Pysanky folk art from the Ukraine; decoration of eggs using beeswax and dyes. Hot beeswax is applied to the egg using a kistka (a tool draw hot wax onto the egg, some are simply a stick with wire). The design begins by drawing on a plain white egg with hot beeswax, then the egg is dipped into yellow dye and then dried. The kistka is used to draw the designs to remain yellow and then the egg is dipped into the next dye bath. The process continues, alternating waxing designs and using dyes that progressively get darker. Once the black dye is dry, hold the egg over the side of a candle flame and gently continue to wipe off the melted wax revealing the beautifully designed multicolored egg. The final process is to seal the egg with a coating of shellac or varnish. [from here] [image from myquiltblog]
pysanky making here – the kristka tool in action
how to make ukranian easter eggs (pysanky) [via make]
more pysanky designs at paper craft
kids easter egg crafts
kids domain has lots of kids easter craft projects such as painted easter eggs
Making friends also lots of kids crafts – such as paper baskets and egg decoration about.com has heaps as well – the best fun is decoration easter eggs and making paper egg baskets family fun easter craft ideas
my craft book has some good craft ideas
craft bits coloured easter eggs
two straight lines sent in a link on their easter craft project
What crafts did you do for easter?
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I posted a tutorial for making small felt eggs on my blog:
http://futuregirlgallery.blogspot.com/2006/04/bad-egg-tutorial.html
I chose to make edgy eggs, but you could easily use the pattern to make sweet pastel eggs.
I would like to add a link for Easter crafts and celebration that is animal friendly, meaning that no chickens or their potential offspring will be hurt in the crafting process…
http://naturalattachment.blogspot.com/2006/04/vegan-easter.html
i made loads of pompom chicks with kids, after seeing that tutorial at bella dia!
http://making.nearlythere.com/2006/04/13/pompom-chicks/
This link on the “Living as Rosa” blog has step-by-step photos of pysanky egg making in action!:
http://cozyrosy.blogspot.com/2006/03/its-cranky-pysanky-time.html
Wow! That egg is so much better than the one I made. I didn’t stick to a traditional design at all. Thanks for the links
One of my friends, Nadyia, is an artist who specializes in traditional Ukrainian art motifs mixed with contemporary media. When we lived in Ukraine, she would come over and help us write pysanky each spring. That’s something I miss here in the states.