2021 pysanky

 This year's pysanky were in traditional colors, red, yellow and black. It started with a request for those colors and then I thought I would continue the theme. I usually like bright blues, purples and pinks but it was fun to change it up. A young person in my demonstration this year asked if I had any fox pysanky, which was the inspiration for creating one. Daffodils are also new to me, though a friend created lovely daffodil pysanky this year too. 

This year's demo on Zoom

 I did some pysanky last year but it didn't make it to the blog! Here is a YouTube Video I made last year though. This year our demonstration is on zoom. Here is the flyer:

2019 Pysanky

Bee pysanky, a chicken and a goose egg

Pysanky Tools

I am particular about which tools I use for making pysanky. I prefer a delrin (plastic handled) kitska. I blow out my eggs before I work with them. I use cakes of 100% pure beeswax. There are a hundred different kinds of dyes, tools, lathes, and other gizmos you can buy and I can tell you which ones I wouldn't bother with! I purchased some extra dyes, kitsky, and wax that I use and recommend. They will be available at my next demonstrations. 

Saturday April 13th 2019, 10:30am

I will be doing a one hour demonstration for all ages and question and answer at the Schoharie Free Library on Bridge Street in Schoharie on Saturday April 13th at 10:30am. It is not a class, and is not hands-on but I will have advice and some pysanky making materials for purchase if you want to start to learn. Come on out to see my pysanky on display and learn a bit about the process. I will have my ostrich egg on display as well!

Ostrich Egg 2018

I have had this empty ostrich egg for about 2 years (from my good buddy and art teacher, Jen!) You can buy any kind of empty egg from the Ukrainian gift shop FYI too. Just some basic math, it takes different people different amounts of time to make pysanky but the general rule is: the bigger the egg, the more surface area, the longer it will take. A decently complicated chickens egg takes me about 4 hours, a goose egg about 8, and this ostrich egg I was figuring would be at least 16. I knew it was now or wait at least 2 years since baby boy will be here next Pascha and babies+pysanky= :P
So it took me about 2 hours to sketch the designs on paper, then another hour to sketch them on egg. The preliminary kitska work (white outlines) took me the longest,  2 two hour sessions then about an hour and a half for each color not counting dye time. So "big egg" as it says on the box Jen gave me, and how we have lovingly referred to it, is finished! Here are pics from my 10pm pre-Pascha photoshoot last night.

 CHRIST IS RISEN!

Ostrich egg in progress