Pysanky! 🥚🐣🐥

[CombNWattles]

You're welcome. Batik is the same process, on fabric.

@CombNWattles this is beautiful and fascinating! Thank you for sharing your amazing cultural decorative art with us! Please tell us how your learned to do this. Did you go to school or take classes? Or was it an art handed down to you by family members? How long have you been practicing this art? Tell us the history of it as well, if you would. Is it an ancient art? When/ how did it begin? Does it always involve eggs or can it be applied to other objects? Do you sell your eggs? Thank you!

Thank you, BigBlueHen53!
And thanks for your explanation of the process- I was a bit baffled about how to explain it.

I just started last Easter, hehe! I watched some videos and did a lot of reading. Then I dove in.
My family is not Ukrainian; I have about half a drop of Irish blood, and so that’s how I usually identify my roots. I am trying to get all of my family members to try it. I love Easter, and I was so excited to discover a new Easter practice with such a rich tradition surrounding it.

If I ever did sell eggs, I think I would make keepsakes for people out of eggs from their flocks, or to commemorate something meaningful to them. Each egg is a lot of work, and I don’t think I’d want to give one up unless part of its story belonged to someone else.

 

[CombNWattles]

@GlicksChicks hehe, I remembered.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Thank you, BigBlueHen53!
And thanks for your explanation of the process- I was a bit baffled about how to explain it.

You're very welcome! I only know this because I once read an article on making batik fabric. Thought it was fascinating. You hsve to have the finished design in your mind from the brginning. I don't think I could do that!

I just started last Easter, hehe! I watched some videos and did a lot of reading. Then I dove in.
My family is not Ukrainian; I have about half a drop of Irish blood, and so that’s how I usually identify my roots. I am trying to get all of my family members to try it. I love Easter, and I was so excited to discover a new Easter practice with such a rich tradition surrounding it.

I think it's really cool and important to keep the old traditions alive. Good for uou for doung that!

If I ever did sell eggs, I think I would make keepsakes for people out of eggs from their flocks, or to commemorate something meaningful to them. Each egg is a lot of work, and I don’t think I’d want to give one up unless part of its story belonged to someone else.

That's a really neat idea!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Gah, sorry about yhe typos. Bedtime ....

 

[AntiqueB]

I did this with my mother when I was a kid (she was Lithuanian), and now I do it with my son. It isn't just a Ukrainian tradition!

 

[CombNWattles]

I did this with my mother when I was a kid (she was Lithuanian), and now I do it with my son. It isn't just a Ukrainian tradition!

Very true! Do you know if there is any difference in technique between the Ukrainian and Lithuanian traditions?

I have read that some people believe that as long as pysanky are being made somewhere in the world, good will prevail over evil.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Let's see some more of these!

 

[CombNWattles]

Sadly I am marooned at college without my supplies. I have been scheming about how I might mix the sort of toxic dyes in my dorm kitchen…
I think I may have some pictures of mine I haven’t shared yet; I’ll look. When I get a chance I’ll post pictures of some designs I’ve drawn in my sketchbook too.
Meanwhile, I found a bunch of rooster designs online:
(None of these are mine)

 

[CombNWattles]

Here is the first tiny egg I got from the newest batch of birds. I was going for a county fair rosette style frame for the letters, and a playful, childlike background.

I used the spot-dyeing method to make the dots- little drops of dye are applied to the shell with a toothpick. The surface tension keeps the drops from running, helped along in this design by dropping the dye inside wax rings (note the ring around each dot).

I used the same method for the orange and yellow in the band:

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Thank you, those are amazing! And thank you for explaining that wax ring technique. But ... toxic dyes? Why toxic?