Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Pysanky or Grown up Easter Egg decorating

final decorative egg[3]
Have you heard of Pysanky before?
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I’m talking about Ukranian Egg decorating/Polish Egg decorating. Learn Pysanky has a lovely site where you can learn more.

This goes back to my paternal Grandma. She can do and make anything. She has tried every kind of craft and art form there is. About 20 years ago, with a group of her friends, she tried her hand at Pysanky. She has about 8 or 10 eggs that she displays year round at her house. Growing up, I would carefully look at the delicately decorated eggs. I thought to myself, if I ever made them, I wouldn’t have visible pencil lines. And how wonderful I would be at making them. Afterall, I take after her in creativity. How hard could it be, right?
I’ve thought of Grandma’s eggs every year during the spring.

last year's egg
Last year, in my attempt to do a more grown up egg that I could show every year, I painted on paper eggs. I was quite happy with how this one came out. They were simple and I enjoyed making them.

This year I purchased this kit to see if I could try my hand at real Pysanky. I rallied the troops (called up my sisters and Mom) and invited them over for a night of decorating. Do you have sisters? How about 3 sisters? There is nothing better for a girl, than sisters and a Mom…well maybe a brother too and an amazing Grandmother. But the sisters and the Mom were able to come. (Sorry Katrina…see why you need to move closer? I’m just saying.) We swapped clothes to make sure we were all wearing clothes that could get dripped on. Isn’t that what sisters are for…swapping clothes? Except for the part where somehow I became the largest sister, but we won’t go into that today. Ooh, let’s back up again. We are all busy and have a gaggle of children between us. I was checking my set up the day of our great crafty night. The phone calls were flying between sisters and Mom to gather all the supplies. Somehow I forgot to get the Mason jars (note, get large mouth jars) for the dye baths.
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In an effort to clean up for the night, my sweet husband had taken out all the recycled items including the stash of newspaper I was saving. Each sister ended up bringing something to have all the supplies for the night.It is great having so many sisters closeby because they are great resources for just such nights like that one. This makes a big mess and needs lots of room and plastic covering the table.

Let me just tell you this;

IT IS HARD TO DO PYSANKY.

There, I said it. I had been reading up on all the sites that contain anything about it for months. Erika checked out every book from the library on the subject. And I am my Grandma’s granddaughter, so I was going to be great. But no. I’m not. We had a ton of fun laughing at the dropped eggs, the painted fingers and the difficulty in getting the kitsky (tools for drawing wax onto the eggs) to flow easily.

Erika quickly became the master. It is funny because I was talking my game up. Erika, of all of us, said that she was going for simplicity. She was not going to get fancy. She thrilled us with this stunner.
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Our older sister became the expert at getting the eggs out of the dye baths the best. I was scared of even attempting to get the eggs out of the jars. It is kind of the way life happens…we each discovered we were good at something different from the next sister.

Rebecca was getting good with the eggs too.
Here is one of hers outlined in white.
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Now it was dipped into pink and more wax was added.IMG_8574_thumb[1]
And her final reveal. Isn’t it lovely? I think hers ended up looking the most like traditional Pysanky. IMG_8595_thumb[1]
Here is the side view of hers.
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And a simple black and pink one she did.
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My eggs were the ugliest of all.

When Erika’s egg came out so nicely, I was determined to make something pretty too. After my family left, I played and played. I gave up on the idea of making the pretty geometric shapes. I went with good old freehand. Forget the pencil marks too, I made uglier (is that a word?) eggs when I drew anything with a pencil. It is a long process, but in the end, I loved every second of it.

A basic run down of making them is:

You apply wax onto your egg by heating a kitska tool over a flame. This picture someone was attacking the flame, but you get the idea.
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You dip the tool in wax and then draw on your egg. IMG_8544_thumb[1]
It is the same principal as coloring on eggs with crayons. It becomes a resist. There is a special order to dip the eggs in color. You go lightest to darkest. Between each color, you draw more wax on the egg.
After you are done, you melt the wax and reveal your masterpiece.
  We tried this first by putting the egg next to the flame. IMG_8569_thumb[1]
We also used a heating tool that we use in scrapbooking for embossing. This was fine too. Either way, you need to quickly wipe off the wax and go back to the heat every few seconds.IMG_8554_thumb[1]
Then you varnish it and Voila! You have pretty eggs. Now go toss some to your children and see if they can catch them;) No, really don’t unless you want scrambled eggs. Speaking of which, the jury is still out on the best way to treat the insides of the eggs. We have read that you can leave the insides intact and that over time they mostly absorb leaving you with some kind of a Weeble guy with just the yolk inside. There is debate about when to hollow them out if you choose to do so. Find what works best for you.

I was determined to make good on the purchase of the kit. I realized that I am not geometric, or traditional. I am a fly by the seat of my pants person. So I worked on a few more eggs. You will not see my attempts at traditional Pysanky eggs. Nope, not gonna share those. I will share these with you though…
Here was my first freehand egg it is a chick, can you tell? This is how it looked with the wax only on the egg. Then I dipped it in blue for a silhouette kind of effect.  
This is the egg after I removed the wax, I was excited to try more eggs.
final chick egg  
I have been obsessed with Rosemaling lately, so I tried it on an egg.  I wish this picture didn’t come out too washed out, because the colors were pretty.
first decorative egg 
I decided to try a little more fancy design. Here is the egg with just wax on it.

