Pysanky

It's been a long time since I've made pysanky-- nearly two decades, I think. I've been wanting to get back into for a few years but haven't been able to as the supplies aren't available in Japan and I never remember to pick some up on my visits home.

Pysanky are Ukrainian Easter eggs, and I learned how to do them at a class at the local museum/art gallery/archives where my mother worked. My mom had the coolest job in the world, at least in the eyes of a teenage girl with a fetish for old fashions and artifacts (corsets, crinolines and parasols would have figured prominently in my wardrobe if only I'd been able to find them). Through various exhibitions, events and classes I got to see and learn some very neat stuff, with my favourite probably being these wonderful eggs. I don't really remember the classes themselves, except for the time a Ukrainian Orthodox priest, in his long black robes, subtly tried to recruit me to his faith (he started off by pointing out our similar tastes in fashion).

But I do remember the eggs. The teacher's eggs were beautiful and perfect, and my first tries were so awful, but somehow I kept at it and was eventually able (at least according to my own memory, admittedly not the most reliable authority) to create some pretty good designs. I continued it for a few years but eventually my crafty tendencies turned elsewhere for gratification, and I pretty much forgot about pysanky.

Until last week, when I gave in and paid an outrageous shipping fee to have the materials sent over. I bought a couple of kystka (styluses), some beeswax and dyes, and with a candle, a hastily made egg stand a couple of practice eggs I was in business.

It's much harder than I remember. I don't seem to be able to make a straight line and have forgotten all the designs I used to do. That is to be expected, but making it harder is the fact that the materials are a bit different: I'm am having trouble getting used to the fancy new-style kistka, with its super-fine tip that tends to clog up, producing an uneven wax flow. The stylus I used to use was a tiny cone made of copper sheeting wrapped to a wooden dowel with wire, almost primitive in its simplicity, but it worked and it seems I'm used to it.

And aesthetically the coloured sheets of beeswax, actually meant for making those rolled beeswax candles, is not nearly as nice as the big chunk of pure golden beeswax I used to use (come to think of it the black colouring in this wax might be what's causing the uneven flow in the kistka). I also have no design book or even examples to look at, so these are not authentic psanky designs.

Still, despite the years of absence and these unfamiliar, new-fangled tools, I don't think these test eggs came out all that badly. And I've just now noticed that there is a wealth of information online, so if I can find some good designs for beginners I think I can back into this.

Do any of you do pysanky? I would love to hear any tips, especially from those of you in Japan or other places where materials are hard to come by. Anybody ever made their own kistka?

Comments

[Alice]

Your kistka is newfangled? Get this--I used to have an *electric* kistka. It was awesome. Do yours come with wires to clean out the tip? Another good way get a block out was to put the (hot) tip into the wax for a second. This is making me jealous, I wish I knew where my gear was!

[Maud]

I've done pysanky and love it. Somewhere on my blog there are pictures (around Easter 2007 and 2006). I have bookamarked a lovely Japanese site, but looks like it has moved, it used to be here:
http://www.ceres.dti.ne.jp/~iino/natsumi/index.html
Perhaps you can find it? The Japanese woman who had the site made both traditional pysanky and modern, very Japanese pysanky, with a wonderful perfection.

[Carol]

I am so impressed with your eggs. They are sooooo beautiful!!! What a great project near Easter.

[Anna]

I do pysanky every year (not Ukrainian or any of the egg-decorating cultures, but I love it). Just an old fashioned kistka and some strong dyes I bought from a little shop in Minneapolis.

Do you blow out your eggs before dyeing, or dye them whole?

One thing I found (especially on the first egg or two after a year of not making them) was that it made it a little easier to make large patterns before attempting any fine detail until you can get your motor skills under control.

Also, using a "road map" of sorts when doing a lot of colours is immensely useful -- I tend to forget which areas should be covered for each colour otherwise.

P.S. - I love your blog, and was very happy to see you featured on eGullet.

[Anna]

Also, in reply to a previous post:

I believe the website of Natsumi Iino's pysanky can be found here:

http://www.k2.dion.ne.jp/~natsumi/index.html

[Stacy]

I think it's rather ingenious to paint them while they are sitting on nails!

[margo]

Hello - I'm a very long time lurker and I love your site. Please don't ever stop blogging! I've been to Japan three times, and I love it more with each visit. Oh, the food... Yoshinoya.....

Anyway, I did pysanky and this is what I can remember...
I always used a medium stylus with the "cup" style of tip (easier). I use wide elastic bands, wrapped around the egg, to trace fine pencil lines on the egg as guide-lines (I'm sure purists will start rolling their eyes by now). I usually do a bunch of eggs, over a week, so that I do only one colour a day. And I double-dip or triple-dip the eggs into the dyes to get really rich colours.

I'd love to read other tips.

[fru]

you made me go back in time when I was a little kid a tried to prepare decorated eggs with my sister...fun!thanx

[Jenn]

Hello--long time lurker here.Love your blog-my family hosted Japanese students when I was a kid and I still keep in contact with one of them who lives in Tokyo, so I love hearing about your experiences there. I've been making pysanky since I was about 10. I think some helpful tips are that you can lightly trace your design on with a pencil but do not erase your lines if you make a mistake--unless you like the smudged look in the finished product! You should be able to remove the pencil marks when you are removing the wax from your egg. Also, you can get some interesting color variations if you give your egg a bath under running water--it will lighten the shade you just dyed it. Talking about kistkas, my mom has her greatgrandmother's kistka which is really cool as the wooden handle is all smooth and shiny from so many years of handling and beeswax! She also has a kistka my uncle made from a pencil with a small cone held on by copper wire. I live in Arizona but get my supplies from Cleveland,Ohio where there is a large Ukrainian community.

[Maud]

Thank you to Anna for finding the new address to Natsumi Iino's pysanky pictures!

[Amy]

Alice, it's new-fangled to me! I much prefered the copper funnel kind, but I wouldn't mind giving the electric type a try! It did come with a cleaning wire, and things went much better after I learned how to use it.

Maud, your pysanky are beautiful! I love how you made them into ornaments last year. That Japanese site is lovely.

Thank you Carol!

Anna, thanks for the advice. My fine-tipped kistka was just not suited to large patterns, but things went better when I made a bigger one.
Thanks for the link!

Stacy, I actually hold them while applying the wax-- the nail bed is just to let them dry after dying.

Margo, wonderful tips. I tried the elastic and pencil it was very helpful.

Fru, I have great memories of Easter eggs too! What fun it was.

Thank you Jenn! The homemade and greatgreatgreat grandmother's kistkas are such treasures. Lucky you! Your comment inspired me to make my own kistka (not with a pencil though!), and I tried using water for colour variation-- it gave me two shades of blue, which worked out well for a fish design.

[carolie]

Oh MY! I'm so glad to have found you, even though I'm obviously late for this post. I live in Kyushu (Sasebo City, Nagasaki Prefecture) and I love to make pysanky! If we are still here next spring, I'll be happy to get some supplies for you and send them up to you (domestic shipping rates from the US to me, since we have a military address).

As a foodie and former restauranteur, I'm salivating over your beautiful food posts, both the words and the photos. As an admirer of both nature and fine photography, I'm really enjoying your flower and bird photos. And as a North American, I'm really enjoying reading your tales of life here in Japan and comparing them to my own experiences down here in the "rural" south.

Thank you for your blog...I'll be back!

[Candle Lover]

Those are brilliant! Tell me more. You use a candle to melt the wax?