Easter is coming: How to color eggs with natural dyes. How to dye eggs gray (using hibiscus tea)


Well, the holiday that we are so looking forward to is already approaching. As soon as spring came, the gentle sun warmed up, my soul immediately became lighter and more pleasant. In the pre-holiday hassle, time flies very quickly, sometimes you don’t have time to do everything you planned, and then you blame yourself for it.
My grandmother always said that before the Easter holidays it is necessary to wash the entire house - windows, doors, floors. Wash all the things and go through all the shelves, right down to the mezzanines. Well, of course, if you have a personal plot, then completely cultivate it and plant all the seeds in the ground.
I would really like to implement at least part of this plan, because there is a catastrophic lack of time for general cleaning and, by the way, too, energy. And you also need to go out of town, help your parents, who, despite health problems, spend every year, from early spring to late autumn, on their plot, planting, processing and harvesting their own crops.
So, on the eve of this holiday, in the midst of the turmoil, we begin to draw up a menu for festive table, thinking through recipes for dishes, Easter cakes and, of course, how can you do without colored eggs?
I want to show you how to color eggs with hibiscus tea, it makes them look nice grey colour.
By and large, you can simply buy bags of different dyes for such purposes and paint boiled eggs in a variety of colors. It’s certainly easier, but I wouldn’t risk my health and that of my loved ones. Our grandmothers always painted eggs only natural dyes- onion peels, red cabbage, turmeric and always produced bright, beautiful colors. Look how.
Today I want to offer you a very unusual method of coloring eggs using strong brewed hibiscus tea or Sudanese rose, as it is also called.




Ingredients:
- table eggs (with white shell),
- brewing hibiscus tea,
- water (boiling water).

How to cook with photos step by step

First of all, we need to hard boil the eggs. Therefore, carefully wash the eggs in warm water with soap or wipe with a cotton swab dipped in alcohol - this way we wash the shell so that it is a uniform color and the dye is better absorbed into its pores.
Place the eggs in a saucepan and pour cold water so that they do not burst during cooking, add a spoon rock salt. As soon as the water boils, time it for 10 minutes. Next, cool them in cold water, wipe dry.




Now let's start brewing tea. We need to make a very strong concentration to obtain a more saturated color of the dye.




Wait for the tea to steep for about 10 minutes.






Then we strain the tea.
Now we put the boiled eggs into the tea leaves and wait a few hours for them to color. The longer they stay in the hibiscus brew, the richer their gray color will be.




The most interesting thing will begin when you take the eggs out of the burgundy solution and see that the colors are dark blue. Surprisingly, this is a fact, and there is no mysticism here. The fact is that hibiscus tea has an acid, so it reacts with calcium, turning the shell blue. This is school chemistry and an ordinary chemical reaction.




I recommend removing the eggs not with your fingers, but with a spoon. We take it out carefully, as fresh paint is easily erased. When the eggs dry, the paint holds well.
Bon appetit!
Also find out

The most important spring Christian holiday is Easter. And this is an excellent reason to develop your creative abilities, because painting eggs and giving them individuality is an integral process during preparation for the Light Christ's Resurrection. There are many in various ways decorations, thanks to which everyone can make their own Easter basket the one and only.

How to dye Easter eggs using onion skins

An old but reliable, safe and time-tested method. The color of the resulting eggs is red or brown, as well as all their various shades.


You will need:

  • eggs;
  • onion peel;
  • water;
  • salt;
  • vegetable oil;
  • pot.

Preparation

  1. Before cooking, remove the eggs from the refrigerator to allow them to come to room temperature.
  2. Add the onion skins to the pan and pour boiling water into it.
  3. After 2-3 hours, lightly salt the water and carefully place it there required amount eggs
  4. Boil water along with onion skins and eggs, and then cook for 12 minutes over low heat.
  5. After the water has cooled, remove the eggs with a spoon and dry them with a paper towel or napkin.
  6. To add shine, grease the eggs with vegetable oil and wipe off excess oil with a napkin.

We dye eggs for Easter using beets

Another popular one natural dye- beet. Thanks to this product, eggs can be colored in a range of colors from soft pink to dark burgundy.

