Donna Cronce, a native of Lithuania, spent Wednesday afternoon sharing her culture of egg decorating and family traditions with fellow artists at the Plateau Creative Arts Center.
Cronce showed patrons Amie McDonald, Kirsten Murray and Dale Soblo how to decorate their hard-boiled eggs with warm wax using the dot and line technique. She said this was a typical design pattern to use in Lithuania.
She said that the key is to keep the wax warm and the utensil hot to get the best results. The technique is similar to painting. Each patron would stick the utensil in the warm wax and leave it in there until it was hot enough. Once hot, they could take the tool to draw a line or series of lines and dots.
She taught the group to think of the egg having four sides: top, bottom, front and back as they drew their designs with the melted wax. She also said to avoid leaving the natural oils from human hands, they should hold the eggs they design in a paper towel.
Once the designs were done, the eggs were gently dropped in the colored water to leave for 15 minutes.
Cronce said that she and her family would decorate the eggs a week before Easter.
Cronce said her family had two traditions: egg cracking and egg rolling. In the egg cracking, the family would each pick an egg and sit around the table. They wrap one hand around the egg with only the tip of the egg sticking out. Then, they would lean over and smash their egg on top of the person beside them to see whose egg was the strongest. If the final family member had the strongest egg, they got bragging rights.
The other game they played was egg rolling. Cronce described this game as a similar game to bocce ball. They had a ramp set up and they would roll their different-shaped eggs down the ramp to see who could go the furthest or bounce others out of the way. Winner got to keep their egg.
“There is no crying in eggs,” said Cronce. She explained that there are no hurt feelings when it comes to the egg games in Lithuania.
Cronce will offer a second class from 1-4 p.m. Friday at the Plateau Creative Arts Center at 451 Lakeview Drive, Crossville. Cost is $32.50 for Art Guild at Fairfield Glade members and $47.50 for guests. Register at plateauarts.org, 931-707-7249 or go by the Arts Center.