For those of you who read my post earlier in the week about Pysanky, or batiked eggs I am now following up on my promise to post photos of the eggs I made. Again I want to reiterate that my eggs look nothing at all like the eggs that I posted. Unfortunately they are not nearly as well done. I have only made four so far and am still learning but am making progress I think. We have run into a few snags in the egg decorating process. One of which are these pesky smears or dots that show up on the eggs. We thought it might have had to do with the way we were letting the eggs dry so we started wiping the wet dye off the eggs with soft, clean flannel. Or perhaps we wondered, if it was the oil from our hands that was causing the marks so we started wearing rubber gloves. We also thought maybe it was the fact that after the vinegar pre-soak we did, we didn’t rinse the eggs with water. There were various other theories that I can’t think of right now. It turns out none of our tested theories are the culprit because the marks still keep occurring. After seeing some friends dyed eggs that don’t have the mark we have a new yet to be tested theory, the type of egg makes the difference. Turkey eggs don’t seem to have marks on them.
Anyhow now you know why there seem to be weird smudges, spots, or marks on the eggs. Let’s home the next batch is mark free!
Another lesson I have personally learned is to take it easy on the number of colors used. At first I wanted to have a very colorful egg with a lot going on. I think that the best egg designs (unless you are an amazing artist-see Eve Butterly below) are the ones with fewer colors. It seems that when mixing colors some mixtures come out better than others. Next time I will stick with two or three colors per egg.
First is the onion skin egg. As I explained before we wrapped yellow onion skins around the egg and then hard boiled them in water and vinegar.
Next is my tree with roots. There is another tree on the other side and the roots are connected at the bottom. I like this one.
Next is the floral sunburst. This one was supposed to have purple and blue petals/rays as well but they didn’t show up as nicely as the pink and red.
Next is my traditional floral design. Again the purples didnt seem to stand out as well as the warmer colors. Good to remember for next time.
And last is another floral design.
Very nice! I’ve never done Pysanky but I’ve recently discovered it and now want to give it a try. I’ve ordered a starter kit so we’ll see how it goes after that arrives.
Meanwhile, I really like that last blue egg (turquoise/blue colors are my favorites) with the floral design. I also like the one with the tree and roots (very symbolic).
It’s interesting how the one’s with purple came out so dark/dim. What do you think caused that? I plan to use purple in my design and I wouldn’t want to have it be barely noticeable.
Anyway… good job! Love the creative process!
Brother John
Lansdowne, Pennsylvania USA
Gorgeous eggs! They turned out so lovelyly! I really like the onion skin egg.
Brother John,
Purple is a dark color, and should be the final color of a pysanka, not one of the intermediate ones. Most of the commercial pysanka dyes, with the exception of Surma, have a purple dye that is really more of a royal blue color.
If you wish your purple to stand out, you will need a final color that is NOT black. One option is to finish the pysanka and then bleach it to get white. Or you can make a light purple color by adding 2 T of purple dye (prepared) to a cup of water and 1 T vinegar. This will give you more of a lavender color, depending on how long the egg is left in the dye.
If you have any questions, contact me through the links on my site (click on my name).