| |
| It's
easy to make a nice atmosphere at home by decorating for
the Easter Holiday. To create traditions by using the
same decorations every year is valuable. In our hectical
world it's easy to buy pre-made decorating stuff. But, as
for Christmas, both children and adults would appreciate
gathering in preparations for the holiday. And it's maybe
more important these days than ever to take time off with
the family and create things together. The main Easter colours are
yellow and green. Magazines as well as libraries present
a lot of suggestions for things to create for the
holiday. The stuff presented on this page are easy made -
and suitable for the whole family. My suggestion is ;
visit the local store for hobby-stuff, gather the whole
family around the kitchen table - use your imagination -
and have fun .
GOOD LUCK
- AND HAPPY EASTER !
|
| |
|
| |
| HOW
TO EMPTY WHOLE EGG-SHELLS Eggs are one of the most
important materials for Easter decorations. It
would be wise to collect egg-shells (when cooking
and baking) for a good periode of time ahead. A
bit of training is demanded in emptying eggs
without breaking them - but don't despair - after
a few times of trying - it's quite easy.
| 1.
Hold the egg steadily in your hand and
make a small hole in the flatted end of
the egg |
| 2.
Turn the egg and stich a somewhat larger
hole in the other end of the egg. Use a
huge sawing needle, and stir a bit inside
the egg. |
| 3.
Hold the egg over a deep plate. Place
your mouth over the smallest hole and
blow the contents into the plate. |
| 4.
In order to prevent the egg to start
smelling later on it has be be rinsed
both in- and outwards. When it's well
rinsed it should be carefully dried. |
It's
also possible to buy a small, cheap egg-pump in
hobby-shops.  |
|
|
| |
|
Eastern
Europeans are experts in decorating eggs. Colours and
patterns are incredible beautiful - it's really an art.
Our aim has to be our own, family - easter eggs to please
us in years to come. Let the children use their
creativity ! A good rule is to start out with some easy
patterns. To paint around an egg without touching what is
already painted, isn't easy. Put the egg on to a knitting
needle or likewise. Then it will be much easier to hold.
Watercolours are ok., but hobby-colours will maintain for
a longer periode. And if the eggs are to hang outdoor,
you'll have to use oil paint. Start out by colouring the
whole egg in one basic colour. Let it dry thoroughly
before decorating further. You could find a lot of nice
patterns in magazines and books, but it's really just to
use the imagination.
If you don't want to
paint the egg, it's an alternative to put on small labels
(silver- or gold stars, stickers, tiny paper flowers or
likewise). Tiny silk bows with a ribbon to hang the egg
in are also very cute.
| Decorated eggs can be
placed in a basket, but it's also possible to let
them hang. A small piece of wood is needed (a
piece of a match, toothpick or likewise). Attatch
it to a thin thread of silver or gold, or a very
tiny ribbon. Put the wooden piece through the
largest hole in the egg. Pull carefully for the
little piece to attach sideways inside the egg.
The eggs can be hanged on knots found outdoor, or
on a branch with lots of knots, placed in a large
vase. The branch may first be sprayed with paint
of white, silver or gold. It's also nice to hang
several eggs in a window, with different lenght
of the ribbons. Spare some empty
egg-boxes. They're useful for preserving the eggs
from one year to the other.
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
GREEN-HAIRED CHICKEN If you break an egg and
the shell isn't to much damaged, you can use
these half eggshells. Wash the shell thoroughly
and attach it to a small ring to stand on, (a
pipecleaner or a piece of thick paper is ideal).
Draw eyes and bill with water-proof Indian ink or
water-proof paint. Put some wet cotton into the
shell (almost up to the edge) and spread some
cress on top of the cotton. This is a nice
decoration when the cress starts sproting after a
couple of days. Most kids are very happy with
sowing cress - the result is fast enough to keep
their mind to it.
|
|
| |
|
| |
| CHICKENS
FOR KNOTS Germinating knots in a
huge vase becomes extra decorative if small
yellow chickens are placed in it. The chickens
may be cut from a piece of thin, yellow
cardboard. If the chicken is cut "en
face" and the wings - bending downwards -
are cut divided from the body, it can be attached
to a knot by the wing. Eyes, legs and bill can be
drawn with Indian ink.
