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Joan Tice, a Gettysburg woman who has led programs on the art form throughout the area, said the process is generally called Ukrainian egg decorating and is more than 2,000 years old.
“It is a step-by-step process using wax and colored dyes to create an elaborate and colorful design,” Tice said.
Tice, who recently taught several workshops for the Adams County Historical Society, creates colorful Pysanky eggs as decorations in her home and to give as gifts.
“It is similar to batik that is done on cloth, but it is done on eggs. You can use white or brown eggs, and you draw designs on the eggs with hot beeswax and then
The dye will not penetrate the wax, so the design will remain white or brown depending on the color of the egg. Once the egg is dipped in the yellow dye, the wax is used to draw over the parts of the design you want to remain yellow. Then, you'd dip the egg in the next color, which is usually green, Tice said.
Then, you'd repeat the process with different colors such as orange, red and blue, usually finishing with black. The result is a mostly black egg with a lot of wax on it. Remove the wax to reveal the brightly colored symbols that were covered during each step of the process.
“Each color and design has symbolism. A triangle represents the Trinity and a bird, good fortune. White represents purity, and yellow represents youth and happiness,” Tice said.
A stalk of wheat can be used to represent a bountiful harvest, and a fish can be a sign for Christ. Orange can mean strength or the eternal sun, green for spring, red for happiness and hope, and black for eternity.
After the wax is removed and the eggs have cooled, Tice adds a coat of varnish to protect her creation.
“Handle them with care. They are very slippery,” she said.
Some people choose to use hard-boiled eggs and, while most of the time the inside of the egg dries up with time, Tice prefers not to take the chance and removes the inside of the eggs.
She said she used to remove the insides first, but that makes the eggs being dyed very fragile. So now, she dyes the egg first, then blows it out to hollow it.
Egg-dipping program
A PROGRAM ON NATURAL EGG DIPPING is scheduled from 10 to 11:30 a.m. April 7 at Richard M. Nixon County Park Nature Center.
“Turmeric works really well, coffee and tea are good and onion skins are one of the best. Although it's not a natural dye, we use Kool Aid for the kids. It's a fun program,” park naturalist Jodi Sulpizio said.
The program is free, but if you plan to attend, please call 428-1961 to register. Be sure to wear old clothes and bring your own blown or hardboiled eggs, Sulpizio said.
Natural dyes
YOU CAN USE NATURAL DYES to color your own eggs at home. Add dyes to the eggs when boiling them or dye the eggs after they are hard-boiled.
Boiling the eggs and dyes together is faster, but it will take several pans if you want more than one color.
Natural dye choices include spices; fresh, frozen or canned fruits and vegetables; juices; teas; and coffee. Some materials need to be boiled; others can be used cold.
For deeper colors, add vinegar when boiling. For pale colors, use canned produce.
With materials that are used cold, boil the eggs, then cover them with water, dyeing materials and a teaspoon of vinegar and put in refrigerator until colored.
With materials that need to be boiled, place eggs in a single layer in a pan, cover with water, add a teaspoon of vinegar and the natural dye. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
For deeper colors, remove the eggs, strain the liquid through a coffee filter, cover the eggs with the filtered dye and let them remain in the refrigerator overnight.
You can use fresh or frozen berries as paints by crushing the berries against dry boiled eggs.
Dab wet eggs with a sponge for a textured look.
Eggs dyed with natural materials will have a dull finish. Rub with cooking or mineral oil for a soft sheen.
COLORS
· Lavender - purple grape juice, violet blossoms with two teaspoons of lemon juice, Red Zinger tea.
· Violet blue - violet blossoms, red onion skins (boiled), hibiscus tea, red wine.
· Blue - canned blueberries, red cabbage leaves (boiled), purple grape juice.
· Green - spinach leaves (boiled), liquid chlorophyll.
· Greenish yellow - yellow delicious apples (boiled).
· Yellow - orange or lemon peels, carrot tops, celery seed, ground cumin, ground turmeric, (all boiled), chamomile tea, green tea, saffron.
· Brown - strong or instant coffee, black tea, dill seeds, black walnut shells (boiled).
· Orange - yellow onion skins (boiled), paprika, chili powder.
· Pink - beets, cranberries or juice, raspberries, red grape juice, juice from picked beets.
· Red - lots of red onion skins (boiled), pomegranate juice, canned cherries with juice, raspberries.
Source: chemistry.about.com
Commercial dyes
THERE ARE SEVERAL BRANDS of commercial egg dyes available. One of the more familiar names, PAAS, was invented in the late 1800s by William Townley, who owned a drugstore in Newark, N.J.
He came up with egg-dye tablets in five different colors. A package of five tablets cost five cents. They were to be mixed with water and vinegar.
Townley renamed his business PAAS Dye Co., from Passen, the word used for Easter by his Pennsylvania Dutch neighbors.
Each year, Americans buy more than 10 million PAAS Egg Color Kits, which are used to decorate 180 million eggs.
