Project 13: Pysanky supplies

I’m fortunate to know someone who learned pysanky from her family at a young age and was kind enough to invite me to her house to learn. She had all of the supplies we needed. Above you can see her collection of dyes. These are heartier dyes than you’ll find in your average egg dying kit. Eggs colored with these can no longer be eaten as the dye is quite toxic.

Of course you also need eggs. The eggs above are soaking in a water and baking soda solution. My friend wasn’t sure why the eggs needed to be soaked first, but this is what she was taught so we did it. These are whole eggs that haven’t been hard boiled or blown out. One could blow out the egg after decorating (before decorating may make it too fragile), but we didn’t.

The remaining tools are a kistka, a candle, and beeswax. The kistka is a small tool that you use to apply melted wax to the egg. It works like a tiny funnel on a stick.

Tomorrow we’ll talk about designing your pysanky egg. Then I’ll show you the process and our finished products.