Accessories Arrive in Spring Hues
Celebrating the spirit of Easter and flaunting the soft pastel palette of spring is a wide assortment of accessories to be found on culinary market shelves. The rush to prepare the following assemblage started last year and hit the shops in time for this season’s unveiling.
Certainly apropo and welcomed--with nature and fantasy colliding--is the enchanting Bunny Hollow Collection of playfully conceived teapots, vases, baskets, pitchers, cookie jars, serving trays and plates from Fitz and Floyd (from $28 apiece). The storybook approach is translated into each cunningly wrought ceramic piece. Resonating with whimsy and intricate detailing, a basket-weave, pale buff candy box that’s embraced by a ruffled baby blue ribbon and bow is topped by a storytelling lid, which is designed like a flower patch with a bunny boy diving into it.
Another comfortingly familiar item is a cookie jar portrayed by a heavy-set female bunny carrying a bunch of spring flowers. She’s costumed in a wavy pink dress overlaid with a blue and white checked apron that’s bordered with lace ruffles.
According to Janet Laudeman, showroom manager at the Fitz and Floyd showroom at the L.A. Mart, the new pattern has been very appealing this year. “Texture is its selling point,” she said, “plus the amount of detail and coloring in it. Also, everybody is into gardening these days--people really like the garden theme.” Particularly amusing she said, is the teapot with the mommy bunny and son watering pastel-colored flowers with a green hose; the gush of water serves as the the handle of the teapot.
In their quest for the exquisite decorative egg--a symbol of rebirth during Eastertime--egg collectors will most likely come across the colorful characters from Hang ‘em High Designs in Tallahassee, Fla. Meet a few of them: Trix has an eye-catching fuschia bottom and sunny yellow top. Alexander’s jagged gray belting complements a strawberry red and pale blue combo. TNT explodes with a graduated layering of kelly green, fuschia pink, yellow and country blue. Then there’s Bebop, bright and bouncy with its collage of purple, turquoise, orange ochre and citrus yellow.
They’re real goose eggs from South Dakota. And they all come out of their designer’s nests spotted, streaked, feathered, criss-crossed, whiplashed and/or zigzagged through and through with a pleasing sweep of dazzling colors.
Powerfully abstract, the hollowed goose eggs (from $34 to $38) were exclusively designed by Michelle McNeil. The young artist, who has long been fascinated by the evolution of ancient Chinese characters into their modern forms, has in the past been hand-painting the decorative eggs for her own collection as well as for gifts for friends and family.
The high price of McNeil’s painted goose eggs may very well be justified by their originality and quality. They receive extensive processing for permanent surface protection and undergo some traveling. Each egg gets its start at Beverly’s Goose Farm in South Dakota, where it is blown, hollowed and washed inside and out. After the holes are patched by a careful process, they’re shipped to Korea, where they’re handpainted, following the artist’s designs.
A matching wooden ring stand conveniently supports each egg but if the customer requests, Hang ‘em High will gladly fit the egg with a delicate eyelet and string. According to John Ruben, one of the owners of Hang ‘em Designs (which also makes carved animal display ornaments), the ornaments are individually hand painted--not just dipped into paint. They’re not mass produced, he added.
For little egg hunters, a wonderful Easter treat could be a bunny cake. Wilton Entriprises from Woodridge, Ill. answers this sweet calling by providing a MicroBakes Bunny Cake Pan ($4.49). The bunny face contours in the cake are easily sculptured with the indentations in the pan. For an Easter dessert, Wilton decorators suggest micro-baking a carrot cake in the pan for about 10 minutes, then icing the cooled cake with a cream cheese frosting. To give the bunny a furry look, a sprinkling of coconut does the trick. For eyes, nose, mouth and whiskers, use your imagination.
Designed for microwave use only, Wilton’s MicroBakes pans are all dishwasher safe, reusable and guaranteed to provide years of quick baking. For cake recipes and decorating ideas send a self-addressed, stamped No. 10 envelope to: Fun Desserts with Microbakes, Wilton Enterprises, 2240 West 75th St., Woodridge, Ill. 60517.
The Bunny Hollow Collection is available at Bullock’s and Nordstrom’s.
The Hang ‘em Design Eggs are available at MOCA (Los Angeles), Zero Minus Plus (Santa Monica), Mix’t (Los Angeles).
The Wilton MicroBakes Bunny Cake Pan is available at craft, department and discount stores nationwide.