The three most popular techniques used experienced housewives when painting eggs with beets:

  1. Place hard-boiled eggs in freshly squeezed beet juice. By leaving the eggs in the refrigerator overnight, you can achieve darker shades.
  2. Peel the beets, grate them on a large grater and pour a small amount pour water. Boil for 10 minutes, before adding 1 teaspoon of vinegar. Place hard-boiled eggs into this liquid. The color depends on the length of time the eggs are in such a decoction; the longer, the darker. You can grate the beets on a small grater. Rub the resulting “porridge” over hard-boiled eggs and leave as is. After a long stay in this state, they will acquire a dark red color.
  3. Boil the eggs at the same time as the beets. In this case, the eggs will change color to pink. To do this, the beets must be grated or cut into pieces, pour boiling water over them, bring to a boil, and boil the broth. Next, boil the eggs as in onion skins (see above).

How to dye Easter eggs with coffee

Compared to the two previous methods, the coffee-colored option is much less popular, despite the fact that this method does not require any additional actions.


To dye eggs with coffee you only need:

  • 1 teaspoon of instant coffee;
  • boiling water.

Proportions: for 1 egg – 1 tablespoon of brewed coffee.

Preparation

  1. Pour the required amount of coffee into the ladle and add boiling water.
  2. Bring the resulting mixture to a boil and cook over low heat for 5-10 minutes.
  3. Place pre-boiled eggs into the paint container.
  4. Pour hot coffee and leave for half an hour. Over time they will acquire a beautiful brown tint.

Dyeing Easter eggs with turmeric

Turmeric, which is used in cooking, can be used to color Easter eggs yellow. This painting has several advantages. The main ones are comparative cheapness, safety and guaranteed availability for sale.

You will need:

  • eggs;
  • a packet of turmeric;
  • water.

Preparation

  1. Add turmeric to a saucepan with water and put it on fire.
  2. Wait until it boils. After boiling, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
  3. Cool the resulting solution and then put pre-washed eggs into it.
  4. Boil the eggs for 8-12 minutes, then remove them and cool. Decorate with stickers if desired.

Coloring Easter eggs with brilliant green

Despite the widespread belief that it is strictly forbidden to paint eggs with green paint, this is not true. On the contrary, painting using brilliant green in most cases will be much safer than if it was done using dubious store-bought dyes.


In order to color the shell in green color, you will need:

  • eggs;
  • brilliant green;
  • water;
  • gloves.

Preparation

  1. Pour water into the pan. Put eggs there.
  2. Wear gloves. Add a couple of drops of brilliant green to the water. Depending on the desired color, the amount of greenery can be increased.
  3. Add 2 tablespoons of salt. Cook until tender (about 10 minutes).
  4. Drain the water. Dry the eggs with a napkin, grease each egg with vegetable oil, remove excess fat with a napkin.

How to color eggs for Easter using hibiscus tea

Hibiscus infusion is not only very tasty and healthy. It turns out that you can use it to paint eggs for Easter. As a result of the interaction of hibiscus with eggshells, the color will be light blue; if left too long, it will turn gray.


What you will need to color hibiscus eggs:

  • eggs;
  • salt;
  • soda;
  • water;
  • hibiscus.

Preparation

  1. Remove the eggs from the refrigerator in advance and rinse them well.
  2. Boil the eggs by placing them in a saucepan and leave for 8-10 minutes after boiling. Salt the water.
  3. Pour hibiscus tea into a convenient container and brew with boiling water. Proportions: 250 ml boiling water per 3 teaspoons.
  4. Strain the resulting broth.
  5. Place the boiled eggs so that the liquid completely covers them.
  6. Remove the eggs after 3-5 minutes and let them cool.

The procedure can be repeated until the desired shade is achieved.

Marble Easter eggs: how to paint

Marbled eggs are eggs that were painted simultaneously using onion peel and greenery.


Ingredients:

  • eggs;
  • 50 gr. onion peel;
  • a few drops of brilliant green;
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil;
  • 1 liter of water;
  • 1 tablespoon salt;
  • a piece of gauze;
  • pan for boiling eggs.

Preparation

  1. Chop the onion skins as finely as possible and place on a plate.
  2. Pour cold water over the eggs in a saucepan.
  3. Remove the eggs one at a time and roll them in the chopped husks when wet.
  4. Carefully place each egg on cheesecloth and tie it into a knot, cutting off the tip.
  5. Pour water into a saucepan, add greenery, add one tablespoon of salt.
  6. Place the shelled eggs under water with the green stuff so that they are clearly visible.
  7. Place on the stove and cook the eggs until done.
  8. Rinse the boiled painted eggs, do not cool.
  9. Remove the gauze and husk from the eggs and wash again.
  10. Dry the eggs by placing them on a cloth. Rub the resulting paints until shiny with vegetable oil.

