Dyeing Easter Eggs

By: Allrecipes Staff

Back in the day, decorating eggs with pastel colors was the plan. Now, anything goes.

For spattered eggs, dip egg in a base color and let dry. Dip a clean toothbrush in a contrasting liquid color and carefully flick bristles with your fingers to make paint splatter onto egg.
For marbleized eggs, coat eggs with a base color and let dry. Mix canola or other light cooking oil into another color of dye (1 teaspoon oil per cup of dye) and quickly dunk eggs. The oil will repel color in some places and the dye will adhere in others, creating a marbled effect.

The secret to beautiful eggs: let eggs dry thoroughly between coats of dye.

Tips:

To start, cover a table with layers of old newspaper to soak up any spills.

Use empty egg cartons as drying racks. Keep paper towels handy to blot off any dye that pools underneath the eggs.
For colorfast egg dyes, mix 7-8 drops of food coloring into 1 cup of hot water. Stir in 1/4 cup vinegar. For more intense colors, use small amounts of professional-quality food coloring gels or pastes, available at craft, cake decorating and kitchen supply stores.

To make your own natural dyes, boil common ingredients in water with a tablespoon of vinegar until desired shade is reached. Strain to remove solids.