Sorbian Easter Eggs

Look at them. Aren't they beautiful.

From 2009_03_21

These eggs were painted or dyed by hand by Dorothea Schoize, from Bautzen, Marja Domascyna, from Cannewitz and Lothar Baiting, from Seebach. The cities are all in the Sorbian region east of Dresden. We saw them on display in the Sorbian Museum in Bautzen.

From 2009_03_21

On the top floor of the museum a mother and daughter of the Hoeft family were demonstrating the traditional technique, wearing traditional clothes. Here they are with all their eggs in front of them. Look closely and you will see that the eggs are in all sizes. We just bought chicken eggs, which the mother is stringing for us.

From 2009_03_21

There are two basic techniques, wachs batik and wachs bossieren. The mother is using the batik technique. She applies clear hot beeswax onto the surface of the egg, then dips the whole egg in dye. Her "brush" is a pencil with wax applicators stuck into both ends. The hot wax you can not see, but there is a bent spoon that has one end in the mug with sand, and the other end holding the wax and over a candle. You can see the candle in the picture above.

From 2009_03_21

In front she had some eggs that showed the progression of the technique, from left to right.

From 2009_03_21

First she applies the wax in the pattern that will be white on the final egg. Then the egg is dipped in yellow. Then she applies the wax in the pattern for yellow. Then she dyes the egg green. Next she applies the wax for the green. Then the magic step, the egg gets bleached back to white! Then the egg gets dyed red. Then the wax for the red pattern gets applied. Finally the egg gets dyed its final color, blue. Then the wax gets melted away, and the egg is polished. The whole process for a single egg takes about 2 hours. Even once she moves to the museum, she continues to dye them at home in her kitchen.
All her eggs for sale!

From 2009_03_21

The daughter, Heidemarie, is using the wachs bossieren method. As in English, the boss refers to an ornamentation on the egg that is raised above the surface. The wax is mixed with dye, (and perhaps an adherent?), and is applied to the surface like paint. She is painting in blue.

From 2009_03_21

An up close view of the wheel of different colored waxes, again sitting in bent spoons.

From 2009_03_21

They start their work, their hobby, after Christmas and work all day till Easter. Then they rest. We bought 8 from the two of them. We had also bought four in two stores on the main street of Bautzen. So now we have a dozen beautiful Sorbische Ostereier that we will cherish our whole lives. They hang on a plant in our living room.