Then I dipped it in pink and added some more wax. I just did a little bit of highlighting with the pink. Then she went into the red egg bath.

And here it is with the wax removed. Pretty, isn’t she?final step in decorative egg 
Then I went all fancy schmancy with this one. I wanted to make it look like roses. I hand painted the colors from the dyes onto the places I wanted them on the egg. I would cover over then with wax just where I wanted them. Then in an orange bath (to take off the leftover unwaxed paint. For some amazing reason, the  orange is made without vinegar. The magic of the orange is it covers up the other colors nicely. If you get into this, you will know what I’m talking about. So I did some small details after the red.

And here it is with the wax removed.  In natural light.final decorative egg
With the room lights on because it is dark and rainy here (yay!)Grown up Easter Egg decorating
Go forth and gather your troops. Make a big mess and have lots of laughs making your own Pysanky Eggs. Order your kit right away so you get it in time. Don’t forget to share your pictures with us. When I become rich someday, I’ll order the electric kitskas ‘cause they look like they would rock!

This experience with the tools and instructions for Pysanky eggs reminded me that I am not my Grandmother. Her eggs are now even more lovely than I ever thought before because I fully understand the craftsmanship that went into making not just one, but 8 or 10 gorgeous traditional Pysanky eggs. Even the pencil marks on them now are just amazing to me.

Anjeanette       

Rebecca here:  I LOVED doing this!  Really it was so much fun.  Yes, it was tedious work, but we had Mama Mia playing for background noise for us, and the women in my family, so it was just enjoyable!  If I didn't need to get home and put Grandma and my Babies to sleep, I could have stayed up all night (because going home at midnight does not count as all night).  I can't wait to make some more.  For all my hard work I only came home with 4!  Yup, only 4!  And they were worth every bit.  Though my children did not understand why they weren't "decorating Easter eggs" with us too!  Anjeanette, yours turned out lovely!  So beautiful!  I can't wait to do one with more of the colors.  Thanks for getting the tools and inviting us over, Anjeanette!  I also have always wanted to do this because of seeing Grandma's eggs.  Though I never thought I could make mine as pretty as hers.  She is a true artist, and I am more of a crafter.  My hands shake and so I can not even draw a simple straight line.  Which is fine by me.  I just have to get more creative to hide this fact! ;)