In general, the methods of decorating and coloring Easter items can be quite different. They have one thing in common: such work, especially in the family circle, can energize your mood for a long period of time. It is mainly interesting to do this with the knowledge that you are preparing for one of the most important Orthodox and bright days of the year - Easter.

Many people, when dyeing eggs, refuse to purchase dyes, choosing natural and homemade ones. However, they are not always as harmless as you might expect. For example, you cannot dye eggs with hibiscus tea.

Why you can’t dye eggs with hibiscus tea

Hibiscus tea contains acid, which is noticeable by its sour taste. What about eggshells? It includes:

  • 90% calcium carbonate;
  • copper;
  • fluorine;
  • iron;
  • sulfur and other trace elements.

When all the elements interact, the tea dissolves the top layer of the shell, turning blue and thereby coloring the eggs.

This is easy to check: add soda to your tea. It will immediately take on a blue tint. And if you add a little citric acid, the liquid will turn red again. However, it is better to do such entertaining chemistry in a test tube rather than in the stomach.

How to reduce harm

Despite the danger, many people still want to dye their eggs with hibiscus, so they need to know how to minimize the harm of such a natural dye. It is worth understanding that you will have to choose between the usefulness and brightness of the color. To reduce the harm caused to hibiscus, you need to make the environment less acidic. First of all, refrain from using citric acid and juice.

You can add a little soda to your tea. This way, some of the acid will react with the soda, and not with the calcium carbonate in the shell. Just be prepared for the fact that instead of a bright azure color you will get a pale blue.

How to paint hibiscus eggs correctly - recipe

Usually painted white boiled eggs. To color hibiscus, it must be brewed like regular tea. Dip tea bags into almost boiling water or add 2 - 3 tsp. dry leaves. Let the decoction steep for 10–15 minutes to allow the tea to gain strength.

Dip the product into the tea for 2 – 3 minutes.

Make sure that the liquid completely covers the eggs, otherwise light spots will remain. Take the product out, dry it with a paper towel and put it back into the water. Repeat the procedure until you like the result.

The second method of coloring eggs involves boiling them in tea infusion 3 – 5 minutes. However, you need to be careful here. If you overexpose them, they will turn gray. And then it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to put them on the holiday table.

Using hibiscus tea, you can give the product a red tint. To do this, you need to add a little citric acid to the tea. If you don't have it, you can use lemon juice. Then the shell will acquire a beautiful red tint. You just need to take into account that the acidic environment in this case becomes even more aggressive.

If you want to add patterns, you can use masking tape or thin medical eraser. They need to be wrapped around the surface in a chaotic manner, and then painted in the usual way. Make sure that the elastic fits tightly to the surface, otherwise the pattern will be blurry.

You can also cut out shapes from very thick paper and stick them to the surface. Then, when painting, these places will remain paler compared to the entire surface.

Natural dyes are a rather unstable option. Sometimes the color turns out bright, and sometimes it turns out very pale. To eliminate such troubles, you need to follow a few simple tips.

First, the surface must be wiped with alcohol. This degreases it, and the paint sets more firmly and lays down in an even layer.

To add brightness you can add citric acid or juice. When using any dye, it eats away at the top layer of the shell, making it more susceptible to painting. However, in the case of hibiscus, you need to remember that the final color may not turn out exactly as you expect.

To achieve a more vibrant color, refrigerate the product in the dye solution overnight. However, be careful: hibiscus can turn the color from blue to gray.

In addition, the more dye used, the richer the color will end up. In our case, than stronger tea, the brighter the eggs will turn out. Therefore, take care to put enough leaves in the water and give the tea time to steep.

After coloring and before serving, they need to be rubbed with a paper towel and greased with sunflower or olive oil. This will make them shine on the table.

There are several ways to boil eggs without them bursting.

  • An hour before cooking, the eggs should be removed from the refrigerator and left at room temperature. The temperature difference will be smaller and the eggs will not burst;
  • add a spoonful of salt to the water;
  • Use a needle to make a small hole at the end of the egg.

And in conclusion…

By choosing natural dyes, most people believe that in this way they eliminate the harm caused by dyeing eggs. However, any business should be approached wisely. Hibiscus tea negatively affects the egg shell. Therefore, before painting, you need to carefully weigh everything and decide which dye is best to choose.

