On Saturday, we dyed 2 dozen (well, minus the one that burst out white stuff in the boiling). They were tidy and clean and solid shades of fuchsia and turquoise and sunshine and lavender, except for the few that we attempted to turn Lithuanian with melted wax and crayon. No stickers. No plastic "egg wraps". Nothing fancy. We stored them back in their cartons until the Easter bunny could have at them.
Yesterday morning, said Easter bunny hid them 'round the lawn and the girl went hunting. And when she was done finding 22 of the 23 eggs, we spread out them out so we could admire them and I was perplexed and disappointed because the dew had made the eggs all mottled, speckled and smeary and the damp dye was coming off on our fingers. Is nothing what it used to be? Next year, no artificial colors. I'm wrapping them in onion skins.
Oh, and not to worry. We found the 23rd egg and it won't turn up putrid in July.
Weird. They probably have changed the formula. No one in my house will eat hard boiled eggs (including myself) so we stopped dying them a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteWe have an issue with that, too, some years. The dye my dad makes with food coloring and vinegar is usually the best...the other kind tends to sweat, especially in humid Texas!
ReplyDeleteWe've used that kind of dye for decades. And always added white vinegar to "set" the dye. I wonder why it doesn't say in the instructions to do that now. I thought the eggs looked pretty with all their speckles. A neat side effect! Happy Easter Monday!
ReplyDeleteCarol
We used food coloring drops mixed with generous amounts of vinegar and ours colors turned out pretty well. I think the vinegar helps a lot.
ReplyDeleteI like the sunburst patterned one! Did you use melted crayon on it?
i appreciate your attempt to be an egg dye purist. we dont make them at our house, but i am obsessed looking online at all the eggs the crafty folk are making... and i do think the spottled eggs look great but the dye on your hands is a drag for sure. happy easter!
ReplyDeleteWell, if you DID use vinegar, I'd theorize two possibilities: wax on the eggs from the processing plant, or a change in the dyes themselves. I tend to suspect the dyes, myself.
ReplyDeleteWe used the Paas kit, as well. And their magestic egg kit. Three days later, the eggs are still gooey and wet feeling. The stuff won't dry! Weird.
ReplyDeleteI think they're beautiful.
ReplyDeleteHmmm. No colored eggs this year, but I have fond memories. I think yours are lovely.
ReplyDeleteWell, whadya want for 99 cents? (That's how much I paid for our Paas kit.) Our egg hunt was inside, though. Still cold, slushy, and muddy outside!
ReplyDeleteThere's always one egg that is ridiculously hard to find, isn't there?
ReplyDeleteI think the eggs looks pretty, even dew speckled.
We haven't dyed eggs for a couple of years. The boys stopped asking and I hated the mess so I quit. Parent fail! We do hunt for the plastic eggs.
ReplyDeleteYep, liquid food coloring and vinegar. Oh, and for a lovely shine, after they're dyed and dried, rub a bit of canola oil on them -- lovely! But really, nothing beats the glorious deep red of onion skins.
ReplyDeleteWe used food coloring and vinegar for most of our eggs, and we got blotching, too. I don't really remember the relative blotchiness of previous years' eggs, though.
ReplyDeleteI also tried using red cabbage to dye a few of the eggs. It makes a blue dye, which I just find so terribly cool. I was going to try onion skins, too, but in the end, we ran out of time. Maybe next year...
I never dyed eggs with the girls because they did it at school, but my brother and I always used the vinegar/food coloring thing.
ReplyDeleteWe didn't hide them though and I have vivid memories of not wanting to eat the eggs after the dye had colored the whites. My poor mother!