C2—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 11,1981
Colord eggs
brighten the Easter
BY SALLY BAIR
Staff Correspondent
Brightly colored eggs have been
associated with the Christian
celebration of Easter for centuries,
adopted as the symbol of the new
life Cnristians found in their
Savior. It became the custom to
give gifts of eggs on the morning of
the Resurrection to express a
renewal of life through the Resur
rection and, for many, a renewal of
faith and love.
Today painted eggs are firmly
rooted in tradition in most homes,
and can be found in all forms -
from free form painting by
carefree youngsters to the in
tricate designs in the Ukranian
custom of pysanky
Whatever tne form in your fami
ly, it is a long tradition which has
envolved into an interesting craft
for many In the Middle Ages it
was a practice to put a colored egg
in a representation of the tomb of
Jesus Christ during the Easter
Liturgy and some of these were
decorated with silver, gold and
jewels In the household of
England’s King Edward 1, who
died m 1903, eggs were stained and
decorated with gold leaf Perhaps
these were the forerunners of the
beautifully beaded and be
nbboned eggs which have elevated
egg decorating to an exacting
craft.
Mrs. Lloyd H Herr, 1113 Colonial
Road, Lancaster, has decorated
eggs in impressive numbers so
that her home is now graced with
two lovely egg trees, hanging full
and surrounded by many more.
Darlene relates that she became
interested in egg decorating after a
program was presented in her
Farm Women Society 22 After
that she attended a workshop with
friends and learned some of the in
tricacies of the caft
The workshop was a turning
point, and she soon assembled
materials and set up a card table in
her kitchen where she worked
whenever she could find the time
She eventually became so profi
cient at the art that she gave some
workshops at her church and for
fire company auxiliaries, and she
has valuable advice on how to
create decorated eggs successful
ly.
Darlene points out, "you can use
any kind of egg. I like to have small
ones to fill in among the bigger
ones ”
Bantum eggs, pheasant eggs,
South American chicken eggs and
"luck eggs,” the first ones a hen
starts to lay, are some of the
smaller variety she uses among
her regular chicken eggs, duck and
goose eggs.
Where do you find all these eggs >
She says with a laugh ‘ You have
to have good friends Sometimes
farmers will give them to you. ”
Actually, when she first began
decorating eggs, Darlene lived on
a farm, but it was a dairy and
Utomesiead
celebration
broiler operation which doesn’t
produce many eggs Nonetheless,
her husband could be counted on to
provide pheasant nests as he mow
ed in the spring
Before beginning to work on the
eggs, Darlene says your hands
should be completely clean and
free from oil While most eggs are
clean, duck and goose eggs
sometime require a lot of work to
make them spotless. Darlene says,
You want them white, but don’t
use chlorine bleach or it will make
the egg brown ” She advises that
Bnllo pads work well When clean,
then thoroughly dry the egg and
prepare to blow out the contents.
To blow out the eggs, a hole must
be made at each end with a nut
pick or something with a point ”
Darlene cautions, "The hole should
be smaller than the braid or trim
which will cove'- it ’ Eggs should
be at room temperature
Darlene adds. It’s good if you
can get something in to break the
yolk, something long and thin. It’s
really hard to blow out duck and
goose eggs, smaller eggs are
easier.” Darlene remembers that
she had her children do the actual
blowing, which worked fine for
her, but the children weren’t
especially happy about it
If you’re planning to undertake
this project in a big way, you may
be wondering what to do with all
those broken eggs once they are
blown out of the shell On the farm,
Darlene’s husband kept up with
her supply by feeding them to
calves. Now she says T just try to
use them up ”
Once emptied, the eggshells
should be rinsed out with cold
water. Darlene says using warm
water might pop the shell
She points out. * The shell gets
stronger once you begin working
on it The shells seem to be pretty
strong Farmers teed poultry well
so they develop strong shells.”
