Crystal Faberge Eggs

These beautiful eggs are made of glass by highly skilled craftsmen. First a glass form is cast by blowing to get the desired shape. Then the egg is engraved by a diamond cutter. No other tools are used, and the pattern is engraved by hand, and for this reason, no two eggs are the same, each is unique (although an artist can make a series of eggs with the same design). On the colored glass eggs the outline is then hand painted with gold to give better contrast and clarity. On the clear glass the etching is left plain. Artists use exactly the same technique as Karl Faberge and the same ornamentation and motifs that can be found on original Faberge eggs.

Each egg has a flat bottom so it can stand firm on a desk or shelf. Although it can be used as a paperweight, most people prefer just to add them to a collection. Collectors from all over the world (USA, Germany, England, Italy, France and Australia) appreciate these wonderful works of art from the talented artists from St Petersburg. It is a chance to own a piece of heritage from Russia.

Wooden Easter Eggs

One particularly unique Russian craft is the tradition of the wooden Easter egg. These hand-crafted decorations are easily recognized around the world.

According to legend, the Russian emperor Tuberous was given an egg by Mary Magdalene, as an Easter present. His reaction to the then-new Christian religion was incredulity; he said that, “resurrection is as impossible as this egg’s turning red.” At that moment, the egg turned bright red in his hand, and ever since, Russian Orthodox Christians have exchanged eggs on Easter day.

As time went on, people began to desire a longer lasting Easter present, and soon had the idea of carving the egg from wood, and painting it with bright decorations.

The earliest crafted eggs were simply wood, lathed to shape, and painted with Bible scenes. It did not take long for other Russian craft traditions, such as laquer painting, to make their way onto wooden eggs. Towards the European Enlightenment Period, newer, fancier, craft methods, like papier mache and porcelain, appeared in Russia. These, too, were soon showing up in egg form.

The decorative Easter egg was a craft tradition that spanned the full spectrum of Russian society, from the peasants at the bottom, whose egg crafts were simple indeed and held longest to the quaint painted wood tradition, to the Royal Family at the top, where fabulous jeweled eggs eventually appeared. The most famous of these were crafted by the famous jeweler, Faberge, for the last Tsar. One of these eggs was even featured in the 1983 James Bond film, Octopussy.