Pysanky

Today Erika taught her mom, my mom, my friend Lauren's mom (Lauren, we miss you!), and me how to make Pysanky.  Erika learned how to make the Pysanky at the Ukranian Museum and she was psyched to give us all an arts and crafts lesson.  Pysanky are traditional Ukranian Easter eggs.  They are made by melting beeswax and using a special stylus to "draw" with the melted wax on the egg shell.  You are essentially drawing the negative of what the egg is going to look like, since the wax is what eventually comes off, revealing your design.  So the idea is that you draw a bit, and then dip it in special liquid dye, and then draw a little bit more.  You are covering more and more of the egg, so what's left when you're done is different colors that you covered with wax as you worked on the egg.  I would say that it took us about two hours, start to finish, to each make one egg.  The designs are very intricate and you are constantly melting the wax in your stylus over a candle.  At the end, you burn all the wax off the egg to reveal a gorgeous pattern.  If you're interested in making your own Pysanky, the supplies can be purchased in NYC at a store called Surma in the East Village.  It was really fun and even though my mom and I are not artistically gifted, we created beautiful eggs and had fun doing it. 



Marilyn, Mia, Mom, and Erika hard at work



Erika's first Pysanka



Erika, Marilyn, Mom, and Me Pysankying



Pysanka

Burning off the wax to reveal the colors underneath

One of Mia's beautiful Pysanka

 Happy Easter!