EASTER in Star Wars-land

EDITOR'S NOTE: SOME PEOPLE ARE WAY TOO CLEVER AND TALENTED FOR MY WELFARE (AND EGO). THEY PUT US ALL TO SHAME, EH?
Tales from the Easter Egg-pire!
Thanks to Maureen Kuppe of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Bantha Tracks readers can be ready to face this Easter and Spring holiday season with their own small army of colorful Star Wars eggs.

Kuppe was extremely generous in sharing not only numerous examples of her creative and beautiful egg designs, but also the directions to help us all create our very own magnum egg-pus.





















"Winnipeg has a large Ukrainian community, so decorating eggs is a very popular artform around here," says Kuppe. She and her family are veterans of all types of egg decorating, including many stunning Star Wars eggs.

Here are her tips for egg success:

Use regular, large chicken eggs.

Take the eggs out of the refrigerator and let them warm to room temperature before beginning.

Kuppe uses a metal corn cob holder to poke a hole at both the top and the bottom of each egg. The holes should be about 1/8" in diameter.

"I use a long metal skewer, like a shish kabob metal skewer, to run right through the egg and scramble up the yolk and white inside," says Kuppe. "We usually have scrambled eggs that day!"

Blow gently into one end of the egg, blowing the contents out of the other end into a bowl.

Rinse the eggs well with water and let sit to dry. Important -- eggs must be very dry before painting.

Next comes the fun -- decorating! "On my first eggs, I drew the design with pencil, then used enamel acrylic paints," says Kuppe. "Last year I used my new airbrush for the first time for background elements and stars."

Kuppe cautions those using airbrushes to make sure that there are no lit candles in the vicinity.

Candles are used to melt wax in traditional Ukrainian decorating.

After airbrushing, Kuppe paints over the top with acrylic paints.

"I paint over the holes, or use melted wax to cover them," says Kuppe. "But be sure to leave them open until the insides are completely dry."

Once the design is painted, finished, and dry, Kuppe uses a protective 'dullcoat' spray finish.

Decorations, like toothpicks for the Fett helmets or embroidery thread for Lama Su, are added last.

Kuppe says the painted eggs "last forever" unless the kitten mistakes them for cat toys.

EDITOR'S NOTE: AND LET'S NOT FORGET THAT IT'S ALMOST TIME FOR MY ANNUAL PERFORMANCE OF "EGGBERT THE EASTER EGG" (COMPLETE WITH GESTURES AND SOUND-EFFECTS).

YOUR LIVES ARE RICH AND FULL, YES?!