How to Make Natural Tea-Dyed Easter Eggs
Skip the harsh synthetic chemicals, and celebrate Easter by naturally dyeing Easter eggs using tea, vinegar and a little patience. Bonus: Learn how to blow out an egg yolk, so your treasures can be kept for years to come.
Cassidy Garcia
Materials Needed
- fresh white eggs (not hard-boiled)
- assorted teas (we used rooibos, butterfly pea flower, turmeric, black and green)
- strainer or re-useable tea bag for loose leaf teas
- tea kettle
- white vinegar
- table salt
- glass containers (teacups or Mason jars work well)
- tongs
- wire rack
- bowl or cup for blowing out egg yolk
- push pin for blowing out egg yolk
- coconut oil (optional)
- small paintbrush (optional)
Steep Tea
Start by brewing a potent tea. If using tea bags, add two bags to every cup of hot water. With loose leaf tea like the butterfly pea flower, fill the strainer to the brim. Pour hot water over tea bags, and allow to steep until room temperature (about 30-60 minutes).
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Transform Tea Into Dye
Once at room temperature, discard tea bags (or upcycle tea bags one of these ways), and add one tablespoon of white vinegar and a pinch of salt per cup of tea.
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From top left, clockwise: rooibos, blueberry + butterfly pea flower, black, green + turmeric, butterfly pea flower (center)
Cassidy Garcia
Cassidy Garcia
Go for a Dip
Place one egg in each color dye. There is no need to hard-boil the eggs before dyeing them (If you blow them out before you dye them, they will float!). The longer you leave your eggs in the dye, the darker the colors will become. Be warned: This craft will not give you the same bright synthetic colors from boxed dyes.
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Practice Patience
Leave eggs in the dye for 30 minutes for more subtle, muted colors or for 4 hours for darker colors. Give your egg a stir with tongs every 15-30 minutes to help dye eggs evenly. Note: Butterfly pea flower tea is extremely potent and will dye eggs very quickly (2-5 minutes for light blue, 30 minutes for dark blue).
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Dry Dyed Eggs
Remove eggs from the dye with tongs, and place on a wire rack to completely dry (about 2+ hours).
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Optional: Spotted Eggs
Use a clean paintbrush to smear coconut oil on an un-dyed egg. Paint a pattern, add some blotches or give your egg stripes with the coconut oil. Place in a tea dye of your choice. We recommend butterfly pea flower tea because it is effective and quick. After completely drying on a wire rack, use a cloth to brush off the coconut oil to reveal a fanciful pattern of un-dyed egg behind.
Cassidy Garcia
Cassidy Garcia
Preserve Eggs
Instead of using hard-boiled eggs for this craft, use fresh eggs and blow out the egg after dyeing. To do this, use a push pin to gently puncture the smaller end of the egg once the egg is dry. Turn the egg over, and use the push pin again, but this time, wiggle the pin around to make a slightly larger hole for the yolk to exit.
Hold the egg small-end-up over a bowl. After taking a big breath, put your lips to the smaller hole and blow. It may take a few breath cycles, but with adequate pressure, the insides will flow out of the slightly larger hole into the bowl.
Discard the eggs’ innards. Use an empty carton to store the eggs for years to come.
Cassidy Garcia
Cassidy Garcia
Cassidy Garcia
Cassidy Garcia
Cassidy Garcia