This spring, after looking at photos of Easter eggs dyed with natural dyes, I chose ten different products to test how it worked. After experimenting with everything from oak bark to red wine, I've learned which ingredients make great colors and which ones I won't use again. You will find them in the article along with the recipes that I used to color the eggs.

The problem with online sources is that you can never be 100% sure when following someone's advice. This is a great way to describe what happens when you dye eggs with natural dyes. The spinach leaves promised a pleasant green color, but it turned out dirty gray, and so gloomy that I didn’t even want to take a photo. We conclude that spinach is good on the table, but there is no dye from it. A similar situation happened with beets and paprika, but more on that later.

Our kitchen is full of natural dyes for eggs. These include ordinary vegetables, such as red cabbage, beets or carrots, and bulk vegetables, such as coffee and tea, and various spices. They have a nice color scheme and I love how some of the shades are pastel, they blend in perfectly and transform boring white eggs into a subtle Easter decor.

I remember when I lived with my parents, already at the beginning of winter, a special bag or box for onion peels would appear in the drawer under the sink. Before Easter, the container with the husks was removed, as was a huge saucepan in which several dozen eggs were pushed for about an hour. Now this method seems boring to me, and the color is not quite my thing. So I decided to look for shades that I would like to see on my Easter table.

Today I will tell you how to color eggs with turmeric, paprika, red cabbage, coffee, hibiscus tea, wine, nettle leaves, coffee, oak bark and beets. Children will especially enjoy experimenting with colors. Allow yourself and them to do a little magic with your Easter decor.

Benefits for coloring eggs for Easter

Below you will find 10 pieces of wisdom that will help you understand how coloring eggs with natural dyes works.

  1. Before dyeing, wash the eggs in water or wipe them with vinegar to clean and degrease. This way the paint will lie more evenly.
  2. Before boiling, remove the eggs from the refrigerator and let them warm up to room temperature so that they don't burst.
  3. If you color ready-made eggs, immediately after boiling fill them with cold water. The temperature shock makes cleaning easier, and the cooled shell absorbs pigment better.
  4. When coloring eggs with natural dyes, be sure to add a few tablespoons of vinegar, which will ensure that the paint adheres to the shell.
  5. If you want an uneven coloring effect, leave the ingredients (grated beets, chopped cabbage) in the pan along with the eggs.
  6. Use a white pencil to draw patterns on the shell before staining. It could be flowers geometric figures or inscriptions. The painted part will remain light. The same effect can be achieved by wrapping a thread around the egg.
  7. How longer than eggs remain in the dye, so the color will be more saturated.
  8. To remove sediment from natural egg dye, strain it through cheesecloth.
  9. Usually, darker color This happens when you boil eggs in dye. Lighter shades gives soaking in the finished composition.
  10. As a final touch, gently dry the eggs after dyeing with a cloth or paper towel and rub sunflower oil .

Below are the results of my many hours of experiments. Natural dyes can produce unexpected results, so please do not be surprised if your color is different from mine.

How to dye eggs for Easter with turmeric

Turmeric Gives white eggshells a pleasant sunny yellow tint. To get it, boil water, add turmeric powder to it at the rate of 1 tablespoon per glass of water and a little vinegar. Bring to a boil, dip the eggs in the dye and cook for about 30 minutes.

Turmeric does not dissolve completely, and small grains remain in the water, so the eggs must be stirred to distribute the paint evenly.

I liked this method - good color, quite quick and easy.

Red cabbage dye

Depending on how rich the shade you want to get, you will need one or two heads of cabbage. Red cabbage you need to cut it, pour 3 glasses of water and add 6 tablespoons of vinegar. Cover with a lid and leave in the refrigerator overnight to let the cabbage release its juice.

The next day, pour the liquid into a separate container and place the boiled eggs there. Leave for another day for coloring. Even though red cabbage produces deep pink juice, the eggs turn out sky blue.

The method is not the fastest and not the cheapest, but the color is one of my favorites.

How to color eggs with paprika

To color eggs paprika, pour a glass of water into the pan, add 4 tablespoons of seasoning and cook for 30 minutes. After this, place the eggs in the broth and leave overnight.

They promised a brick shade. It's hard for me to define this color. It's kind of a super light orange.

