Friday, April 23, 2010

Ukrainian, psanky eggs

Wow I am going back in time to get this stuff out!

I really want to give you a big lake house update...it is amazing what Dave has been up to out there and I really want to show you but I need to get past the past already!

So how about the eggs we did last month?
Every spring I think of Psanky eggs and the last few years have done a batch with the kids.

Here is what we did this year.


First you start drawing on the egg with the melted wax. You cover what you want to stay white and then dip it on the first bath of dye.


Then you cover whatever you want to stay that color and dip it into the next color of dye. Lightest to darkest. The big challenge is to see what you want in your head and know how to get there by covering what you need to in what order.


The longer you leave it in the dye the more intense the color becomes.


You continue the process of covering with wax and dipping until you have all the colors you need on the egg. Then the exciting part!


You then hold the egg over a small flame and melt the wax in small patches and rub it off to expose the art created underneath.
In this case I only did two colors but you can do so many!








We ended up stretching the egg project over a few days since the kids had so much fun.


My mom came one day with a friend. Mom stole snuggles as we created.




Ethan loved melting wax and globbing it on.


He was just so thrilled to be so close to a fire and I was all hovery and paranoid.


They were fine though and made some cute eggs even though they didn't get many dye baths done before they just wanted to see their eggs completed.


Another egg doodled up.



Emily got in on it one day too.


And of course there were a few casualties.



but in the end we had a carton of colorful eggs and a fun lesson in color dying and layering.
If you ever want to make these just hit up your local Ukrainian co-op and they will have everything you need to get started!

8 comments:

BeachMama said...

I love these eggs! I have never had the courage to even try it, but you make it look so easy.

Looking forward to the Lake House update, I love seeing how things transform.

Brooke said...

It's batiking for eggs! I did batik in high school and was never very good at it since I'm not an artist, but I always thought it was fun and relaxing. Your eggs look beautiful. Your kids are more artistic than I am.

Kamis Khlopchyk said...

Girl, you put this Ukrainian girl to shame! I made on in elementary school and my mom still has it, it's cute for a 11 year old non-artsy person :)

Next year, can I come?!!!

nicole said...

beautiful. you are so brave to take on such a craft with little ones...good for you.

Hannah said...

My goodness, Anna, those eggs are BEAUTIFUL!! Absolutely stunning!

Unknown said...

holy eggs batman, THOSE are beautiful!

MJ said...

Brave, brave Anna! I am just letting K & N start using acrylics when painting and I hold my breath the whole time! You are super-brave!

homemom1001 said...

Those are beautiful - you are so super cool!!!
I have always wanted to do Ukranian Easter Eggs - some year!
And I can just imagine the hovery-ness...LOL!!! That would be me too! Awesome!