colours and the wax more easily, and then they are wrapped in a cloth and put near the opening of the stove to keep warm. Beeswax is melted by putting it into a dish over glowing charcoal, and, by means of a small metal tube fixed into a wooden handle, is then applied to the egg either in lines or points, the little tube acting as a pen nib for the liquid wax. The designs are made on the eggs from memory, and, although many eggs may be decorated at one time, the operator may make no two designs alike. After the application of the wax, the eggs are boiled in a red dye, generally logwood. After this, the wax is wiped off with a hot cloth. The eggs are now finished, and show their designs in white on a red ground. The designs are in the main traditional and characteristic of the locality from which the operator comes, but modifications, and even new designs, are by no means unknown.
In Bukowina and Transylvania, more frequently than in the kingdom of Roumania, the eggs may be ornamented with designs in two or more colours. To effect this, the process described above is repeated again and again, starting with the lightest colours, and ending with the darkest. For example, supposing that yellow, red, and black are the colours chosen, the first operation is to cover with wax the parts to be left white. The eggs are then boiled in a yellow dye, and the parts to be left yellow are covered with wax. The egg is next boiled in a red dye, and the parts to be left red are covered with wax. Lastly, the egg is boiled in a black dye, and all the accumulations of wax are wiped off.[1] The results with several colours are most successful and artistic, the colours being harmoniously blended, but the primitive character of the designs is to some extent obscured in these more elaborate decorations. The colours used are all vegetable colours, and, with the exception of
- ↑ Compare the account in vol. xvi., pp. 53-4 (Plate IV.), of the Easter eggs prepared by the Ruthenian Huculs, who live in Pokutia, near the borders of Hungary and Bukowina.
