Pysanky Very Much

My aunt hosts an egg-decorating party every year the weekend before Easter. Anybody who comes can sit down at a table and try their hand at pysanky, the Ukrainian style of egg decorating. She does this not because she's Ukrainian but because she loves the technique which involves wax resistance and a lot of swearing.

You heat a tiny metal funnel on the end of a stick in a candle flame which melts a bit of of beeswax inside. Then you draw with a little stream of melted wax on the egg and put it in a dye bath. (Wherever the wax is the dye can't permeate, much like batik.) Then you put on more wax, dye it a new color and so on until you have a wax covered mess and very inky fingers. You put the egg in the oven for a couple minutes and when the the wax softens you wipe it off with a paper towel and voila! A beautiful egg emerges looking nothing like you thought it would. The one pictured is the favorite of the ones I made this year. It came out really nice but, believe me, it's kind of tame compared to some of the incredibly cool eggs my aunt, uncle and their friends come up with. They are not the traditional kind, but rather all sorts of highly creative designs and color combinations you would never expect. I wish I had time to photograph them all and put them up because your jaws would drop. Unfortunately I'm headed out of town soon. Posting will be light for the next week but I have been such a slacker lately that you probably won't notice. Have a great holiday whether it be Passover or Easter or both. Catch you post-spring break (Woo-hoo! Seder gone wild!)

Comments

[Nicolle]

holy creative talent. beautiful.

have a great meatweek.

[wordgirl]

Truly, wonderfully gorgeous! I've never tried this kind of egg-painting and, in fact, I haven't done any Easter eggs in quite a while. But this could just be worth the trouble.

[Jill]

Darn it, my friend Alissa had a pysanky party this past weekend but I missed it because I had to go to New Jersey.

[Mignon]

That's amazing. When I first saw the photo I assumed it was from some pysanky website. Do you save them or do something weird like smash them up and make a poultice?

[Carrie]

I love it!

[kara]

hey! i noticed the post date but not one mention of your darling sister!??!!

[LetterB]

Oh my gosh Kara! Happy Birthday. As penance I will rename this blog "Letter K" and write only about you from now on.