First Egg of My Amateur Pysanky Season 2009

Today I started making my annual Pysanky, or sort of annual....
let me show you the first trial.



This is my first egg of this season.

At almost fifty I can be honest. I'm not so great at Pysanky but I have been doing it 41 years.
Even teaching it. Yeah, well I was all I had.
(Perhaps with a few years off for this or that spring problem. I've done it a long time)





This is the part I find mysterious. But let me tell the tale of making them even if I am really, really lousy at it.



It is supposed to be the day and night egg.
I made it today.

The thing about this is, I should get better through time, but i seem to stay about even, these are ten years old:



Just looking as non-traditional as it gets. I suppose I have no excuses. I have books, two of these are 40 years old.



Within them you can get ideas and learn about the Ukrainian art form:



A family thing for sure. I'm having trouble recruiting.



I get ideas but I never just carry them out accordingto plan....
However here is a brief story from the day.
The first thing you need to do is blow the insides out of the eggs. I do this by running a wire in each end after poking holes. And then I coerce my husband or I blow the insides out, but not this year.
It's awful, I broke 5 of the twelve emptied.









So about then I recall I need to mix the dyes, you use these acid dyes, and vinegar, 1 and a half cups boiling water into glass jars, it must cool.







You use a kitska, a tool you heat over a candle and dip in beeswax.
It covers lines on the egg. You cover white eggs with lines, then dye, yellow, cover with wax lines moving to darker colors.




I have a lot of kitskas but I have taught this so I needed them. I have electric ones and the beeswax too.



So then I start the drawing and dyeing.
It goes quickly. Okay, it's slow but the smell is really nice, familiar to me. Warm.












The last color is black but this egg was all wax, the wax goes on black.

So you put it into the candle melting and rubbing.






And there you go.
I'll need to practice.
Maybe if I make a dozen.




This is the second egg that "someone else" did quickly while I was fussing about egg number one.