Dye Eggs Like the Ancients with Plant Dyes

[Suz Lipman]

Wondering what to do with the eggs you might find in nature or during an organized egg hunt? Lots of ideas and instructions for dying, decorating and enjoying can be found on my blog, Slow Family Online.

Some of these were contributed by Molly de Vries of The Fabric Society who dyed eggs with natural plant dyes such as onion skin, turmeric, blueberries, cabbage, and grape juice.

You'll also find a history of egg decorating, which was practiced by Persians, Ukrainians and others almost 5,000 years ago, as a way of celebrating the springtime and the sun.

In a wonderful piece on spring rituals in the Huffington Post, Donna Henes writes that, in spring:

It is as if the great egg of the whole world has hatched.

Below, decorated Ukrainian Pysanky (eggs):



Enjoy your celebration of spring.

Photo - Museum of the Pysanka, Kolomiya, Ukraine. Photo by Lubap.

[Suz Lipman]

Hi Lisa, I found another blog piece on natural plant dyes for eggs. This one has pictures of beet dye. http://www.travellingmel.com/index.php/TravelingMel/2010/04/03/beet...

[Suz Lipman]

Lisa, that's great that you've been collecting materials. I bet you're going to have some really great eggs and a fun time dying them. I don't know if anyone here has put up pictures. I have some pictures of plant-dyed eggs on my blog here: http://suzlipman.wordpress.com/2010/04/03/egg-dyeing-workshop/. Keep us posted on your project!

[lisa hilts]

We've beeen collecting much of the material for dying eggs like onion skins. The produce guys peel loads of this stuff off the onions when they're putting them out for display and are glad to give the piles of it away. We've also begun collecting fallen oak galls as well as bark for deeper colors. Have any of your members here taken pictures of their eggs dyed from plant materials. I'd love to see some of the examples.

[Suz Lipman]

Hi Lisa! Thanks so much! It's a really fun, easy activity and is very satisfying. You can do it with pretty young kids and any time of year.

[lisa hilts]

These are incredible! This is something I would totally love to do sometime .