Life in Full Color

• Feb. 26, 2008 - Ukrainian Pysanky Egg Decorating

For years I have seen the Pysanky eggs and thought how neat it would be to do it with a group of people. So this year I took the leap and ordered all the supplies needed to do the egg decorating with a group and looked up history of the Ukrainian Pysanky. I have completed two of the three workshops that I lined up and overall I think they have worked out well so far. For me the difficult part is not how to do a craft or even how to teach the craft. I worry about having enough supplies to go around. I think I lose more sleep over whether or not I will have enough supplies.

I originally set the workshops for ages 9 and up. Since these workshops were for homeschool families I have let a couple of younger students into the workshops. This really does need to be done with older kids. The kistka was challenging for younger kids to use especially when lines were desired. If you are interested in trying this with your family I found a WONDERFUL website that will tell you all you need to know about supplies, steps, designs, tradition and symbol and color meaning.

The most important thing to know is that you can not use the dyes on boiled eggs. The eggs spoil after a few days and the dyes are not eatable. You will either need to blow out the eggs or keep them raw. On the website it has tips for keeping and storing raw eggs. The challenge with using eggs that are blown before dyeing is that empty eggs float! lol We solved this by placing rocks on top to hold down the eggs.

I hope you try this. Make sure you read through the pages on the website that I listed above. It has many good tips and information that will help you get started. I know there are kits that are sold that also will have instructions.