Fabergé's Follies

If you're like me, you have a refrigerator full of hard boiled eggs and you only want to pickle half of them. If that's the case, maybe you want to decorate the other half for Easter? The practice of dying Easter eggs goes back to Biblical times* when eggs were first anointed with spectacular hues derived from roots, peels, and mashed up plants to match Joseph's dream coat.. and, also, the various miracles of nature. Fabergé was the next artist to find inspiration in the blank canvas of the egg shell. However, he was not the last artist to work with these fragile baubles. That would most surely be Libbie Lovett, internationally renowned egg artisan. Some of Lovett's designs were featured in this article from Woman's Home Companion from March 1948, along with the works of some of her colleagues from the Oviform School of Arts and Crafts. Click on each individual image for a larger size. And, when you're done decorating your eggs, you can enjoy them in cheesy Velveeta bakes and sliced on top of hamburgers.

[* note: I don't know what I'm talking about]


Meet kindly Gran'ma Tippitoe whose head rests gently on one of those ketchup cups you can get from Wendy's. Give her bi-focals, just like your real Gran'ma, and give it to her as an Easter present on Sunday!

It never dawned on me that you can drain an egg before you decorate it. Is that what most people do rather than hard boil? Regardless, this page actually tells you how to 'blow an egg out' by puncturing the shell and letting the 'meat of egg' plop into a bowl.


This ovular menagerie is really quite impressive! Forget 3-D glasses. Drawn feathers and scales on the dyed shells give these critters a textured quality. If your holiday festivities have a patriotic or thrifty theme, try a hot air balloon or piggy bank design!


My favorite set of designs are on this final page. No one will wonder why you choose to pair a performing seal with a radish and a dirigible. They will cheer your meticulous decorative touches and ask you to do their eggs next year. If you're envious of those that can afford real Fabergés, all you need are a few paper doilies and some sequins, "jools," and good conduct stars. Your guests will never know they're not the real thing.

Happy Easter and Passover to all of my readers!