Last week we spent a few hours at a friend's house making Lithuanian Easter Eggs. It is quite an art and we are just beginners!
Wax is put onto the eggs using a stylus made out of a nail stuck into the eraser part of a pencil. There are many traditional designs. Only one stroke can be made with each dip of wax so the designs are made up of the single strokes.
Our friend has younger children begin with plastic eggs and melted crayons.
Here are the girls getting into the rhythm of dip stroke dip stroke. The tap, tap, tap of the stylus on the bottom of the can of wax is the only sound you hear while concentrating on your design.
Don't the eggs look beautiful!!
I think we had 16 or 18 different color dyes to choose from!
Here are some of the masterpieces our friend pulls out year after year.
We started with fresh eggs and then after we decorated them the insides were removed.
Here is an example of a Ukranian egg, which is much more complicated and time consuming.
After the wax is applied and the egg is dyed the wax has to be removed with the flame of a candle. One holds the egg up to the candle until a small area of wax melts and then you wipe the melted wax off with a rag. Round and round the egg you go until all the wax is removed.
Those who are more experienced can experiment with several different colors, applying wax in successive order to get designs with multiple colors showing through.
Oh the infinite ways to create beauty!
The children really got quite involved in their egg making and we came home with about 15 eggs which are now gracing our kitchen table and giving us something lovely to look at while we eat.
6 comments:
So much beauty Heather - bot in the designs and the colors! I loved making those as a teenager - it was so much fun! I still have a kit with the tools, wax and dyes to make them, but no instructions. I think my darling girl and I should give this a try while the eggs are so cheap!
Beautiful eggs, and yes it really is an art and a skill to make these. come see my polish eggs, they are v similar - on my latest post!
SO glad you were able to spend the time. The children's designs improve as they mature--(and so do ours!) I love that you took so many pictures too!
Heather, I have been looking for some inspiration for my Easter table, not even magazines have inspired me as much as this post of yours. Thank you for loving and sharing all things beautiful! Love to all, Mrs. Lewis
How very beautiful. My father-in-law was Ukranian and they always had the most exquisite Easter eggs.
I so want to make those!!!! They look so great! Wow! Thanks for sharing!!! This year we used a kit that had us pierce a raw egg on both ends and use a 'sucker' tool to suck out the yoke; then paint the egg shell with a pretty metalic gold or copper color acrylic paint. Then we could wrap a shiny ribbon around it for a finishing touch. It was fun to do something different for a change. Maybe next year we can try what you did....*IF* I can wait that long!
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