Polish-Inspired Naturally Dyed Easter Egg Designs

Colorful & Natural Easter Egg Designs

The Polish have many different styles of Easter egg designs. One type is the kraszanki (sometimes called malowanki or byczki). They are made by boiling an egg in a decoction of plants or other natural products. The color of kraszanka depends on the kind of product used.

Here are some suggestion I found online for natural dye colors:

• brown: onion peels;
• black: oak or alder bark or the nutshell of walnut;
• golden: the bark of young apple tree or the marigold flower;
• violet: petals of the mallow flower;
• green: shoots of young rye or leaves of periwinkle;
• pink: the juice of beet.

We tried out this idea and added some touches with Egg Coloring Kit in your Tinselbox. I tried three different types of natural herbs and veggies.

Rosemary – I hoped it would turn the eggs red. When I boiled it in the past it turned the water – blood red. I added some vinegar to the water and the rosemary and eggs as well. The end result was far from red – it was a light olive with very pretty spotting.

Red Cabbage – This I thought would create a red dyed Easter egg design as well. The water was purple and the eggs were not changing a bit. I then added vinegar – the water turned a blue color and the eggs did nothing. But once I pulled out the eggs – they then dried with the water on them and created come beautiful blue rings.

Beets – well the online suggestion were right – it was pink. I took the beets after cooking and set them on the eggs on a plate so that the juices would drip and dry on the eggs – and a beautiful pink appeared.

To fill in the space between the dripped dried colors, I used the gold and black makers to created a one-of-a-kind design.

For more Easter egg designs, see our Mexican Confetti Egg Craft.