Source: http://www.paaseastereggs.com
Faberge and other historic customs
EASTER EGGS CAN BE PLAIN OR FANCY, colored with natural dyes or decorated with intricate designs. They can be made of gold and silver and encrusted with jewels or simple plastic eggs that glow in the dark or are filled with candy and other treats.
There are solid and hollow chocolate Easter eggs and chocolate-covered eggs with a variety of fillings including peanut butter, coconut and butter cream.
While the custom of giving chocolate and candy eggs as Easter gifts is less than 100 years old, exchanging real eggs in springtime is an ancient custom that predates Easter by many centuries.
Eggs symbolize birth and new life. The Persians dyed them and gave them as gifts. Egyptians buried eggs in their tombs, and the Greeks placed them on graves, all to symbolize the renewal of life. A Roman proverb declared “All life comes from an egg.”
When the church began using the egg as a symbol of the Resurrection, wealthy people covered eggs with gilt or gold leaf and peasants dyed their eggs by boiling them with flowers, leaves or wood chips.
Probably the most elaborate and valuable Easter eggs were handcrafted by the Russian jeweler Peter Carl
Faberge.
They were commissioned by Czar Alexander of Russia as gifts for his wife, Czarina Maria Feodorovna. The first Faberge egg, presented in 1886, was 2½ inches long and had a white enamel shell. Inside was a golden yolk that opened to reveal a gold hen with ruby eyes. Inside the hen was a tiny diamond replica of the imperial crown.
During Alexander's reign, Faberge made only one egg a year. When Nicholas II ascended the throne, Faberge began making two eggs per year - one for the new czar's wife, Alexandra, and the other for the czar's mother, Maria.
The eggs were made from silver, gold, copper, nickel, paladin and precious and semi-precious jewels - sapphires, rubies, emeralds, diamonds, jasper and jade. Each was a masterpiece and represented events in the life of the royal family, such as the opening of the Trans-Siberian Railway and the coronation of the czar. One was made as a tribute to the royal yacht, an egg carved from jasper and covered with gold and diamond scrollwork. Inside was a replica of the ship made of gold sailing on a sea made of aquamarine.
After the Russian Revolution of 1917, many of the pieces were sold. Others disappeared. Of the 50-some total Faberge eggs known to have been made, 43 have been found. Collectively, they are valued at more than $4 million. They are in private collections and in museums.
Queen Elizabeth II of England is said to have the largest collection of Faberge eggs.
Source: users.vnet.net/schulman/Faberge/faberge.html
Eat your eggs
GINA MUMAW'S EASTER PREPARATIONS will include making chocolate-covered peanut-butter eggs as gifts for family and friends.
“I've been making them for 15 years or so. I learned from my mom and I use her recipe. They are soooo good,” the director of the Arthur Hufnagel Public Library of Glen Rock said.
The tradition of chocolate and candy eggs as Easter gifts might be less than 100 years old, but caught on with many church groups and other organizations that raise money by making and selling homemade chocolate-covered eggs or candy made by local candy companies.
You can try your hand at making your own with a variety of easy recipes that are available online or in your favorite cookbook.
Choose from a variety of fillings, including peanut butter, coconut, butter cream or fruit-and-nut.
PEANUT BUTTER EGGS
· ¼ lb. butter, softened
· 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
· 2 lbs. confectioners' sugar
· 1½ cups peanut butter
· 1½ tsp. vanilla
· ½ tsp. salt
· 12 oz. milk chocolate candy melts, milk chocolate coating chocolate or milk chocolate chips
Mix the butter and cream cheese together. Add the confectioners' sugar and mix well. Add the peanut butter, vanilla and salt and mix until well-blended.
Place the mixture in the refrigerator to chill for at least one hour.
Form the peanut butter mixture into egg shapes, then refrigerate again for at least one hour.
Melt the chocolate in a microwave or in a double boiler. Using a large toothpick, dip each peanut butter egg in the melted chocolate.
Arrange the chocolate coated eggs on a wax-paper-lined tray and allow the chocolate to harden. Place each peanut butter egg in a paper candy cup.
COCONUT CREAM EGGS
Blend 15 ounces of flaked coconut with butter, cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and salt. Chill, shape and dip in chocolate as directed above.
BUTTER CREAM EGGS
Blend butter, cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and salt. Chill, shape and dip in chocolate as directed above.
FRUIT-AND-NUT EGGS
· 1½ cup butter, softened
· ½ tsp. vanilla
· ½ tsp. salt
· 2 lbs. confectioners' sugar
· ½ cup (4 oz.) maraschino cherries, drained and finely chopped
· 1 cup finely chopped pecans
· ½ cup coconut
· Sweetened condensed milk
· Extra confectioners' sugar
· 1 lb. dark chocolate candy melts, dark chocolate coating chocolate or semisweet chocolate chips.
Combine the butter, vanilla and salt together. Mix with an electric mixer.