Coloring with beets

To color eggs using beets, I grated 2 pieces, poured in 3 glasses of water, added 3 tablespoons of vinegar and set to cook with the eggs for 40 minutes. As a result, I got some kind of nasty brown color. If you also find this color obnoxiously brown, don't do it.

I think I should have just soaked the cooked eggs overnight in beet juice with vinegar. Maybe it would turn out pink?

How to color eggs for Easter using coffee

Everything is simple here. You need to brew it very strong instant coffee : 2-3 tablespoons of powder per 200 grams of boiling water. Add a little vinegar, lower the eggs and cook for about 5 minutes. White eggs take on a chocolate hue. Not bad, but not my favorite color.

Coloring eggs for Easter with hibiscus tea

You can also use it as a natural dye for eggs. hibiscus tea. First, boil the tea leaves for 10-15 minutes until the broth turns dark red, and then boil the eggs in it. When you take them out of the broth, magic happens and they gradually turn from pink to lilac.

I had high hopes for hibiscus as a source of soft pink color, but no. Although, lilac is not bad either. I like the streaks the petals leave.

Oak bark for coloring eggs

I think this is such a brutal way to paint eggs. A friend asks you: What did you use to paint your eggs for Easter? And you are all so airy and soaring: Oak bark!

So, to get a brown tint, add 2 tablespoons of bark per glass of water and cook the eggs in this mixture for about 20 minutes. Oak bark is sold in pharmacies and is inexpensive. And if it remains, it can be poured into flowers as drainage.

The most interesting thing is that the oak bark gave the color of ordinary brown eggs. And if there is no difference, then you can skip this method.

How to Dye Eggs with Blueberries

I used frozen blueberries from the store. You must first prepare a decoction from the berries. Pour 50 grams of blueberries with 2 glasses of water, add a few tablespoons of vinegar, bring to a boil and leave on the fire for another 5-10 minutes. Pour boiled eggs with the resulting juice for a period of from several minutes to several hours. Depends on what shade you want to get.

I kept the egg in blueberry juice for about 30 minutes and got this blue-black hue. My husband liked this color, so we are keeping it.

Nettle dyeing

Pour 2 glasses of water into the pan, add 6-8 tablespoons of dried nettle and cook the eggs in this mixture for about 30 minutes.

It turned out a strange dirty color, almost like spinach dyeing. If you hold it up to the light, you can catch the shade of a dried-out swamp. They promised green, but probably you still need fresh nettle leaves for this.

Boil eggs in wine

We always have leftover wine after the holidays, and since we mostly buy it for guests and don't drink it ourselves, I decided to use leftover merlot to color the eggs. To do this, I simply boiled eggs in wine. You can dilute it with water.

The result is a rather rich burgundy color.

Overall, I liked the process of coloring eggs with natural dyes and the result. But still, I do not lose hope of achieving a pleasant pink or delicate green shade.

Tell me, have you tried something similar? How do you color eggs for Easter?

Painted eggs are a traditional gift for Easter, a symbol of the holiday and spring rebirth. Usually, celebrants exchange eggs and, of course, everyone wants to make their gifts beautiful and memorable. We present to your attention the result of a little research and experiments with natural dyes - an article about dyeing Easter eggs using natural products.

Many aspects of preparing, painting, and drying Easter eggs will probably seem especially clear on the portal of masters, because they are close to similar manipulations in other types of creativity and needlework. We hope that you will be interested in reading our MK.

Necessary for work:

  • Large water container (for checking egg freshness)
  • Soda, laundry soap, lemon, washcloth (for washing eggs)
  • Saucepan for preparing infusions and boiling eggs
  • Containers for soaking eggs (such as wide-mouth jars)
  • Dried oak bark
  • Dried nettle
  • Hibiscus (hibiscus, Sudanese rose)
  • Vinegar
  • Sunflower oil
  • Clean rag
  • Chicken eggs

1. Checking the freshness of eggs.

White eggs dye faster and easier, the color on them will be brighter and cleaner. Eggs with brown shells require richer and darker dyes; light colors on them tend to look muted. We deliberately took eggs of different colors to demonstrate how the paint would apply to both options.

Eggs, both cooked and raw, can be stored for quite a long time - about 2 months, but the “younger” a raw egg, the longer it does not spoil after cooking. The minimum shelf life of boiled eggs in the refrigerator is 4 days, the maximum is 45 days. On average, it is recommended to consume boiled eggs within a week.