**Anjeanette again...In all reality, I did not think I could make eggs as pretty as Grandma's...but I also didn't think I would royally suck at this. Our Grandma is amazingly talented and I can only pretend to copy her artistry. But I will always have fun trying;) She has done so many things well, that I have a lifetime of copying in store for me.
~~~
Oh My!  Girls they are lovely.  I am sorry that I missed it.  However, I cannot draw to save my life so lets just say it is a good thing I didn't waste any of your supplies.  I will forever admire yours though. ;)
Love,
Katrina

We are always wanting in on the fun, so we are linking up to the following parties:
Today's Creative Blog, Blue Cricket Design, My Backyard Eden, The Trendy Treehouse, Making The World Cuter,  The Girl Creative, Twice Remembered, Skip To My Lou, Keeping It Simple, A Soft Place To Land,  , My Frugal Family, Sumo's Sweet Stuff,

29 comments:

MammaDucky said...

WOW, is all I can say. I will be woman enough to admit that I will NOT be attempting this. As beautiful as these are, my sisters and mother all live very far away and this is not something I'd want to try alone. Beautiful work ladies!!

Unknown said...

I can't wait to try this with my girls. They will love it. Even when the finished product doesn't turn out how we like we always find that spending time together was fun!

Syndi said...

Your eggs turned out beautifully! We tried this last year and you're right, they're hard, but so worth it.

Jeanette said...

Every egg is just so lovely. I would never begin to attempt it but yours are just so beautiful.

Erin said...

I am soooo happy you all shared this. I grew up with my mom doing these pysanky eggs. She just recently gave me some of her pysanky stuff and I've just been too busy to do anything with them. I'd love to make some soon. What a beautiful craft and art and way to spend time with family. Thanks for sharing it!

Geri said...

I love your pysanky! My 2 friends and I will be drawing our Easter eggs this weekend and will certainly use your photos as inspiration.

Tara said...

Those are beautiful. Thanks for sharing at Trendy Treehouse. I think I may have fun decorating eggs this year. YEAH!

LollyChops said...

Goodness gracious you guys.... are those goose eggs you are holding or do you all have teeny tiny hands??? Cause they look GIGANTIC!

I love hearing of your trials and tribulations! It does not look easy at all. I wish I could get my sister here for an egg decorating party! We would have so much fun (it's the hard stuff that tends to be the most fun in a group setting).

More hugs than you can stand!
Lolly

Julianna said...

Those are lovely. I had a a friend who's mom taught us how to do this in Girl Scouts. I haven't tried it in years!

Steph said...

Your eggs are wonderful! It looks like you had a ridiculous amount of fun.

Kari said...

Wow - those are just beautiful. If I had the patience, I would try these myself... Nice work!

Hoosier Homemade said...

Wow! Those are stunning! Thanks so much for sharing them!
I'm visiting from Tip Junkie!
~Liz

Beth- the mama bee said...

This is one of my favorite crafts. Here's my post about my eggs: http://mamabeefromthehive.blogspot.com/2010/01/easter-eggs-already.html
and here:http://mamabeefromthehive.blogspot.com/2010/01/more-eggs.html

Joanne said...

These are AMAZING! I'll be linking on my week in review post on Saturday! Thanks for the inspiration!

http://www.readysetcraft.blogspot.com

Stephanie said...

Those are gorgeous. I was feeling very blah about decorating eggs (same ol' same ol'), but this might be fun to tackle! Beautiful work!

Carolyn @ My Backyard Eden said...

Wow! Those are amazingly beautiful! I love the ones with the black contrast!

Thanks for linking up to Make it Yours day!

Meg@MegaCrafty said...

Those came out great- that one with the cross hatched border is lovely!

How brave to dive in on your own. Last year I took a workshop and it was so much fun I'm actually taking it again tomorrow and bringing my Mom with me.

It was definitely hard but so rewarding in the end when you reveal all those colors as the wax melts off.

BTW, in the class we worked with the egg intact- the instructor said the insides would dry up.

CitricSugar said...

What are you talking about?? These are BEAUTIFUL (said by someone who has tried these and promptly threw her wax thingy across the room...)

You should check out the world's largest pysanka - Vegreville, Alberta. http://www.bigthings.ca/alberta/vegreville.html

It was a ten minute detour on my way to and from Edmonton but I always made the stop! (Plus, that's where the 7-11 is on that stretch of highway...;-)

Chris said...

OMG !! I LOVE these eggs. None of them are ugly! Yours and all the others are stunning! I love the pink and gold looking one. That freehand chick? come on, that's marvelous! I really look forward to getting all the equipment and really practicing.

And rosemaling? I asked my dentist/teacher if she knew about it, because the ukrainian egg painting process (like pysanky) just reminded me of that. And yours is awesome!

Thanks for a great post.

Kaysi said...

Wow! Those are great! I think that I'm doing pretty good when I dip one side into the blue and the other side into the yellow and overlap to make green :)

Teri said...

oh my gosh, these do look hard, but they are incredible! Just beautiful!! :)

KimMalk said...

These are phenomenal. I think I'll just enjoy yours:).

Julie said...

Those are wonderful and a keepsake for sure. Thanks for sharing with Made it Monday! Jules

Wendy said...

Those are so very lovely. Anjeanette, you are way too hard on yourself. (you sound just like my sister, and yes, there is nothing better than doing this type of thing with sisters) That red and pink one is beautiful.

We do this same thing with our kids most years. http://wisdomofthemoon.blogspot.com/2009/04/ukrainian-egg-dying.html

And let me just give this bit of encouragement... it does get easier. Eventually. It's just a weird skill to learn, writing with wax on a curved surface. It's like learning to write with a pencil, not so good at first, but with time it gets better.

We only use blown eggs for these (I've heard the advice to just let them be, but I totally don't trust it). To melt the wax off, we put them in a 350 degree oven for a few minutes and wipe clean with a paper towel. Every time I tried to melt it with the candle I ended up leaving nice black char marks.

Lynn said...

Your eggs are lovely! I would love to try this but would probably need to take a class and get lots of help. And steal other people's ideas. These will be neat to bring out every Easter.

Phillips Phamily said...

We did this in High School for an art class and left the eggs in tact. Mine broke after about 6 months. It wasn't dried up yet! It makes the eggs more stable to work with though!

Jill said...

I found your post while googling real egg decorations...these are so beautiful and I'm glad i found this!
I've featured you on my post 'eggs, REAL eggs...a tribute to the real egg on Easter':

http://jelly-bean-dream.blogspot.com/2011/04/eggs-real-eggs.html

Thank you for sharing!
~Jill

Jafafa Hots said...

beautiful eggs. I am kind of obsessed after taking a pysanky class. I tried an electric kistka (which also has woodburning tips for gourd & wood art) and am planning on buying one once I can afford it... amazing difference... super fine lines are possible, the wax flows perfectly consistently, and no spots in your eyes from constantly looking at a candle flame.

reb said...

Thank you for all the good information on Pysanky. My youngest son must have seen a video at school, so he wanted to do Pysanky eggs this year. I remember sign a demonstration on a craft show years ago. The only thing I remembered was the wax applicator, which we didn't have. And I couldn't remember if you went from dark to lite or lite to dark. My son tried to do this using a white crayon which did work as a resist. But when he tried to melt the crayon, but ended up just getting soot on the egg. I'll have to study up on the craft for next year and hope he won't feel to old to dye Easter eggs next year. My older kids wouldnt dye any eggs this year. =[. Marshall was an expert at blowing the eggs out of the shell, and he only made tiny holes to do it.