There exists nothing which cannot be improved by the addition of a few Ukrainian decals, or so the thought seems to be behind the items below.

Traditional Ukrainian folk art was decorative, and just about any surface that could be decorated was decorated: walls, furniture, linens, pottery, stoves. Modern Ukrainian kitsch merely seems to be continuing this tradition in a mass-produced, less aesthetic way. 

Rather than hand painting or embroidering, modern decor often involves application of decals. In the past, this consisted largely of embroidery patterns, usually in Poltava-style black and red.  More recently, these decals have expanded to include pysanka motifs as well.  Below you can see examples of this genre – a serving platter, mugs and a casserole dish.

Bit it’s not enough to have kitchen ceramics – the refrigerator should be properly decorated as well.  For this you can use a selection of pysanka-themed refrigerator magnets.  The following are mostly from the Yevshan catalog as well.

Zazzle also sells a variety of refrigerator magnets with pysanka photos or motifs, but does not allow copying of their photos.  To see what they’re selling, go here.

And then there is the kitchen table – settings should be attractive, too.  Yevshan offers the following placemats to complement you table, vinyl (square) and sets of embroidered cloth ones. 

Lastly, one needs lovely napkins (or, for my non-American readers, serviettes) as well.  Table napkins decorated with a traditional folk art motifs are commonplace in Ukraine.  They usually feature embroidery designs, but a friend sent me these in the spring of 2009:

The first two designs, along with almost everything else on this page, are available through Yevshan, your one-stop Ukrainian novelty shop!

Back to MAIN Pysanka home page.

Back to Main Pysankiana home page.

Back to Pysanka Index.