Thursday, March 25, 2010

Golden Eggs - Dyeing Eggs With Turmeric


Here's an easy and natural egg dyeing technique for you to try just in time for Easter ....give turmeric a whirl.  It produces a lovely golden color and it smells nice too.  You can find turmeric in the spice aisle at your local supermarket. 


I started with some white, light brown, and green eggs from my girls.   While they were hard-boiling, I heated up about 5 cups of water in my crockpot and added roughly 4 tablespoons of turmeric.  I let the turmeric and water simmer for about 15 minutes, then turned the heat off.  When it had cooled slightly, I added my now-boiled and slightly cooled eggs to the mixture.  


I looped rubberbands around a few of them as a resist, but you could also let the kids add designs with crayons too.

I let the eggs sit  in the dye bath for an hour and when they emerged, they were a gorgeous gold. 



Here are the dyed eggs and their pre-dyed counterparts.  The green egg had a sort of olive green tone to it.  Lovely!



I've read that you can add vinegar to the dye bath to help the color stick more.  I added a splash of vinegar to the eggs while they were boiling so I did not include more vinegar in the dye bath.   Of course, I had to taste test them too to see if the flavor of the turmeric came through, but it had not.  Nothing but eggy goodness.

As far as getting a good hard-boiled egg, here's an interesting article on the subject.  I find that older eggs do in fact peel easier, so I typically use store-bought eggs for boiling.  (our fresh eggs get eaten up pretty quickly around here)

What kinds of natural egg dyes will you be trying this year?

16 comments:

Mona said...

I'm gonna try logwood, for a nice blue purple. And I'll also see if I'm able to dye with goutweed - even though it's a bit early this time of year. But hopefully I can achieve a light green.
And I'll certainly dye some with turmeric as well :)

Sonia / COZY MEMORIES said...

ooooh lovely lovely !
don't laugh, but it's not a tradition (in our family) to dye eggs. But maybe we'll start a new one !! Yay for turmeric dye !
PS : LOL at your question today (at my blog) you're my most favorite silly girl xoxoxo

KarenB said...

Your eggs are so very beautiful! Love them!

Neuroknitter said...

I love this!! I've never dyed eggs before, but want to try this.

What is logwood and can you use it in a crockpot that's for food, or should it be in a non-food pot?

I can't wait to go home and play!!

ZenCrafter said...

I love the subtle color changes you got from the different eggs with the turmeric.

I'm traveling back home to Texas for Easter, where I had some memorable egg-dyeing and -hunting experiences as a kid. I hated getting cracked on the head with dyed confetti eggs, but eating the dyed boiled eggs was worth the hunt and the sore head.

Marchi Wierson said...

I love using turmeric for dye on my wool too!

Kar said...

Gorgeous! Never would have thought of that.

Pop over and get the award I gave to you. You always have great inspiring handmade goodies that brighten the day. Thanks!

Morna Crites-Moore said...

I love this ... thank you! You have inspired me to go natural this Easter.

Leah said...

Such an intense color! I love making rice pilaf with turmeric. In fact, I think we're all out. Thanks for the tutorial.

Lisa at lil fish studios said...

Thanks everybody! My friend Odile brought a bag of turmeric with her when she visited. Knowing I'd never use that much in a lifetime, I decided to dye with it. It's such a natural gold, I love it.

Marchi - I dyed some felted wool with it and love the color. After line drying though, a ton of color was lost. It didn't like being exposed to that much sun, I think.

Eva said...

In my experience turmeric doesn't last long on fabric but great idea to use it for eggs. I love how different the three look.

Barbara said...

This is a very cool idea! Have you used any other natural dies to color eggs?

Peace!

Lisa at lil fish studios said...

Barbara - thanks for stopping by. I tried grape juice, which was a complete failure. I'd like to try onion skins, which I'm sure will give me more yellows, and I'm considering trying the viburnum berries from our woods to try for a red. I'll be sure to post something if I do it.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful. Tumeric color accents my kitchen already so these festive eggs will be perfect.

Rikkianne said...

Lisa! These are beautiful. I am going to try this. Thank you for sharing! LOVE

Maria Apostolou said...

I might have to try this! I love the colors of the turmeric. What a clever idea to use it for dyeing eggs!

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