Ukranian eggs –progress shots & done!

Home Forums Miscellany General Art Discussion Ukranian eggs –progress shots & done!

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 44 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #601539

    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 ๐Ÿ˜ฏ ), 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)

    #492015

    #601540
    Maria
    Participant

      Those are neat. I especially like the ones with the geometric deisgns on them.

      #601541
      Adaneth
      Participant

        I like your bugs–they’re so detailed!

        ๐Ÿ˜€ 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. ๐Ÿ˜‰

        #601542
        lamortefille
        Participant

          Those are awesome!! Are they for your own pleasure or do you sell them?

          #601543
          wolflodge100
          Participant

            Wow! Those are beautiful! ๐Ÿ˜€

            #601544
            Pegasi1978
            Participant

              These are so beautiful boskydragon! Really makes me want to give it a try.

              #601545

              Those are really nice. I love the bugs, dragons and non traditional ones.

              #601546

              wow, i am blown away by your designs. you are talented, even if you think you are still a little rusty.

              #601547

              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:

              ——————————————————————————–

              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!)

              #601548
              Pegasi1978
              Participant

                ๐Ÿ˜ฏ 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.

                #601549
                KoishiiKitty
                Participant

                  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!

                  #601550

                  Quote:

                  KoishiiKitty Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 11:00 pm Post subject:

                  ——————————————————————————–

                  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!)

                  #601551
                  Skigod377
                  Participant

                    Is the egg empty? I love the black one you used to demonstrate. Very cool.

                    #601552

                    The egg isn’t empty until after it’s all done. (When mom was learning she tried blowing a bunch before they were dyed … turned out not so good because the hollow eggs float in the dye and then if you push them down they fill up with the dye– very messy — so it was a bunch of effort for nothing.)

                  Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 44 total)
                  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.