DYE THOSE EGGS!!

It is egg dying time again!!  It came sooooo soon!!!  Anyway I thought I would like share my favorite dyed eggs with y'all!

These are just a few, I have loads of them! It was so fun to do!!

I saw these in Country Living Magazine in '93 or '94, can't remember exactly, BUT  I tried them and it was so fun! 

These were done with lots of onion skins and some with cinnamon, cloves, tumeric.  The designs are little weeds from the yard.  I moistened the weeds to get them to stay on the eggs, then took old panty hose and cut them up, put them around the egg and held it in place with a rubberband, pulling the hose tightly.  Then I left them in the water where I boiled the onion skins or spices.  At one point I had three or four pots of hot water full of spices, and onion skins!  I like the natural colors, but you can get lots of colors using different vegetables, such as red cabbage, beets...  The longer you leave them in the water the darker they get.  

That same year I also made some "Pysanke"( probably spelled wrong) eggs.  This is an ancient art where a design is drawn onto an egg with beeswax then dipped into a dye. You do this layer after layer using different color dyes.  Then when you are happy with the design you just rub off the wax and what is left is a very detailed  design. I looks like you are a great artist! :0) As I was researching this art, I read that the eggs were not blown out, but left in tact.  Sounds gross, but when you think about it, eggs are porous so the inside yolk and white eventually dry out.  Some of mine actually rattle!  I also think that not blowing them make them stronger so that they last longer.  Once in a while one will get cracked and the smell is not so good, so I just throw that one away.  

I have had these eggs for a long time, I store them in an old wooden egg crate.  It is best to keep them in a way that air can get to them, I am guessing that if they are kept air tight the smell would increase.  Sometimes when I first take them out there is a little odor, but once they are out in the air it is a lot better!  If you would like, though, you could blow them out!

This is fun to do with children as a lesson in natural dyes.

OK!!!  Get out there and dye some eggs!!