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Well, I was recently inspired to start a couple of new eggs (psanky), and thought I’d post some old ones as well as the process. It’s a lot of fun, but I have to get back into it as my lines are not so clean after taking off a few YEARS. (My hands are shaky now, what’s that about?)
Here are some examples, a traditional star:
nontraditional bugs!:
wolf & dragon:
And the process: first heat kistka in candle flame
Then melt the beeswax into the cup of the kistka (you can buy electric kistkas now, but we learned this from our Ukranian neighbors when we lived in Canada and so this is the way we still do it)
then draw on the white egg w/the kistka, which puts the hot wax on the egg. Everywhere there is a black line on the egg, the underlying color is protected and so in this case, it’ll stay white.
Then the egg goes through a series of dye baths, each time you draw more on the egg (adding black lines, trying to remember what colors are underneath which black lines). The entire process goes from light to dark (white, yellow, green, blue, orange, red, brown, black), so you end up working backwards, which is more difficult than it sounds until you’ve done it a few times.
Last comes the black dye bath, and out comes a black egg w/black wax lines
Finally you get to melt off the wax (again in the candle flame, wiping off small areas at a time as the wax melts, being careful not to scorch your egg)
Then you varnish your egg & blow it (yes, we still do this the traditional way as well 😯 ), then get them blessed to protect your home & family!
and you end up with, more eggs!
(yes, we do a lot of non-traditional eggs, but the back of each tends to have a star)
I like your bugs–they’re so detailed!
😀 Thanks for the explanation of how they’re made. I blew out an egg once before painting it as a gift for my mom, and once was enough. 😉
wow, i am blown away by your designs. you are talented, even if you think you are still a little rusty.
Thanks everyone for the feedback! No, I’ve never sold them, but I’ve told my mom that she should sell hers, as she’s really good!
Quote:gryphondreamer Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 7:26 pm Post subject:
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wow, i am blown away by your designs. you are talented, even if you think you are still a little rusty.
Ha, ha… these are from my pre-kid days…actually these are from ’99, and the old crappy digital video camera. I am rusty now! I’ll post pics when I finish (hopefully this weekend, but we’ll see).
This is one of the last eggs I did (3 or 4 years ago) and it’s one of my favorites as it was conceptually hard (the black is negative space, you just keep coloring and never color in where you want it black). (It’s also from the newer camera!)
😯 That tiger egg is AWESOME! I’ll have to see if I can’t dig up the photos that went along with the feature story I wrote about the man I met who does psanky eggs.
I am SOOOO EXCITED! I have not seen anything on these eggs in so long!! and that you do it the traditional way!!!! oh I am soo happy, they are so beautiful!
when i was a kid and i watched some shows on how they did these eggs(I was 6) I atempted making my own Kistka buy cutting the tin of an alumanam band aid tin, bending it, and melting crayons!
I can’t wait to see new eggs!
Quote:KoishiiKitty Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 11:00 pm Post subject:
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when i was a kid and i watched some shows on how they did these eggs(I was 6) I atempted making my own Kistka buy cutting the tin of an alumanam band aid tin, bending it, and melting crayons!
Cool! But what did you use to melt the crayons? Sun? (Not candles, I hope!)
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