I have a soft spot for folk art and find it incredibly inspiring. Over the Easter weekend I visited some small museums dedicated to Sorbian and rural culture in our area. Sorbian Easter eggs decorated with traditional patterns made by the use of hot beeswax, feathers and needles are very famous and you could watch them being made. It's fascinating!
Some eggs in their early stages
Finished eggs with traditional motifs
All the stages an egg goes through - layer by layer wax and dyes are applied
Many years ago in my childhood I painted eggs with this technique for the first time but never with such precision and skill. It takes a lot of practice and a very steady hand to get this good, but it's fun regardless of whether you are skilled or not.
Here are some of my feeble (and untraditonal) attempts of this year's Easter. Inspired by
this tutorial at
Lil Fish Studios blog I tried turmeric to dye some eggs. It works like a charm and gives the most gorgeous shades of yellow! The first tries with the darkest hues were already eaten when I took my pictures.
The egg to the left is an undecorated white one dyed with onion skins,
the eggs in the middle are dyed with turmeric and
the one on the right first had a bath in turmeric and then in commercial blue dye.
The yellow is turmeric. Red and blue are bought colours.
The blemishes are caused by melted wax when the dyes were used when still too hot. Stains can also be prevented when you blot dry the eggs. These will be eaten so it doesn't matter that much but when you make your eggs to stay longer it's better to be more careful.
I made all of these last year and finally got around to post them. They take a lot of time and focus to make and it's so easy to mess them up in a moment of abstraction. I love to make them though! This technique has become some sort of signature for me.
My newest creation, inspired by the pigeons that sometimes come and sit among the plants (and sometimes on the plants too and snapping the freshly sprouted peas) on my balcony and seem to thoroughly enjoy it.
My mother gave me horned pansies...
...and sedum. (There's some old lavender in the picture too.)
Last year she gave me this pot with funkias, that survived the winter outside. There also seems to grow mint or something and some garlic. Quite a lot for this little pot.
The lovely forget-me-nots are flowering right now and in the background you can see nasturtiums.
I also grow dill...
...linum...
...and poppies from seeds.
I sowed a lot of peas, but there aren't many of them out yet.
I found this little plant with its roots uncovered when I took a walk at a freshly ploughed field, planted it in a pot and only 2 days later it blossomed like this. It's a veronica, I think.
I accidently snapped this tansy in an attempt to dig it out. (I really do like tansies.) Luckily it grew some roots when I put it in water, now it grows in a pot.
These vicias are also "weeds" I potted.
My pot of wild plants looks like this at the moment.
They were very tasty and the biggest one was about 9 cm long.
Everything grows on a much smaller scale during winter than in summertime out on the balcony. They can't seem to await it. Some more blossoms and fruit are sprouting!
Some eggs in their early stages
Finished eggs with traditional motifs
All the stages an egg goes through - layer by layer wax and dyes are applied
The egg to the left is an undecorated white one dyed with onion skins,
The yellow is turmeric. Red and blue are bought colours.
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