tutorial: naturally dyed eggs.

01. start with unboiled eggs.   the eggs will boil in the dye. 
02.  gather natural leaves, flowers, weeds, etc. to use a sort of dye-stencil.  anything you want to make an impression on your finished product.  wrap any nature thing(s) around the egg.  (this takes practice, but if you're like my family you  buy 50 thousand eggs to practice on).

03(a). wrap thread around egg + nature stencils. (remember, be careful because your egg is not hard-boiled.  like i said, if you buy enough eggs, it's not a big deal if you spill one all over your lap like i did this year!)




03(b). to be rid of unwanted string lines (depending on your preferences...we decided we rather fancy the string lines.  but it was fun to see imprints without them), use nylons to cover the egg and stencil. 
this make two people to hold everything in place.  rubber-band or twisty-tie the ends and trim. 

04.  this is the strange part: find red onion roots (my mom's friend's dad finds them each year...which makes it sort of secretive.  who knows where to get them?)  you can pick them up when you buy a red onion, just grab all the extra skins and such.  we only do red/brown colors, but here is a list of other natural dyes that look like fun. 
05.  boil roots + eggs together for as long as is necessary to boil egg.  dye will go right on there. 

06.  dish them out and unravel threads. 


07. display.
08. marvel. 
09.  wonder at nature's beauty. 

(note: there are some that are more gifted than other's.  melissa + mom have the artist's touch in our family, but that is no reason not to join in on the fun.  i promise, the finished results are never ugly and everyone will want to claim their's as their own). 

i think this is fun for any occasion.  eggs mean spring forever, and these are kind of fall-ish colors.  aren't eggs kind of in anyways? or maybe that's birds. here are some more elegant instructions. 

once my sister kate came home from middle school and said that some random kid came up to her and said 'i heard your family beats drums in the desert on christmas eve.' kate was nearly in tears at this ludicrous remark. but then was actually in tears when my mom told her it was true.  my parents were hippies, are still friends with hippies, and our family has hippy traditions.  this is one of them.  it was funny to watch outsiders parker's and jim's reaction to this little tradition.