The traditional Polish-Ukrainian method of Easter egg decorationis called pysanky! (For reference, pysanky is plural, pysanka is for the singular). The first time I tried it, I was in elementary school, and I was instantly fascinated by the way the layered dyes and wax process worked. When I saw there was a workshop in town this year, I jumped at the chance to try again.

• Clean eggs (raw)
• Prepared dyes
• Elastic bands
• Candle
• Kistka

Instructions by Luba

It was very important for me to take the time to think out the order of wax and dye application, because it seemed a bit backward to me. Instead of applying wax before the colour you want, the wax will actually “fix” the colour that was just applied. Luckily, our instructor, Tiffany, was able to talk us through the process and provided this handout to keep us organized.

I really struggled with keeping my lines straight and non-wobbly, but I still had a lot of fun experimenting with the technique! Based on a quick Internet search done after the workshop, it seems like it is better to draw the kistka away from yourself for straighter lines, so I will give that a try in the future. I also definitely forgot to blot my stylus a few times, so there are a few unexpected blobs on my eggs too, but hey, as Bob Ross says, “We don’t make mistakes, just happy little accidents”.

I originally wanted to do a more traditional star shape design, but that seemed a bit outside of my abilities at this point in time, so I ended up freehanding. I find pysanky is fascinating because you have to really consider the use of negative space since the darkest dye colour is so striking.

I do still have my pysanka from elementary school, but we actually modified the process a little bit for younger children. Instead of kistkas, we were given white wax crayons to draw with, which made it a little easier to control for smooth lines. We also used hollowed eggs instead of raw ones, as I would assume that the risks of having a classroom full of cracked eggs was too high. Our instructor did mention that while raw eggs are more traditional, you have to be careful when heating it, because apparently they can explode over time if they are heated improperly. Here’s hoping that we did it properly under her guidance.

Until next time, happy crafting!