Easter Table Setting

In Poland we decorate baskets at Easter and take them to church for blessing on Easter Saturday morning before breakfast. The church looks very colourful with dozens of baskets filling the steps up to the altar. The priest blesses them, we take the baskets home and eat a morning feast. The breakfast is always started by the family sharing a cut up hard boiled egg and wishing each other a Happy Easter, following that we sit and eat. The table always has the Easter basket in the middle which is decorated with ribbons and greenery (often bilberry leaves) and contains usually the following: plain hard boiled eggs, salt, bread, meat, yeast cake, horseradish, pepper, painted eggs (pisanki), a lamb figurine usually made of sugar, ham, cheese, a candle. Not everyone has all of these items in their baskets. The staples are the eggs, meat, bread, salt and a lamb figurine. Traditionally we put into the baskets what we will be eating on Easter Saturday. We will eat the food that has been blessed and I have found that the contents of baskets will vary according to regional traditions.

So below is my own basket for this year. I bought the basket at Vinnies for $2! To fill it I'm using: a square of hessian, some leafy twigs from the downstairs garden, A hard boiled egg, my own hand painted goose Easter Eggs, salt, bread, cheese on a muslin cloth, baby capsicum (this is a replacement for meat since I'm a vegetarian), a sugar lamb and some ribbon.

I weave the twigs and the ribbon around the edges...

And here it is. A beautiful Easter basket ready to decorate the table.

I have also learned that this tradition actually stems from a pagan ritual, not surprising, which celebrated the spring equinox and the sprouting of the summer crop. Many different descriptions exist about the type of ritual celebrated and one describes the offering of lamb and bread during a full moon to ensure a good crop yield.

If you decide to set your Easter table with and Easter basket as the centre piece, what you put in it is ultimately up to you. I know that some of the items in the basket symbolise different things such as; salt for longevity, bread for fertility etc. I will ask my children what is important to them and what they would like to put in their baskets themselves. I have a feeling we may end up with some Star Wars figures and nail polish in the basket!

I hope you enjoy your Easter this year. May it be a safe and happy one or all.

Egg baskets now on sale

The discounted baskets of eggs are now available for sale in the Laikonik online shop.

Easter Baskets

I have a bowl full of miscalenous eggs which I have painted over time. They are very colourful but have been rejected from the sales department due to imperfections, smudges etc. Some only have one coat of colour which makes them a bit flat looking, and some are just experiments which are too nice to throw away and still look lovely.




I have grouped them into sets of three and will be selling them through my online shop at a discounted price of $39 - $69 per basket. I will do my best to upload them by this afternoon. If they're not there please check tomorrow, (thursday 25th March)



They will look delightful as a table decoration during Easter. And within the next few days I will show you my ideas for an Easter table decoration and talk about the Polish traditions at Easter. Stay tuned!

Ostrich eggs

So, painting this ostrich egg was very satisfying. The large surafce gave me loads of room for tons of colour and thick black lines. It was like a big canvass. I'd like to more of these for next year. The actual shell of the ostrich egg is very hard and almost ceramic like. The first time I received one in the post from Angie's Eggs (which is where I get all my eggs from) I thought she sent me a ceramic egg! And by the way this is a good time to mention that Angie from Angie's Eggs has a wonderful supply and array of not only different kinds of eggs to pourchase for painting and decorating but also tons of egg decorating tools, books, stands, paints etc. Check out her site. I have never been dissapointed by her service.

Easter 2010

Hello everyone! I won't even start with why I've been away for so long. Let's just say my life has taken a whole new turn and I am past all the difficulties.

I have been extremely busy painting Easter eggs for this year. Here are some snaps of what's available for purchasing in 2010rom my new online shop yay! It's called Laikonik Easter Egg Shop, check it out.

With my designs I got inspired by a wooden handpainted plate which I keep at home. It is from Poland and features an image of a 'Lajkonik' which is where the name of my business comes from. I will have some more later on about the story of the 'Lajkonik'.

I have no idea why this image uploaded sideways! Sorry!

What inspired me was the use of strong black outlines and autumn type colours. I wanted the designs to be bold and simple but full to the brim with colour of course.









I also have some new designs for my card range. I will be posting some more photos of eggs, cards and general fun from my studio over the next few weeks so stay tuned!