Show and Tell Tuesday

Shhh! πŸ˜‰ When nobody was looking, I stepped into the Show and Tell Tuesday line. (Actually, I don’t have any photos from you kids, at the moment! How about a few from me?)

Sir Beads’ grandparents were born in Czechoslovakia, and when our daughter studied there for a semester, we were thrilled to have a chance to visit an ancestral homeland. We were able to see the villages where his grandparents had lived before they came to America. It was an amazing feeling to enter the churches where they worshiped and to saunter down the paths they had walked. We spent several days in Prague, which is an incredibly beautiful city. I’ve talked about the talent of the Czech glassmakers, but there are many forms of art and music to be found there.

One traditional art is the decorating of blown eggs with paints, dyes, straw, and even fine knotted wire. Various techniques are used including batik, but Sir Beads and I were particularly drawn to those that were dyed and then decorated by scratching off the dye to form intricate designs.

We bought several treasures from this sweet lady, who is hard at work.


Here are the eggs up close.

They are truly gorgeous in person. We use them as Christmas ornaments but they’re meant for Easter. The lady explained that different regions of the country have their own unique methods for creating the finished eggs, and that often you can tell where they’re from just by looking at them.


Poor thing though! She was sitting outside, working in below freezing temperatures, to attract the attention of shoppers. It was the latter part of November. Notice the wool blanket around her waist!


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Have you bought a Christmas present, put up a Christmas decoration, or finished some gift wrapping? C’mon, take a photo! The rest of us wanna see what you’re up to! πŸ˜€

Hugs,

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Comments

Show and Tell Tuesday — 5 Comments

  1. What beautiful eggs.

    I’ve bought most of my Christmas. No decorations though. I’m usually the first in the neighborhood to get my lights outside completed. But not this year. Don’t think I’ll do any.
    I’m debating whether to do my large Christmas tree or a little 2 ft one. Hope someone will send in some pix soon – I need some inspiration.

  2. How cool! I would not have a clue as to where my parents ancestrial home was in Poland. I once heard my uncle say that my grandparents came from an area in Poland that the Germans occupied, but I don’t have a clue where that would be.

    I have always loved those eggs. South Bend is a very ethnic city. There is a large Hungarian/Czech/Slav/Polish community. When I did craft shows there were several women selling the eggs they had made.
    Very neat that you got to see the art done by an artisian!!

  3. I’ve heard about blown eggs before, it must take ALOT of patientience though to be so gentle to not break the egg! Definately not something I could do! They’re so beautiful, I love how detailed they are, I wonder how long it took the lady to do one of those eggs, she is very talented.

  4. I got the tree up, but I need to do the rest of the decorations. I have been in homework H#^^ the last few days. Once I get thru Thursday I will be good to go.
    The tree is 10 foot tall so it takes quite a bit of time to get it finished.
    I also need to bake some cookies for our cookie walk Saturday.

    The eggs are truly beautiful, I love handcrafted gifts. I have some ornaments from Germany that are just beautiful, and when I go out of town I try to find a Christmas store so I can get a special ornament that I can personalize.

    I would love to see your finished tree.

  5. Hi Sweetie!

    I’m so happy you got to do a show and tell!

    That sweet little lady is quite an artist. Her eggs are just exquisite! I feel so sorry for her though, freezing outside like that. Poor thing. Her hands must have been numb. πŸ™ I hope she had a hot water bottle tucked underneath that wool blanket.

    I got lots of my shopping done, even though I didn’t set foot in a store last weekend. I don’t have any of my decorations up yet though, and I still didn’t buy my cards ….The pressure’s mounting! πŸ˜‰

    I agree with Kelly. I’d love to see your tree as well!

    xoxo Paulette πŸ™‚

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