Ukrainian eggs

*clears throat*

Well, I'm back again.

Let us not look at the date...

I have a NEW hobby!!

Surprise.
*sarcasm*

Ukrainian Easter Eggs!
or Pysanky, for any Ukrainian natives...
(finally, a craft in time for a holiday!)

Please don't ask how I came to try it.

I have no clue.

Anyway,I found an inspiring website here.

I realized to my dismay that several essential items are required for this beautiful craft.

-A kistka
-Pysanky Dyes
-Beeswax

The kistka is a tool used to apply wax onto the egg.

How to MAKE one....

I googled.

But alas, no instructions for a kistka...
I did find website explaining that a pin will work just as well.

Hm...

Pins don't work.

Don't even bother trying.

I had to make my own kistka.

After a frantic several minutes of digging around, I found a tip of an old pen.

Perfect.

To finish of the homemade kistka, I twisted a strip of tinfoil into a handle.


Now, just hope it doesn't melt...


I used some hardened waxed to fill the kistka, and dived in.

After patiently running the kistka over the egg design,
(which I simplified drastically as time progressed...)

I came up with this:

I'll admit,
not what I was going for.

Despite that, I was thrilled.
I had made a kistka that actually drew wax onto an egg!

Time for the first dye bath.

Now what to use for dye...

I fell back on the faithful food dye option.

For my first egg I had only two colors:

Green and Blue.

First into the green, for a great rule in Pysanky is:

"dye from lightest to darkest"

Then the tedious process of waxing all areas of the egg that are destined to be green in the final design.

Then into the blue dye bath.

Next I scraped off all the wax and TA DA!

A genuine Ukrainian Easter egg using NONE of those hard-to-find items required!

The last one on the left is my first egg.

As the line progresses the eggs are more recent, so that the one on the right I made just today.

As I made the next eggs, I found several helpful bits of advice.

Such as:

Raw eggs are suggested for Pysanky, but I found that a blown egg works best for me,
for several reasons, the top being that when I blew the first egg after it was dry, the dye ran... :C

Prick a hole on both the top and bottom of a clean egg.

Then blow through one end and watch in amazement as the egg streams out the opposite hole.

also,

when I had finished my most beautiful egg and was scraping off the wax, tragically, the egg shell cracked.

Yes, I should have known that could happen.

But it was devastating all the same.

My next egg,
(with a similar design)

I used a blow drier to melt all the wax off. It is much faster and safer to the eggshell.

I have now grown much more proficient with my rough, homemade kistka and some lines actully turn out looking straight!

I have greatly enjoyed creating the eggs, and (joy of joys!) I am getting a real kistka, beeswax and Pysanky dyes for an art class in school next year!

Ah....

can't wait till next year.
;P