How to Make Ukrainian Eggs (Pysanky)

Today, I dedicate this post to my favorite craft.



Over the years I've had to explain how to make these a lot, and even though I'm sure there are plenty of tutorials online somewhere, here's how I go about making these eggs. Ever since I was 4 or so, I've made Ukrainian Eggs, or pysanky. It's a tradition I enjoy, and have even managed to work into other holidays besides Easter. Traditionally they're made during lent, and sometimes only on Easter day. I can't really type out an entire history lesson on these things, but I can give some basic run-downs. They began as a pagan tradition, as I'm told, when a sun God was worshipped. This was all pre-Christian times. Then, Christianity came along, and all the pagan symbols were converted into Christian ones. Here are a few, and the list even has color symbolism.

Usually ram horns are connected to a ram, though. Looks kind of silly otherwise.

But these days, pysanky are little more than a nice decoration. It's also a cheap craft, and if you want, you can even make use of the egg insides and eat them. So in the end nothing goes to waste. The theory is that the more pysanky that are made, the less evil there will be in the world. Do your part!

So here we go, what you will need. I took some pictures, but of course they didn't make it off the camera. This is starting off great! That's alright, have some stock photos from the world of the interwebs.

Your standard electric kistka. This is what you use to draw on the egg. They run anywhere from $30 - $80, but they last a lifetime. 

These are kistky you heat over an open flame. Just watch your hair. They're cheap, but get worn out from the flame.

Your standard beeswax, in three forms. The undyed wax is really meant for the candle kistky, as the carbon from the flame gives it a darker color. Pale wax on a white egg isn't very good. Spaghetti wax is probably the greatest thing ever. Spaghetti wax is about $5 for 24 sticks. Depending on how detailed your egg is, you'll hardly use a whole stick for an egg anyway.

Dye packets. This is what you use to color the egg. Follow the directions, mix with vinegar and distilled water. Orange doesn't get vinegar. It's kind of hipster that way. Dyes are around a dollar each, but the dye lasts an entire season. Sometimes two if they don't mold over. You heard me.

Well hold on there, we have all of these supplies but we still need eggs! Alright, well, go to the store, check out your eggs. If you can, buy from local farms, the shells tend to be less brittle. You can usually see shell impurities in the store. If there are dark spots, it's a weak shell. Generally we get the jumbo eggs. More room for cool designs.

OK, you have the eggs, now you need to empty them if you plan on eating them. If not, skip these steps you shameful egg-waster.

So here we see my lovely assistant with an Aunt Marge's Egg Blower. It runs about $13.

Make a couple marks to know where you're 'drilling' a hole. Some egg blowers only require one hole. It doesn't really matter.

If it looks like this, you did good kid. Make a second hole on the other end, and get ready to squeeze out those insides.

In the world of eggs, most suck. We blow.

Alright, well, you have this egg sitting in a bowl. What do you do? Eat it! Bake with it! Give it to your dog, I don't care! Keep doing this until you have about 50 empty shells laying around and you're ready to go.

Right, and while you're getting sick of fried eggs and brownies, make those dyes! We use mason jars and plastic lids. Don't forget to label them. You wouldn't want to use black instead of purple or something.

These colors are; red, orange, yellow, green, light blue, royal blue, turquoise, purple, pink, and black. I made a brown later. Remember, orange doesn't get vinegar!

Alright, now you're probably itching to make something cool, so grab one of your 50 empty eggs and a pencil. If you're really specific about designing and like measuring, go online and find a picture of a ruler in centimeters. Print it out, cut it up, and enjoy struggling to measure out those egg divisions. Hey man, we've all been there. An egg is usually about 8-9.5 cm tall, if that helps any. If you're stuck on a design, pick up a Ukrainian egg design book online. Some are cheap, you can find them on Amazon, and they're a great way to learn. Today we'll be making an old favorite of mine; the poppy design.

This is the side of the egg. Make sure you use light pencil marks! Also, DO NOT USE YOUR ERASER. It messes everything up while dying the egg. Just use your spit. Trust me.

The front of the egg. Wow, it sure looks cool. 

So you now have some light pencil marks, yes? Good. Rev up that kistka, plug it in, light your candle, grab your wax, put on some 80's music and get ready to ignore all phone calls for the next hour and a half. You're in this for the long run.

This is all done with the electric kistka, all medium tip. It produces much more even lines than a traditional candle kistka. Some people like to also use rubber bands to get straight lines on their egg. I've never tried it out, so I can't say how helpful it is.

Make sure to sign and date your egg nice and big so the ladies at church don't have to fish out their reading glasses. Also seal those ends! We don't want dye getting inside the egg.

Since dye generally gets darker as you add different color, it's best to go from lightest to darkest. In this case, yellow is lightest, and from there you can go to orange, green, red, blue, etc. 

Here it is in the yellow dye. Use a shot glass to hold it down. If you didn't empty it previously,  it will sink to the bottom and you can fish it out with a spoon.

Towel that sucker off (don't rub it though, the wax might come off) And that's what it looks like straight out of the dye.  

Whatever I want to stay yellow I draw on. I added the swirls and the nets.

I'm pretty sure I don't need to show a million images of this egg in the colored dyes, so From here on out you'll just see the results.

Straight out of the green. Green can be added with dye, or even marker, since there isn't a lot on this egg.

Mostly just the leaves are green in this egg.

Remember how orange doesn't get the vinegar? It pretty much acts as a stripper. No, not that kind of stripper. It pulls off whatever color is on the egg. That's helpful to know if you want to go from a dark color back to a lighter color. Like blue to red. You'd dip the blue in orange first, then put it in red. It works surprisingly well.

Not much is orange on this egg either, but orange is a finicky dye. It doesn't like to get very dark.

This is how it looks straight out of red. You get it by now, I'm certain. 

And here we are, allllll of that stuff was colored in. Phew, next to the white, this is the longest part of the egg! On this design, anyway.

And black is always the final color. Unless you get tricky and use bleach. I'm not covering that today.

Well look at that, we almost have something we can proudly display! But first, we need a board with nails in it. That's right, a board with nails. Also heat up that oven to about 250. We need to melt that wax off. If you don't want a board with nail and you don't have an oven, don't fret. Just pull out your trusty candle and hold the egg over the flame. Take the melted wax off with a paper towel. The egg will be fine, the carbon will rub right off too. But, since I'm highly encouraged to stay away from open flames, I go with the oven approach. 

While you were making that one egg, you of course were also working on about 11 others at the same time, I'm sure.

Here the eggs have been removed from the oven, toweled off with your standard paper towel, and are now getting the finishing touch! Varnish. We use polyurethane. It works pretty well, and gives the egg a little bit more protection. 

And there you have it.

Looking good. Your very own decorative eggshell.

So that's pretty much all there is to it. If you can imagine it, you can probably put it on an egg. It's a fun craft, and anyone can do it. There are plenty of books on how to make these guys, and plenty of books that give you division lines. I say, hey man, quarter the egg, and you're ready to go.

Soon you too will dread breakfast and dislike brownies. I'm telling you the truth. These things don't come without sacrifice!