Tricks and tools for making your Ukrainian Easter eggs look their best.
The craft of making Ukrainian Easter eggs, known as pysanky, is a time-consuming and painstaking one. If you already know how to make them, you know that a single egg can take an hour or more to decorate. Don’t waste your time and effort; employ some of these tricks to improve the finish of your eggs!
- Smooth eggshells: When shopping for eggs to eat, one is sometimes advised to buy the ones with the roughest shells, as these are supposed to be the freshest. However, it’s just the opposite with pysanky. Run your finger over the shells in the store to try to pick out a carton with very smooth shells. Those grainy little bumps on the surface of the shell can turn your nice clean lines into wavy, irregular ones.
- Less is more: Use the smallest possible amount of wax in the applicator tool (kistka). That will help you avoid sudden spurts of overheated beeswax that leave unwanted blobs instead of nice neat lines.
- The straight and narrow: It’s possible to buy circular templates to help mark lines on the eggshell; you can also use a draughting compass and calipers to help you work out the pattern before applying the wax. (There are even tabletop egg lathes that hold the egg and turn it for an absolutely perfect line.) But a simpler trick is to use an elastic band to mark lines around the egg; not only will it allow you to mark the pattern without leaving a pencil line, but you can even use it to guide your kistka as you’re drawing. Another trick is to learn to hold the kistka steady and turn the egg as you draw, rather than the other way around!
- Egg-blowing tools: Traditionally, you don’t blow out the egg, but if you intend to keep yours for a long time, you will probably blow it out to avoid smelly broken eggs later on. Be sure the dye has had a chance to set before you blow the egg, so the liquid doesn’t wash away any of the surface colour. Consider buying an egg-blower, which shoots air or water into a single hole. A good substitute is a rubber ear syringe, available at a small cost in most pharmacies.
- Wax removal help: Wait until the dye has set for at least a few hours before removing the wax. Lighter fluid on a cotton swab makes a good remover (if you’re in a well ventilated area), but it can remove dye if it’s rubbed too vigourously. Above all, don’t get so excited that you put a thumb through the egg from holding it too tight!
- Patience, patience, patience! Don’t let your enthusiasm to see the finished product spoil your work. Consider painting eggs over the course of a couple of days, so each dye really dries and sets before you apply the next. If you don’t have that much time to spare this year, consider simplifying your design and limiting the number of dye colours to one or two.
- Let it shine! Clear nail polish (in as many coats as you like) will protect your egg indefinitely and give it a smooth, shiny finish.
In the end, practice makes perfect, so cherish even your mistakes, and have a happy Easter!
Click on the thumbnail to see a bigger version of the author's attempts.
The copyright of the article Tips for Perfect Pysanky in Crafts is owned by Sarah B. Hood. Permission to republish Tips for Perfect Pysanky in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
