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News from Garfield Farm |
Janice Rotramel will be conducting a Pysansky Egg Dyeing class on Saturday March 19th from 12:30-4:30 pm at Garfield Farm Museum.
As the days grow longer, Garfield Farm Museum?s rare Java chickens start laying in a burst of energy. Birds start producing eggs after they have been exposed to longer hours of daylight. Historically, there were very few fresh eggs available in the midst of winter. Only the advent of artificial light could fool birds? bodies into laying during the dark days of December. This all makes sense as only those birds that laid eggs when food and warmer temperatures increased were most likely to have young to survive to adulthood.
So with the coming of spring and plenty of eggs, it is a great time to learn traditional methods of decorating this symbol of spring. Rotramel will share the techniques of eastern European egg decoration. This elaborate method of decorating eggs is more than just the use of dyes. Applying wax and selectively removing it allows dye to be taken up in one area and prevented in another. The simple tools to create these designs will be used during the class.
Garfield Farm Museum's rare Java chickens are providing hatching eggs to Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. There they are displayed as they hatch in the museum's "Genetics, Decoding Life" incubator exhibit.
There is $25 fee for the class and space is limited. The class benefits the museum?s ongoing restoration. Please call the museum for reservations and more information at (630) 584-8485 or email at info@garfieldfarm.org. Garfield Farm Museum is located 5 miles west of Geneva IL off ILL Rt. 38 on Garfield Road. It is a 370 acre historically intact former Illinois prairie farmstead and teamster inn being restored as an 1840s working farm museum.
Questions or comments about this web page: rjan@galleonslap.net