas girl, so I will not be boiling any cabbages or beats this Easter. :)
Posted by: persephone | April 12, 2006 at 06:46 AM
Gorgeous! I've wanted to try dyeing eggs this way and always wondered how well it worked. Looks like it's a winner! (Actually, I already bought the Hello Kitty dyeing set this year, so looks like I'll have to wait for next year to try this out. A 5 year old might not take kindly to the change in plans!)
Posted by: Julie | April 12, 2006 at 09:48 AM
Your eggs are marvelous. As a side note, beets and red cabbage make great indicators for acids and bases. So if you wanted to see what household products you own are acidic are basic, you can take the beets and cabbage (seperately) and boil them in water for 10 minutes. Then divide the liquid into several containers and add a drop or two of household products into the liquid. The color of the cabbage/beet juice will change depending on the pH.
Posted by: Abby | April 12, 2006 at 10:49 AM
Egg-sellent! Sorry about that! They look great and have inspired me to get a move on with getting ready for easter and maybe even try and dye some eggs.
Posted by: Tiff | April 12, 2006 at 02:32 PM
They are so beautiful! I can't believe how intense the colors are! I used food coloring and they turned out so weak! It was my first time dying eggs, so go figure. But I will be doing natural next year for sure!
Posted by: Sharon | April 12, 2006 at 05:37 PM
Oooo. Stunning results! I have the old MS issue that has that "project" in it and have been wanting to do that ever since. Each year I balk when I think of all the wastefulness. That, and the price of produce always seems so steep this time of year.
I have a little flyer about dyeing eggs naturally from Frontier Herbs so, following those instructions, today we tried dyeing some eggs with turmeric powder that I had on hand. They're steeping in the fridge overnight. We're going to try some beet root powder I have tomorrow, and maybe some safflower petals and hibiscus flowers, too.
We might have to give the red cabbage a try, too, since yours turned out so beautifully. My mom makes a Norwegian cabbage dish that is cooked with water, sugar, and vinegar. Maybe I could somehow incorporate the dyebath with the cooking of that dish? Hmmm.
Posted by: Siri | April 12, 2006 at 11:29 PM
these turned out beautiful!!!
Posted by: sunni | April 13, 2006 at 11:14 AM
wow - those are lovely - i keep wanting to get into dying and natural dyestuffs for yarn - would have never occurred to me to go the natural route for eggs!
Posted by: Stephanie | April 13, 2006 at 03:24 PM
my mom did this yesterday, and they were pretty, but yours are amazing!!
Posted by: lisa | April 13, 2006 at 11:18 PM
the maroon is the best, I guess I am a little bias since that is my favorite color
Posted by: Jessica | April 14, 2006 at 05:17 PM
Your eggs look really beautiful. You have made me just decide to get fancy with our eggs today. I was actually dreading easter egg dyeing this year for some reason, but I think I'll pull out some old Martha's and get inspired. So, thanks Kelly.
Posted by: Blair | April 15, 2006 at 06:53 AM
Hello sweetie ! I wish you a Happy Easter ! I wish I could make such nice eggs !! Big big smooches ! PS did you get my last mail ?
Posted by: Sandrine (alias Didine!) | April 16, 2006 at 03:42 AM