Today’s post comes from Verily Sherrilee

Most everyone I know understands what it means when I say “the egg table is up”.

I do Ukrainian eggs (no I’m not Ukrainian); I make ornaments for Solstice every year – it is my main gift. This year there were 36 to make – all the same design.  In addition, the last few years I have been replacing all my baby sister’s eggs that were destroyed 3 years by a nasty mouse invasion at her house; this year I’m doing the last six.  I also usually make 4-5 extra eggs as cushion, since making ornaments out of eggs can be a little dicey. This year’s design was a bit intricate so each egg averaged about an hour to do.  Since this is so much time and I do need access to the kitchen fairly frequently, I do this downstairs in the living room.  At the egg table.

The egg table is just the card table from the front porch, but it has to be set up just the way I like it: plastic tablecloth, desk lamp, electric kiskas plugged in my left hand side, candle, wax and non-electric kiskas in front of me, jars of dye in a semi-circle behind them, eggs to my right. Assorted paper towels, pencils, kraft knives, plastic spoons and other accouterments behind the dyes.

Once the table is set up the way I like, I can’t wait to take it down again – my main goal is to get done and get it all put away until next year. This means that I’m fairly fanatical about my time at the table; all spare minutes are at the table. I usually have the tv on or a book on cd and I tend to eat at the table as well. On most of the days the table is up, I drag into work because I haven’t gone to bed on time and my fingers are stained with dye because I don’t want to spend too much time scrubbing when they’ll just get stained again the next day. Once all the eggs are finished with their layers of wax and dye, I melt the dye off, varnish them, blow out the innards and then affix the ornament holder to the top. Since melting the wax off is actually the most dangerous (to the eggs, not to me) part of the process, I leave the table up until that step is done.  I’ve had it happen more than once that I’ve broken enough during the de-waxing that I’ve had to make a couple more!

This year the table was up a few more days than usual – lots of things going on (hosta digging, choir rehearsals I couldn’t miss, kitty sitting for a friend). But even though I can’t wait to be done and pack up all my supplies, I also miss it a little when I’m finished. I enjoy the relaxation that comes from sitting with a craft and not really focusing on anything else for a while, as well as having a beautiful gift to give for the holidays.  I have already started thinking about next year’s design!