It is better to keep raw eggs in a separate, closed container at the back wall of the refrigerator, placing the blunt end up. On the door, where there are special places for eggs, the temperature changes too often and is not cold enough, which will speed up the processes in the eggs and they will lose freshness faster.

Checking eggs for freshness is simple: you need to put them in a container of water. This must be done immediately before use, since eggs intended for storage cannot be wetted.

We recommend taking a large container and pouring more water- this will make it easy to monitor the “behavior” of the eggs. Fresh eggs heavier - they drown; those lying down float in the water column; old ones float to the surface.

2.Washing eggs.

Washed eggs are cleaner, safer for health, and dyes will adhere better to them, since soap and soda will degrease the surface. You need to wash eggs in warm water.

As detergent Let's take laundry soap, soda (you can make a soda solution, or you can use it as a powder) and lemon slices.

Baking soda and lemon can easily remove factory ink marks or other dark marks. Our lemon is stale and looks unappetizing, but it is still an excellent cleaning agent (acts like a bleach).

3. Preparation of the coloring composition.

Herbs and spices that have been stored for quite a long time or were not immediately available can be used as dyes. best quality(not spoiled, just lost some of the aroma and beneficial properties).

For example, medicinal herbs are advised to be stored for no more than 2 years or collected every season, so you can donate the remains of dried nettles for the spring coloring of eggs.

In addition to nettle, we used oak bark:

Hibiscus (hibiscus, Sudanese rose, hibiscus - different names for the same plant):

Oak bark and nettle can be easily purchased at most pharmacies; it is better to choose the unpackaged version of the herbs and bark. Hibiscus is sold as tea or tea drink in regular stores and tea shops.

When choosing a container for preparing the coloring composition, remember:

  1. when painting, it is required that the composition completely covers the eggs,
  2. how less water and more coloring matter, the more saturated the color.

Fill the dye with cold water and place it on the stove. We will choose a working saucepan (in our case, a ladle), preferably not enameled, so that you can experiment with coloring products and not worry about anything. In dishes with thick walls, there is less risk that the eggs will crack during the cooking process. Cook over low heat. In most cases, the longer the ingredients cook, the darker the paint. After removing from the heat, let it cool completely and brew (the longer it steeps, the brighter and deeper the color).

4. Cooking and coloring eggs.

We take the eggs out of the refrigerator in advance; they must warm to room temperature, otherwise the shells may crack during cooking.

If you want the eggs to color evenly, you can strain the infusion before boiling the eggs in it. Leaves, pieces of bark and other coloring elements can affect the coloring. Salt the cooled and infused coloring broth. Eggs need to be boiled in salted water, then even if the egg bursts, nothing will spill out of the crack.

The photo shows that there is a crack, but the protein has not spilled out, and since the dye is completely natural, there is nothing to worry about if a little of the composition got inside. The white of a boiled egg may become somewhat colored if there are cracks in the shell, but the egg itself will remain completely edible.

Add vinegar to the salted infusion (approximately 1 tablespoon per liter of water), it will make the color durable.

We put eggs in the mixture (infusion + salt + vinegar), making sure that it covers them completely and with a reserve for boiling over during cooking. We put it on the stove. It is better to boil the eggs no more than 10 minutes after the water boils (therefore, the infusion is boiled separately; the longer the grass/husk/bark is boiled, the darker the color).

Remove from the stove.

If in the future you need a saucepan (for example, to prepare a new decoction), carefully transfer the eggs to another container and fill them with the coloring composition. Let cool.

5. Soak to enhance color.

When the composition and the eggs placed in it have cooled, you can put them in the refrigerator. Leave the eggs in the coloring infusions overnight, then the color will be brighter. For uniform coloring, it is necessary that the coloring composition completely covers the eggs. Keep this in mind if you want to make the coloring uneven! The photo shows eggs that were half immersed in the infusion:

In the morning, taking the eggs out of the “dyeing station”, place them on plates and let them dry naturally. It is better not to place wet eggs of different colors on the same plate so that they do not get dirty against each other.

Immediately after painting (before drying), the paint is delicate, it is easy to damage, so you should not wipe the eggs, you need to let them dry on their own. On the other hand, you can use this feature if you want to add texture to the paint, or add “scuffs”.

6. Shine with sunflower oil.

Completely ready Easter eggs Lubricated with vegetable (usually sunflower) oil to enhance shine, this also helps maintain the freshness of the product. Oil, as it were, “varnishes” a painted egg, giving it a finished look, shine, deepens the colors, and protects it.