Now comes the fun part. Your
imagination can guide you, and
you can use up all that old ribbon,
lace and jewelry you’ve been
saving Darlene says she pur
chases some supplies at craft
stores, but finds garage sales and
friends an excellent source of old
jewelry
Darlene often uses a picture cut
from an old greeting card as the
basis for her decorated eggs She
says, I use greeting cards with
thin paper and sometimes a pic
ture from the church bulletin ” She
cuts around the picture using
manicure scissors, and makes slits
into the design to make the picture
he flat on the rounded surface of
the egg She considers cutting the
picture the hardest part, Tt takes
the longest tune
Once the picture is cut, Darlene
says, Lay the picture on a piece of
waxed paper, add the glue and
then put it on the egg 1 use
Elmer’s glue because it dries
t/l/ofas
Darlene Herr begins work on an egg which
will become a highly decorated masterpiece.
white Have a wet cloth handy to
use up the excess glue ”
From there the trim is added,
usually a ribbon adorned by beads,
or whatever suits your fancy
To hang the egg, Darlene uses
silver or gold elastic thread which
she attaches through a bead or on a
special ornament which has a
hanger The thread can be ad
justed to any length Eggs should
be hung with the pointed side
down.
Decorating the outside ot an egg
sounds fairly easy, but perhaps
you’ve seen those which have a
hole cut in one side and a lovely
picture or figure in the opening
Those are easy too, according to
Darlene Eggs for this purpose
should be cleaned as described
before, but not blown She puts
transparent tape on the area ot the
egg which is to be cut and begins
by cutting a small hole with
manicure scissois. From that
small hole just keep enlarging it
until it is the-size you desire. The
tape keeps the shell from breaking
It you are cutting more than one
hole in an egg, Darlene advises to
be sure the space between the
holes doesn’t get too thin or the
shell will shatter
Braid with an uneven edge can.
be glued around the opening to
cover the cut edge.
The contents can be poured out
as the hole is enlarged and once the
inside is cleaned a picture can be
glued inside the egg or a tigure
placed there The outside can be
appropriately decorated
it you’re ready to tackle
something a little more com
plicated, Darlene also gives easy
directions for those lovely jewel
box eggs, with shells hinged and
the inside lined with velvet Again
clean the egg, but don’t blow the
contents out if you are planning to
use a saw for cutting because the
shell is stronger with the liquid
inside it
Make sure the egg is dry and
mark it where you plan to cut. A
flat rubber band is good for this
Darlene uses a fine saw to
cut the eggs in half as a first
step in creating an egg jewel
box.
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purpose because it can be put in
place and a line traced beside it
Darlene purchased a “ Dremel
moto-tool,” a precision tool with a
tiny saw-blade just perfect tor
eggs She says it is possible to do
this fine cutting with a heavy razor
blade, but a saw does the work
faster and easier
Cut the egg in halt, then wash out
with cold water. This time Darlene
suggests loosening the membrane
on the inside and removing it
Now pour pairafin wax in the
bottom half ot the egg, just enough
to make a level base Then line the
bottom half with velvet Darlene
says theiabnc should be eased in,
not pleated, and after it is glued in
place it is trimmed very close to
the shell. Now a trim with a flat
edge, either braid or lace, should
be glued around the inside edge.
The top is lined with velvet, and
edged with braid or trim.
Next d very lightweight hinge,
available at cratt stores, is added
Darlene notes that one must be
very careful not to get glue in the
hinge or it will not function. After
the glue is set, she says, work the
hinge until it opens and closes
easily A cloth moistened with
warm water can be used to wipe
the hinge and loosen it.
After the lunge, add flat braid
around the outside edge, then
continue to decorate with pictures
and beads A base is formed out ot
old pins or fancy buttons and glued
to the bottom so the jewel box sits
firmly
Darlene keeps all her materials
together in a train case, so she can
This egg tree, filled with home decorated eggs, enhances
Darlene's dining room. Her egg collection was assembled
over a period of five or six years and has a wide variety of
intricately decorated eggs.
She has all her tools and equipment
arranged in a cosmetic case for easy access
easily get to work when she has the
desire.
Darlene’s eggs are hung on
decorative “tree” limbs, one ot
which came with a floral
arrangement, and one ot which
was plastic and was painted by
Darlene. She says a Dogwood
branch makes a lovely tree for
eggs.
Easter egg trees have long been
a part of the folk life of Germany
and Switzerland where the eggs
were decorated in honor ot the
arrival of spring and were made by
impaling eggshells on twiggy
bushes growing out of doors
In the 1890’s very elaborate egg
trees were popular in Germany,
(Turn to Page C 4)
Using a tiny music box for a
' base, Darlene fashioned an
egg which features a ceramic
Easter bunny.