Easter Recap: Lithuanian Egg Painting
Happy belated Easter!
I hope you celebrated big this year. This year's Easter was busier than ever for me and I have to say it was pretty awesome. Confetti canons at church, seeing so many friends, eating tasty treats... and something unexpected and artsy, too (Not that confetti canons weren't a surprise!).
I was kindly invited to paint eggs in the traditional style of Lithuania by a friend of a friend and I'm so glad I went! I love sharing traditions from around the world, especially when they're artistic!
In a nutshell, it appears that there are two typical methods of egg decorating in Lithuania; one is egg scratching. The other method of decorating is by using wax, which is what we employed. To learn more about Lithuanian Easter traditions and egg decorating, check out this link: Velykos (Easter) Traditions.
It was such a neat process and fairly simple. Below is the "recipe" (a supply list and instructions) for how to make your own wax-decorated eggs along with my illustrated diagram of what our table spread looked like. So sorry I forgot to take pictures. >.<
Supplies:
- Hard boiled eggs
- Paper towels
- Wood pencils w/ erasers
- Small nails (1/2 inch or smaller - link)
- Metal bowls
- Portable induction cooktop or warming plate
Instructions:
- Follow instructions on egg dying kit and fill containers with colored dye
- Place metal bowls with wax onto the warming plate
- Heat wax until melted (do not boil or burn) and leave at steady temperature until finished
- Stick small nails into the pencil erasers and dip nail tip into wax, holding or swirling to ensure wax sticks
- Take a paper towel (to keep skin oils from ruining dye or wax) and into it, place an egg for decorating
- Create patterns with the wax upon the egg, dipping the egg into dye between wax coatings to create color variation
- Let dry on a stand (kit likely includes one) or upon a paper towel
- Enjoy
*Note: The longer you leave the egg in the dye, the deeper the color you get!
Here are the eggs I decorated. As you can see, I got a little more carried away with talking than decorating on the second one, but they were fun to make! :)
Hope you all enjoyed this post and get to try this yourselves!
Lots of love,
Chelle Elle
“Chelle Elle” has been drawing since she was really small. No restaurant napkin was ever safe when crayons were involved! Now, she writes and illustrates characters and other fun ideas to help her dreams and the dreams of others come to life! And yes, she takes commissions and would love to hear from you.
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