Weekend DIY: Dye Easter Eggs Naturally with Onion Skins

This post is written by contributing author Adrienne  Audrey.  

Easter is just a few weeks away and like many of you I like to partake in the  tradition of dyeing eggs for Easter. Dyeing eggs bright candy colors with special kits you buy from the supermarket may be an easy and popular way to decorate eggs but today I am going to show you a more natural approach. 

Sonya shared a blog post from Rad Megan with many wonderful ways to dye eggs using food items from your fridge and pantry. Today I am going to show you how to dye eggs using onions skins.  You can get a really interesting marbled effect on your eggs with this one, simple eco-friendly ingredient. Your kids will love this fresh approach to egg decoration so let's put away the synthetic dyes this year, it's time to play with your food!

Supplies

• 1 dozen eggs
• 1 dozen yellow onions
• 1 cheese cloth, muslin or sheer fabric to wrap around the eggs. You will need  8 inch squares.
• 2 tablespoons of vinegar
• Elastic bands
• Large pot

Directions

Peel your onions and remove the outer layers of the skin. Set the skins aside.  If you want you can prepare ahead of time by saving your onion skins for a few weeks in a container until you have about a dozen onions worth.

Take your eggs and cover them one by one with the onion skins. The skins are slightly curved and fit around the eggs nicely.

Wrap the onion covered eggs in your fabric squares. You want to use a fabric that will allow the dye to soak though to the eggs and will also hold the onion skins in place.

Secure with an elastic band.

Place the eggs in a pot full of water and the vinegar. Add any left over onion skin to the pot. Bring to a boil and cook the eggs for 10 - 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool. The longer you let your onions soak the darker they will be dyed. Be careful with the egg water as it may stain. I put my cooled pot in the fridge for about 2 more hours and these are the shades that I got.

When you are happy with your egg color remove the eggs and pat them dry. You can buff them up a little with some olive oil and a soft cloth.

Because the skins are placed on the egg unevenly you get variations in the color and pattern. They almost look tie dyed!

This is a project you can get the whole family involved with and you can feel good knowing this method of egg dyeing is safe and sustainable.

Adrienne Audrey lives in Northern Washington on a farm with her husband and a menagerie of lovable animals. When she’s not blogging at Crafty Little Gnome, Adrienne can be found out playing in the garden, experimenting in the kitchen or working on a new craft project. Adrienne also sells handmade jewelry and accessories in her Etsy shop Adrienne Audrey Jewelry. Connect to Adrienne via twitter or facebook.