Heather's Homestead Shop Intro!

Hello, everyone.  I'm a Catholic Mother, expecting my 5th child this April.  I live with my family on a small farm and keep chickens, honeybees, pigs, and grow a large vegetable garden.  From January to Easter, I decorate Ukrainian Easter Eggs (Pysanky).  With their deep Catholic symbolism, I hope that they will inspire people to bring their hearts closer to God this Easter season and always!

I sell my pysanky at www.HeathersHomestead.etsy.com.  Please come over and visit my shop.

I also blog about homestead life, catholic mothering, Polish traditions, and pysanky making.  There is a pysanka giveaway going on right now to celebrate the grand opening of my shop!  Find out how to enter at this post:  www.faithfunandfamily.blogspot.com/2011/01/my-first-giveaway.html.

Here are some examples of my work:

 A goose egg pysanka with poppy motif.

White chicken egg pysanka with star & flowers motif.

A brown chicken egg pysanka with church motif.

Pysanky may look painted, but they are done with a wax-resist technique.  Melted beeswax is written on the empty eggshells with a special stylus.  The egg is then dipped in successively darker dyes with more beeswax written in between colors.  The beeswax is then melted off to reveal the completed design! 

Here are some common symbols and their meanings:

• Stars:  Christ, the light of the world
• Crosses:  Salvation
• Flowers and Greenery:  Springtime and the Resurrection
• 5 dots in a pattern:  The 5 Wounds of Christ
• Teardrop Shapes:  Tears of Mary
• Waves:  The Waters of Baptism
• Nets:  That we Christians are to be Fishers of Men
• Triangles:  The Holy Trinity

I wish you a Blessed Lent and a Happy Easter Season 2011!!!