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You are here: Home / Breakfast / True Blue : Natural Easter Egg Dyeing

True Blue : Natural Easter Egg Dyeing

By Jena Carlin · March 21, 2014 · Updated March 25, 2019 · 8 Comments

13-12-03-4_1 Little Rusted Ladle-Jena Carlin-Jim Rude-Easter Egg Dying Food Photography

It has been a little over a year since Jim and I have started Little Rusted Ladle so I thought it might be time to give him a break on the writing end. I am not much for developing recipes worthy enough for our viewers, but I can come up with a unique way to dye Easter eggs and offer some entertaining tips to help you set a memorable Easter table.

Little Rusted Ladle 13 96 WM- Jena Carlin Photography _Midwest Food Photographer - Natural Dye Blue Marble Easter Eggs

There are times when I instinctively combine glasses, bowls, plates and linens together with no particular purpose, and then beg Jim to create a recipe around them.  Perfectly paired robin’s egg blue enamelware and tarnished silver sat on my prepping table for months, just hoping I would use them all winter long.  While staring at this stack of dishes, and not wanting to put the lovely pieces away, inspiration hit me.  The speckled and marbled patterns of enamelware were perfect for dyeing this spring’s Easter eggs!

Little Rusted Ladle 10 96 WM - Jena Carlin Photography _Midwest Food Photographer - Natural Dye Blue Marble Easter Eggs-2

Coming up with the true blue look took a little research. Jim and I knew we wanted to use natural dyes, and after many attempts, we landed on red cabbage for just the right color. If you are interested enough, we created a Pinterest board for natural dyes here.

Little Rusted Ladle 12 96 WM- Jena Carlin Photography _Midwest Food Photographer - Natural Dye Blue Marble Easter Eggs

Creating the colorant: Boil chopped red cabbage with two quarts of water and one/half cup of white vinegar for two hours. Pour into jars and refrigerate. This is also a great time to hard boil your eggs.

Little Rusted Ladle 2 96WM - Jena Carlin Photography _Midwest Food Photographer - Natural Dye Blue Marble Easter Eggs

Little Rusted Ladle 3 96WM - Jena Carlin Photography _Midwest Food Photographer - Natural Dye Blue Marble Easter Eggs

Being a painter, I naturally thought of the masking technique used for watercolor painting. In essence it will work as a resistant, preserving the white part of your egg.  Staying true to using natural material for these eggs with coconut oil also worked wonderfully.

Creating the marble look: Place two plastic sandwich bags on your hands like mittens, coat the bags with coconut oil, scrunch the plastic in your hands and gently touch the eggs, passing from one hand to the other one time.

Creating the speckled look: Melt a small amount of coconut oil in a microwave safe dish. Dip your brush and tap it against your finger in a direction towards the egg.

Little Rusted Ladle 6 96 WM - Jena Carlin Photography _Midwest Food Photographer - Natural Dye Blue Marble Easter Eggs

Dyeing the Eggs: Use a metal slotted spoon to transfer the egg to the jar of cold colorant. Let the egg sit for a period of 20 min to several hours, depending on the desired color. Use the spoon to transfer the egg out of the jar, then refrigerate. Once the egg has dried, rub in the oil with a paper towel to preserve the color and shine on the egg.Little Rusted Ladle 9 96 WM - Jena Carlin Photography _Midwest Food Photographer - Natural Dye Blue Marble Easter Eggs

To me, nothing says springtime more than fresh flowers. While creating our eggs, I went to the market and picked up some blue hydrangeas to incorporate into our monochromatic place settings. I love to mix and match metal and glass with shades of a single color. In this case I did not have a lot of blue enamelware, so I added silver plates, glass serving dishes and blue salt and pepper shakers to round out the look. I liked the whimsical nature, but not the color of the nests, so I white washed them to match my setting, and plucked out the colorful satin flowers.

Little Rusted Ladle 5 96 WM - Jena Carlin Photography _Midwest Food Photographer - Natural Dye Blue Marble Easter Eggs-2

If you are feeling really ambitious, you can try the masking/natural dyeing technique with white linens or on watercolor paper for placemats. I have a lot of dye left over so I may give that a try next.

I hope you enjoyed viewing our True Blue: Natural Easter Egg Dyeing Technique and Entertaining Tips to Help You Set a Memorable Easter Table.

So until next time: Don’t wait until a special occasion, create one!

Jena & Jim

Little Rusted Ladle 15 300- Jena Carlin Photography _Midwest Food Photographer - Natural Dye Blue Marble Easter Eggs-4

Little Rusted Ladle 18 96 WM- Jena Carlin Photography _Midwest Food Photographer - Natural Dye Blue Marble Easter Eggs-4

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Breakfast, Craft, Decor, DIY, Editorial, Eggs, Entertaining, Spring Blue, Breakfast, Easter Eggs, Entertaining, Hard Boiled Eggs, Natural Dyeing, Red Cabbage

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Comments

  1. linda osborn says

    March 21, 2014 at 11:17 am

    As always you have given us something beautiful to look at and think about.The photography and compositions are exquisite. I look forward to your next inspiration. And thanks for reinforcing our belief that spring might really be here.

    Reply
    • littlerustedladle says

      March 21, 2014 at 12:17 pm

      Thank you for the wonderful complement Linda!

      Reply
  2. Kelly Neil says

    March 28, 2014 at 6:38 am

    This is absolutely gorgeous!!! I just want to sit at that table and soak up all of the lovely shades of blue. Bravo!!!

    Reply
  3. Jeanne @JollyTomato says

    April 3, 2014 at 3:15 pm

    Stunningly gorgeous! I think I’m inspired to go all-blue this Easter!

    Reply
  4. cynthia @ herlovelynest.com says

    April 10, 2014 at 3:20 pm

    I adore every bit of this! I love that the dye is cabbage-based, the colors are so much more beautiful and natural. and the photography is superb 🙂
    wonderful table styling…I could go on and on! thanks for sharing your stunning project with us

    Reply
  5. Jean Stroup Miller says

    February 21, 2015 at 6:57 pm

    How long will the colorant last in the fridge? Can it be made in advance?

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Natural Blue Dye for Easter Eggs | Simply Sophisticated Cooking says:
    April 16, 2014 at 6:03 am

    […] around Foodgawker the other day, I came across a blog from the Rusted Ladle that made and used a natural dye for Easter eggs. I was immediately in love because they had […]

    Reply
  2. 9 DIY Easter Egg Ideas To Make Today - Simply J&K says:
    April 13, 2017 at 7:01 am

    […] {Natural Dye Blue Marble Easter Eggs via littlerustedladle.com} […]

    Reply

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