Oviparity Begets Art
Yesterday summerkid, bluesbodger, and dreefee came to The Secret House for an egg decorating party. I'd been blowing eggs for the past two weeks and had about two dozen, plus another dozen or so whole eggs for hardboiling. I got together some natural dyes to experiment with. Our guests brought extra pots. We tried red onion skins, spinach, beet powder, turmeric, grape juice, and red cabbage.
Here are some results:
My very favorite was the purple grape juice, which produced a lovely shade of blue and worked just as well cold as hot. It was the last thing I tried (since juice is tasty and expensive), but I'm glad I did. Depending on the length of time it was good for colors from summer sky blue to almost black.
Everything except the grape juice was heated to a simmer with a bit of vinegar.
My next favorite was the turmeric, which I already love for candles, cloth, and curry. A little goes a long way, and it produces bright sunny yellows.
The beet powder was my third favorite, although it was a bit trickier. We got one lovely red egg from it but then it seemed to lose its potency, adding little more than a coppery sheen. Perhaps more beet powder and longer immersion times would help. I'll definitely try it again next year.
The red onion skins produced a deep orange, appropriate for making a naturally white egg look like a naturally brown egg, and darkening any of the other colors.
The red cabbage didn't work so well. We used a pretty high concentration of chopped up cabbage in simmering water with vinegar, and it did make a blue color, but it was splotchy and didn't stick to the eggs very well, and never got dark. Tried that for quite a while (hours) without much luck.
The spinach didn't work out either, but I suspect the pot was too big / there was too little spinach.
We used wax crayons to do some masking and overdying with a few amusing results.
Here are some results:
My very favorite was the purple grape juice, which produced a lovely shade of blue and worked just as well cold as hot. It was the last thing I tried (since juice is tasty and expensive), but I'm glad I did. Depending on the length of time it was good for colors from summer sky blue to almost black.
Everything except the grape juice was heated to a simmer with a bit of vinegar.
My next favorite was the turmeric, which I already love for candles, cloth, and curry. A little goes a long way, and it produces bright sunny yellows.
The beet powder was my third favorite, although it was a bit trickier. We got one lovely red egg from it but then it seemed to lose its potency, adding little more than a coppery sheen. Perhaps more beet powder and longer immersion times would help. I'll definitely try it again next year.
The red onion skins produced a deep orange, appropriate for making a naturally white egg look like a naturally brown egg, and darkening any of the other colors.
The red cabbage didn't work so well. We used a pretty high concentration of chopped up cabbage in simmering water with vinegar, and it did make a blue color, but it was splotchy and didn't stick to the eggs very well, and never got dark. Tried that for quite a while (hours) without much luck.
The spinach didn't work out either, but I suspect the pot was too big / there was too little spinach.
We used wax crayons to do some masking and overdying with a few amusing results.