Beat in sugar. Gradually stir in cherries, pecans and coconut.
Add just enough sweetened condensed milk to moisten and hold the mixture together.
Knead until well blended. It should be easy to handle but not sticky.
Roll into egg shapes. Use confectioners' sugar to keep the mixture from sticking to your hands.
Place eggs on a wax-paper-covered cookie sheet and place in refrigerator to chill for several hours or overnight.
Melt the chocolate in a microwave or in a double boiler. Using a large toothpick, dip each fruit and nut egg in the melted chocolate.
Arrange the chocolate-coated eggs on a wax-paper-lined tray and allow the chocolate to harden. Place each egg in a paper candy cup.
Source: http://www.bellaonline.com
Italian Easter bread
· 2 pkgs. active dry yeast
· ½ cup soft shortening or butter
· ½ cup sugar
· ½ cup milk, scalded (if using powered or canned milk, it doesn't need to be scalded)
· 1 teaspoon salt
· 4½ to 5 cups flour
· ½ cup very warm water
· 2 tablespoons grated lemon rind
· ½ cup white raisins (optional)
· 2 eggs, slightly beaten
· 12 raw eggs, colored with pure food coloring, following directions on package, using hot tap water instead of boiling water.
Put all ingredients except colored eggs in large mixer bowl, with dough hooks. Mix until it forms a soft dough, adding more flour if necessary.
Place in large greased bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Let rise in a warm spot until doubled, about an hour to 1½ hours. Punch down with fist; pull edges into center and turn dough over in bowl. Cover and let rise again until doubled, about 30 minutes.
Divide dough into four equal portions. Roll each into an even 28-inch rope. On a greased cookie sheet, loosely twist two of the ropes together six times and bring ends together to form a circle. Seal ends firmly. Between the twists of the ropes shape six nests and insert a colored egg in each nest. Repeat with the other two ropes.
Cover and let rise in a warm place until they double in bulk, about 40 minutes. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Brush the rings with glaze of one egg yolk that has been beaten with 1 tbsp. water, being careful not to brush the eggs.
Bake 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown. Serve hot. Cut between the eggs and serve each person an egg and the bread around it. Serves 12.
Notes: Do not use large or extra large eggs. They will not be fully cooked when bread is done. The dough may also be made in a bread machine. Just follow your machine's directions for making dough, then finish as directed above.
Lego egg hunt
THE WORLD'S LARGEST LEGO EASTER EGG HUNT will take place at 10 a.m. April 5 at the Lancaster Museum of Art, 135 N. Lime St.,
Lancaster.
Five hundred brightly decorated “eggs” crafted from standard Lego bricks will be hidden for children to find.
Other activities will include story time with the Easter Bunny, Lego building contests, an autograph session with artist Nathan Sawaya and a catered lunch. Reservations are required.
The egg hunt is part of the opening weekend festivities for Art of the Brick, the first major art exhibit on Lego building blocks as an art medium.
More than 25 sculptures, mosaics and portraits, created by 33-year-old New York artist Nathan Sawaya from one million standard Lego bricks, will be on display in the museum's von Hess Gallery.
For details or reservations, call (760) 505-7879 or e-mail info@brickartist.com.
Styrofoam and sequins
ANOTHER WAY TO CREATE a colorful Easter egg combines Styrofoam eggs and sequins.
Gina Mumaw, director of the Arthur Hufnagel Public Library of Glen Rock, will teach a workshop from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday.
“There is no skill required. It is something for all ages. They are very easy and quick to make, and you can hang them or display them in a holder. My assistant Jamie Wida came up with the idea for a fun and creative project that anyone can learn to do,” Mumaw said.
The workshop is recommended for those 10 and older. Children must be accompanied by a parent or responsible adult.
There is a $5 fee, and registration is required. All supplies will be
provided.
Call 235-1127 to register.
Peeps
FOR SOME PEOPLE, Easter would not be complete without Peeps.
Peeps are those marshmallow chicks and bunnies that come in bright spring colors. They are made by Just Born in Bethlehem, Pa., a family-owned candy company founded in 1923 and involving three generations.
Some like them fresh out of the box; others prefer to eat them when they are stale. Some people freeze them, while others use them as pizza topping. Kathy Bassininski, director of marketing at Just Born, said the company has more than 45,000 Peeps Fan Club members who create many new uses for the marshmallow goodies.
More than 1.2 billion Peeps are made each year for various holidays. In 1953, it took 27 hours to make one Peep. Today it takes six minutes.
Just Born makes as many as 4.2 million Peeps shapes each day.
Celebrity Peeps fans include Diane Sawyer, Emeril Lagasse and Ellen DeGeneres.
PEEP SHOW: If you'd prefer to play with your food, check out the entries received in the York Daily Record/Sunday News Peep Show contest, where entrants created dioramas out of their Peeps. To see the entrants, visit http://w2.ydr.com/photos/peeps/0/0/0/1.
