art | Gladsome Lights

During my convalescence after very minor surgery, I have been reading a lot, and using the dictionary, and reveling in words. I can’t take long to write about all my fun discoveries, but one new-to-me word came up in two very different books, within the week: faience.

Rosemary Sutcliff used it in Mark of the Horse Lord in describing a Pictish pendant hanging from a warrior’s neck. And M.F.K. Fisher used it in Long Ago in France to describe mustard pots she knew in Dijon in the 1930’s. I found a photo of a French mustard pot to show here, and one explanation more helpful than the basic dictionary one: “Majolica, delft, and faience are really names for similar ceramic products. An earthenware body is covered with an opaque enameled glaze, usually colorfully decorated.”

I wonder if this one I found online is anything like what Mary Frances saw.

Stay tuned for more word findings!

While shopping at the supermarket this week I came upon a package of these darling quail eggs. Grown commercially, of course, but still so Spring-y I had to bring them home and take their picture, even if I don’t do another thing with them.

During our decades of homeschooling, twice we joined or formed groups to decorate eggs in the pysanky style. This week I dug the remaining creations out of the cupboard to show you.

It is a wax-resist process. You apply your design with wax, and in multiple dips in the jars of dye the eggshell takes on the color where there is no wax. In the end you use the candle to melt off the wax and reveal the layers of the design.

Another egg-dyeing process is what I helped with today at church, to prepare red eggs that are traditionally given out to the whole congregation on Pascha night. We boiled and dyed these at the same time in one red bath, but then decided that they weren’t red enough, so we dipped them in the bowl of stronger food coloring.

(That crock in the background has nothing to do with the eggs – it is said to hold Russian pickles curing in brine.)

After the service, when we have gathered in the fellowship hall to break the fast together, we will two-by two hit our eggs against one another, to see who can keep his egg whole while cracking his opponent’s. After all the elimination trials, one person will emerge as the winner. Whether they win something besides admiration, I can’t say.