Pysanky-Frenzy

Some people have blogs devoted entirely to crafting. Me, I have a blog devoted entirely to griping, as well as periodically noting the gradual shrivelization of my memory (sure, it's a word. Look it up.) Today, however, I am changing directions. I now present my one (and only) crafty discussion: The Art of Pysanky.

What was that word?

Pysanky is the ancient Eastern European art of decorating Easter eggs with wax and dyes. It's is similar to batik - you draw patterns on the egg with wax, which then protects the covered areas from the dye that is applied. The most well-known version of psyanky is the Ukrainian version, which is why the psyanky-ers in our house usually refer to it simply as Ukrainian eggs. The name psyanky comes from the verb to write, because you use a stylus (called a kistka) to write with wax on the egg shell. Here's more about the art of psyanky.

We've been making Ukrainian Easter eggs for about five years. My friend Colleen taught me how to do it, and I immediately fell in love with this folk art. We bought our own supplies, and each year we spend a few weeks before Easter on pysanky, during which time our dining room table is a messy collection of crumpled paper towels, jars of dye, taper candles and kistky (that's the plural of kistka. Kind of like cacti).

Here's the process in basic terms. To begin, you draw your design on the egg with pencil. Elaborate geometric designs are pretty challenging because you're drawing on an egg, but the resulting eggs are really cool. I actually put small, flat rubber hair binders around the egg to help me create straight lines, and remove them when I'm done penciling the design on the egg.

Next, you start using the kistka. You put a small bit of wax in its funnel - I prefer spaghetti wax, because it's easy to work with and the lines of melted wax are black, which is a little easier to see for bad eyes like mine. You hold the kistka up to a candle flame to heat it up, and the wax comes out of a narrow end of the funnel in liquid form, which hardens almost immediately.

You first apply wax to any part of your design that should remain white. When you're done, you submerse your egg a light colored dye. Any areas covered by wax will not take the dye. After a few minutes, you remove your egg and blot it dry with a paper towel. (I try to remember to wear gloves when using dyes but generally during the pysanky season my hands look like they've been tie-dyed, because the dyes aren't exactly washable.) You repeat the process with the kistka, and dye the egg again. You use progressively darker dyes until all of your lines are waxed.

The wax-covered egg doesn't look very impressive. But the next step, removing the wax, is when you get to see the fruits of your labor. When we taught my sister-in-law pysanky this year, she commented that this step is like slowly unwrapping a present. Your design, with all of its vibrantly colored lines, is revealed. To remove the wax, you hold the egg next to the candle flame until a small section begins to look shiny (just a few seconds). Then you wipe the wax off with a paper towel.

The final step is applying polyurethane to the eggs. We have an egg drying rack, which simply consists of groups of nails sticking out of a piece of wood. The eggs sit on the nails and the poly dries nicely.

Un-polyurethaned eggs 

A few other thoughts:
Wax will blob, especially when you're learning. You can try to work them into the design, hide them in the back, or, if your final color is black, you can try covering blobs with a Sharpie after you remove the wax.

Every year at least one egg breaks, which can be devastating and even cause emotional meltdowns (and the kids get pretty upset, too). Unfortunately it's just part of the experience and you have to move past it.

A glass of wine and some good music add a lot to the adult's experience.

Finally, pysanky is really fun to do as a family and teach to others (not to sound like I'm doing an elementary school book report, but you should try it if you like crafty stuff!)

These are our eggs from 2012