NATURAL-DYED EGGS

Eggs have been celebrated as a symbol of new life for centuries and decorating them is a tradition in cultures across the world. These subtly coloured eggs are dyed with natural ingredients you can find at the grocer’s or in your storecupboard. The pigment is masked using the leaves of common wild plants to create decorative patterns.

YOU WILL NEED

LEAVES

GLUESTICK

PRE-BLOWN OR HARD-BOILED WHITE EGGS (I USED DUCK) SEVERAL PAIRS OF NYLON POPSOCKS

STRING

FOR THE DYE

HALF A RED CABBAGE

300G-350G BEETROOT

2 TABLESPOONS TURMERIC

WATER

WHITE VINEGAR

JAM JARS

1 Make a solution for each colour you wish to dye your eggs. For example, for cerise/pink, peel and chop the beetroot in 750ml of water and boil for 30 minutes. For a yellow/ orange solution, use the same method with turmeric and for a blue solution, use red cabbage. To create a green tone, first submerge an egg into the blue solution, and then into the yellow/orange solution, or vice versa. 2 Strain your dye solutions into jam jars and add 1 tbsp white vinegar to each. 3 Gather shapely leaves from your garden. Species that work well include rose, various varieties of parsley, crane’s bill, herb robert, geranium and garlic mustard. 4 Apply a small amount of gluestick to the leaves and stick one in place on each egg. 5 Wrap a popsock around the egg and tie closed tightly with string on the back, the opposite side to the leaf. 6 Immerse an egg into a dye, one at a time. Leave for an hour, remove from dye, cut away popsock and lift away the leaf. Leave to dry. Test the solution several times with a new egg each time, increasing the dye times to build up the colour.