Happy Easter!

A thoroughly enjoyable afternoon was spent making Pysanky today.  These are Ukranian Easter Eggs and they are certainly challenging!  Our kit came from the Ukranian Gift Shop and included lots of great dyes, three kistky and a block of beeswax.  The really nice thing is the dyes last up to a year, so we are saving these and will be doing it again sometime.  We actually only made up 5 dyes and there are about 7 more in the kit.

I started off by lightly drawing a design on my egg (blown out and the holes covered over with beeswax).  Chloe did hers on a fresh egg which it says is possible.  I'll believe it when I see it!  It might look like I have a cracked egg, but those are the lines I drew.

I heated the kistka in the candle flame to melt the beeswax and started drawing over my lines with the wax.  One thing we discovered is how difficult it is to make the designs come out even on the egg.  Luckily, I don't worry about that too much and just got down to business.

With Pysanky the dyes are built up one on top of the next, so you go from light to dark. Yellow is the first color.  The wax lines are left on the egg until the very end.  Between each color more lines or shapes of wax are added.

The final step is amazing when you heat the egg next to the candle flame to melt the wax and wipe it off.  The design is slowly revealed (wavy lines and all).

Here's Chloe's egg.

I made two more quick and dirty eggs with a couple of blown eggs that had large holes.  These went very fast whereas the first one took about 1.5 hours.

Chloe did one more as well.  This was such a fun activity that I can see doing one or two every year!

Comments

[Janet McKinney]

They are beautiful. I saw these on Collectors on Friday night, first time I have seen the,. Just wonderful. One day I will have to have a go at it
Janet McKinney

[Stacy A]

Look at those eggs! I have never heard of them, but they bring egg decorating to a whole new level. You could make them all year round and have them still be perfect decorations. I may have to check those out. You both did a beautiful job. Have a great Easter. Love Stacy

[Hedgehog]

Lovely! I lived in Romania for three years and the same technique is used. When I first brought them to my mom, she was shocked that they were sold for just over a dollar. The price has gone up since then, but still a crime considering the word that goes into them. Happy Easter!

[Roxie]

Those are jewels! I see where Fabrege' got his inspiration.

[sarah]

Holy smoke...they are gorgeous! Remind me of feberge eggs.

[Berlinswhimsy]

Beautiful eggs! We usually make these, too, but our kit was in storage this year. Drat!

[Sandy]

Wow, your eggs are just gorgeous! You must have a lot of patience and a steady hand. We've made some in the past with wax, but no where near as nice as yours. Way to go!

[Angela]

Those eggs are just beautiful! (straight lines?!? Bah!) Congrats on finishing radiation and on all of the wonderful knit and sewing projects that you've been working on lately. Woo Hooo!

[Paula]

Just gorgeous!

[Tammy]

Wow, those are simply beautiful!

[Lorie M.]

I love these, someone at a craft fair was selling these, and I just loved them. Nice!

[lucette]

These eggs are beautiful. I tried this technique in a workshop last month, and found it facinating. My egg is not as pretty as yours, but it was a lot of fun to do and I hope to practice, practice and practice some more.

[jude]

i am glad i didn't post my eggs, i would be very embarrassed! LOL