ORANGE:

Collect dry onion skins. I filled a plastic bag with loose skins at the market for no charge. Cover with 1 1/2 cups of water; boil 5 minutes. Remove from heat; steep until water becomes a deep orange-brown color. Add 1 teaspoon vinegar. (Don't put leftover or cooked onion skins down your garbage disposal.)

BLUE:

Chop 1 cup of red cabbage (This is not a misprint) and add one cup boiling water and 1 teaspoon vinegar. Steep until water turns a deep purple.

RED:

Boil two medium beets until soft. Peel and chop into half inch cubes. Place cubes into a bowl; cover with 1 cup of boiling water and 1 teaspoon vinegar. Steep and drain. I've tried using straight beet juice, but I did not get good results; however, some people claim to.

GREEN:

Dip the egg into the red cabbage dye until it turns blue; dab dry with tissue and dip into yellow solution. Or mix the two dyes together in a bowl and then dip the egg.

PURPLE:

First let the egg steep in the red beet solution; then dip into the blue solution or mix the two together.
BROWN:

Brew a strong tea solution using two tea bags to each cup of boiling water. (Remember tea is a salicylate.)

HINTS:

For best results, use a glass or porcelain pot. Eggs take dyes better when not done in stainless steel pots.

You may have to allow the hard boiled egg to sit in the dye solution for five minutes before it takes, or dip the egg in the solution several times to get the color you want.

Hard boil the eggs with vinegar. This will soften the shell by reducing its calcium content so that your natural dyes will take more readily.