You will need a clean cloth and a little oil. You need to soak a rag in the oil, squeeze out the excess and gently rub the egg with massaging movements, rubbing the oil into the shell. The excess can be wiped off with a dry cloth, polishing the Easter egg at the same time.

results.

Nettle. To get a dark nettle color you need a lot, otherwise you get a light shade that only tints brown eggs

The shells of our eggs were rough, so the coloring was mottled. The smoother the egg shell, the smoother the paint will lie.

Dyed with nettles -

Painted with nettles and oiled -

Oak bark. It gave a rich brown color with a bronze tint. It is very easy to damage when wet, you need to dry it carefully, then the paint will strengthen.

Painted with oak bark -

Painted with oak bark and oiled -

Hibiscus. We had read in various articles that painting with hibiscus would give a red color, tea color said the same thing. We made a very strong broth - the eggs turned blue! Left in the broth overnight they turned a beautiful, deep blue color! We “set” some of the eggs, half-burying them in the swollen flowers of the Sudanese rose, we got cheerful half-painted eggs

Painted with Sudanese rose (hibiscus) -

Painted with Sudanese rose (hibiscus) and oiled -

7. P.S.. Eat for your health. Rumors and salads.

You can experiment with other coloring products, herbs, spices, based on the principles described in this article:

  • the less water and more dye, the richer the color;
  • as a rule, the longer the components are cooked, the darker the paint;
  • eggs in salted water will not leak out when boiled;
  • vinegar makes the paint durable;
  • soaking in the infusion will enhance the color;
  • By wiping the finished, dry eggs with a cloth dipped in vegetable oil, you can give them shine.

Before you start painting eggs, it’s useful to remember your favorite salad (or a couple) that includes boiled eggs, or find new recipe, which would be interesting to try. Plan to prepare it after the holiday, buy more necessary products- and everything like that... Thus, after Easter, the dyes will be in use, causing a surge of enthusiasm in the owner’s heart, and not despair.

The work does not use any dangerous components or complex techniques, don’t be afraid to involve children in it if they find the kitchen alchemy of paints fascinating.

We have collected information about what other natural dyes can be used to color Easter eggs:

Onion peel. This is a proven dye, tried it on husks onions repeatedly: always gives an excellent result - you can get many shades of reddish-brown or orange (depending on the strength of the infusion). The more husks and the longer the infusion is cooked, the darker the coloring composition. Easily recolors brown eggs. Red onion skins are rumored to produce a blue or reddish-purple color.

Cherry bark or twigs. Should give a red/pink color. Make a decoction, leave it to steep for several hours or overnight, strain, and boil the eggs into the infusion.

Winter crops - decoction. Green.

Violet flowers - fill the flowers hot water, soak the eggs in the resulting infusion overnight. Rumor has it that it will come out purple.

Violet flowers + lemon juice - pour hot water over the flowers, add a little lemon juice, soak the eggs in the resulting infusion overnight. Rumor has it there will be a lavender shade.

Spinach - decoction. Green.

Parsley, ivy, coltsfoot and bracken - green.

Beetroot (beetroot) - grate with a piece of beetroot - beetroot

Turmeric is rumored to produce a golden yellow color.

Carrot juice is orange. Soak boiled eggs overnight in carrot juice.

Grape juice - lavender. Soak boiled eggs overnight in grape juice.

Blueberries - grate with berries or make a decoction. Light blue, blue, purple.

Blueberry + turmeric decoction - green.

Cranberries, cherries, strawberries - grate with berries. Pink.

Elderberry - blue.

Cranberry decoction is blue.

Leaves red cabbage- decoction. Blue.

Shell decoction walnut- yellow.

Currants, blackberries - grate with berries. Blue.

Zelenka - emerald. Dilute the greens to the desired color, soak the boiled eggs.

Coffee - brew into infusion. Chocolate, beige.

Black tea - brew into infusion. Brown.

A decoction of birch leaves is golden or brown.

Chamomile decoction is yellow.

Paprika, ground chili - orange.

Garnet is purple.

Celery seeds, dried dandelion and tansy flowers - yellow.

Prepared eggs are soaked in fruit juice or the shells are rubbed with berry puree; in infusions and decoctions they are boiled and colored at the same time.

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Happy Easter!