A lot of
different materials can be used for making small
chickens to hang in the knots by some sawing
thread. Small chickens are cute when they hang
from the knots and move by movements in the room.
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
| EGG-BOX CHICKENS Use the bottom half of a
carton egg-box and turn it upside-down. Paint it
yellow. Cover the edge outside with some green
textile or paper. Cut strips to make it look like
grass. Attach yellow cotton-bulbs with glue and
draw eyes on the bulbs. Use a bit of red textile
or paper to make bills. Glue a feather on the
back side of each chicken.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| PAPER-CUTTING
FOR THE WINDOW
Use thin, yellow cardboard. Find a
suitable pattern, copy it onto a transparant paper and cut it. Place
the paper pattern on top of the cardboard and draw the whole pattern
with a pencil. To cut the pattern you can use a wallpaper-knife or
small, sharp scissors. Attach a tiny yellow or green silk ribbon on
top. Let one end be long enough for the decoration to hang in.
It's also nice to cut a couple of
small pattern (for inst. eggs) and attach them to the lage one with
some sawing tread.
|
(This one can be copied and enlargened.)
|
|
|
| |
|
| EASTER TABLE MATS For a handy person it's
an idea to make individual mats for the Easter
table.
Use a thick,
firm fabric, one colour - preferingly green or
yellow. The edging should then be yellow or
green. Meassures for the mat should be approx. 16
x 12 inches. Cut small easter-eggs from
small-pattern fabric-remainders. Attach the eggs
in the corner of the mat by sewing them "a
little here and there". Especially nice is
brodering the name of the owner with some thick
brodery thread. Then each and everybody will have
their own personal Easter table mat.
|
|
| |
|
| |
| EASTER WREATH In Norway it's a
tradition to hang a Christmas wreath on the front
door - but not so for Easter. In central Europe
it's a habit - and a nice one. Both wreaths from
wintergreen knots and straw can be purchased in
flower-shops. Several material can be used for
making a beautiful Easter wreath ; yellow silk
ribbons, a couple of small chickens, some
wintergreen knots for the straw-wreath and some
straws for the wintergreen, or some early yellow
spring flowers (or silk-made flowers). If I have
an Easter wreath on my front door this Easter -
maybe it will be the start of a tradition in
Norway as well ?
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
| NATURE COLOURING OF EGGS In most of Europe it's a
custom to serve coloured, hard boiled eggs during
Easter. In several countries these eggs are
hidden - both in- and outdoors - by the Easter
Bunny. And the kids have a lot of fun and
excitement trying to find the eggs. In many
places you can even buy these pre-boiled colured
eggs in food stores. In Germany it's a tradition
to serve green eggs on Holy Thursday.
To colour eggs
for Easter has been done for several hundred
years, and using Natures own ressources to do so.
It's possible to colour emptied eggs by the same
method. At first the colour ressource has to boil
within water. Then the eggs have to boil for at
least 10 minutes. The longer they boil the darker
the colour will become. If parts of an egg is
brushed after colouring and then boiled again -
maybe in another colour - it will give a
beautiful spectre of colours.
Here are some
tips ;
| Peel of
onion = light brown |
Beetroot
= red - lilac |
Saffron
= strong yellow |
| Coffe =
dark brown |
Spinach
= green |
Blueberry
= blue-lilac |
| |
|
|
| Empty
eggs can also be coloured by using
confectioner colour, coloured silk paper
or crępe-paper in the water. To gain
patterns string can be tied different
ways tight around the egg (be careful so
it don't break). You'll get lighter
stripes on the egg where the string has
been attached. |
|
|
| |
|
|
| FABUOLUS
HANDPAINTED EGGS !! |
|
From
my husband I have got beautiful handpainted eggs as gifts ; 2 from
Poland and 5 from Czekia. The patterns have different symbolic
and each district have their speical "patterns".
The Russian Faubčrge-eggs
are famous around the World. But also in the Far East they have a
thousand year old tradtion in eggpainting. The variation in patterns
all over the World are unnumerous. |
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
