Pysanky Eggs

I mentioned these Pysanky eggs in my previous post, and thought I'd put some pictures up on here.

When Andy and I were engaged, he introduced me to a fun tradition of his family's. Pysanky Eggs. I remember when he asked me if I had ever done one before and I just looked at him and said something like, "Pysanky what?? What is that?" I had never heard of them before. So he brought me to his house, and he and his dad taught me how to do it.

First, we took an uncooked, raw egg. I seem to remember shaking it a bunch to try and break the yoke inside...but it's been a while, so maybe we didn't. Anyway, we poked a hole on the top of the egg, and the bottom, and then blew out the insides of it. It was a slow process. After the egg was emptied out, we let them dry and then we started designing.

Andy's family had a book that had different designs and instructions on how to make them, and it also explained the meanings behind the different symbols used on the eggs. So it was pretty neat to read through the book and decide which design you wanted to try.

We used melted bees wax, and a small pointy, needle-like tool to draw on the eggs. You would dip the pointy tool into the wax, and then draw on the egg. The trick was, to think ahead. You had to decide what part of your design you wanted white, and then what color you wanted next, and so on. You also had to remember to go from light dyes to dark. It's hard to explain, but it is pretty complicated and pretty much an all day process.

Here is Andy's egg from Easter 1998...we were engaged and would be married in a couple of months!

And here is my very first Pysanky egg. That was a fun day. Andy was on one side of me, and his dad on the other and the three of us spent forever on our eggs. It is a great memory.

After we did our "real" designs, we had fun just going through the book and looking up random symbols and making some more quicky designs. Here's Andy's. I can't remember what the symbols mean!!! Does anyone in the Thuernagle family know where that book went??Here is a fun egg that I did the next easter. Easter 1999...ten years ago! Time flies! Anyway, on this one, I did the triangle symbol with our names on the outside, coming together...which if I remember right had something to do with unity. The eye in the middle of the triangle was something to do with wealth...I remember us both laughing over that one as poor undergrads in a one bedroom cinderblock-walled apartment.
And this little stag symbolizes posterity and fertility. No wonder we have 5 children!!! It's that silly stag's fault!

Here is Andy's masterpiece from that year.

And my masterpiece made it until little baby Taylor started walking...and was accidently knocked off of a display. I saved most of the pieces, and after all these years Andy put it back together for me last night. He is pretty amazing! We're missing a lot of the shell...but at least we have the general idea of how the egg once looked!

So each different color is a different phase of waxing and dying. When you are all done with your design, the egg is nearly completely covered in wax, and then you have to slowly and carefully melt the wax off with a candle. I got one side of my egg a little too close to the flame, and it darkened the colors. Once you have all the wax melted off, it's best to spray them with a laquer for strength and also to make them nice and shiny.

This is one of the traditions that Andy and I want to carry on with our own children. We haven't bought the tools yet, but it's something we're going to do!