Summer Classes!
The custom of “pysanka” or egg writing dates back over 2,000 years, when Ukrainian peasant folk decorated eggs to celebrate spring. The word pysanka is derived from the Ukrainian verb pysaty, ‘to write’. The basis of this art involves ‘writing’ designs on an egg. An age-old art, pysanka decoration is deeply symbolic in meaning. While each egg is personal to its maker, the symbols and colors used are traditional, each having a special meaning.
To make a pysanka, hot bees wax is applied with a kistka(stylus) over a succession of aniline dyes. When the writing is complete the wax is removed, revealing an intricate pattern of color and symbolism. The egg is then varnished and if carefully looked after, it will remain beautiful for years to come.
As a girl of 12, I learned to make pysanky from a man at our local Ukrainian Home, in Passaic, New Jersey. I watched him take a raw egg and with a simple wooden kistka and bees wax, write a perfect equator line, using the sharp skill of a master pysankar. He showed also me how to attach a straight pin onto the end of a pencil eraser and use this too as a stylus for applying wax to a raw egg, in a style known as "Lemko." My mother, Miecisława Wnuk Tarris, eventually bought me a simple copper kistka, which I used into my teenage years, as I grew up in a Ukrainian and Polish household. I make pysanky year round. I have taught others this ancient art, at Peters Valley Craft Center in Layton, NJ, Fletcher Farm School in VT, Markeim Art Center and Appel Farms in NJ, River Arts School in Cornish NH, and Blue Spoon Farm in NY, sharing legends, traditions and techniques. I am a member of the International Egg Art Guild and currently working towards a masters level in the art of pysanky, and also a member of the Carpatho-Rusyn Society.
To make a pysanka, hot bees wax is applied with a kistka(stylus) over a succession of aniline dyes. When the writing is complete the wax is removed, revealing an intricate pattern of color and symbolism. The egg is then varnished and if carefully looked after, it will remain beautiful for years to come.
As a girl of 12, I learned to make pysanky from a man at our local Ukrainian Home, in Passaic, New Jersey. I watched him take a raw egg and with a simple wooden kistka and bees wax, write a perfect equator line, using the sharp skill of a master pysankar. He showed also me how to attach a straight pin onto the end of a pencil eraser and use this too as a stylus for applying wax to a raw egg, in a style known as "Lemko." My mother, Miecisława Wnuk Tarris, eventually bought me a simple copper kistka, which I used into my teenage years, as I grew up in a Ukrainian and Polish household. I make pysanky year round. I have taught others this ancient art, at Peters Valley Craft Center in Layton, NJ, Fletcher Farm School in VT, Markeim Art Center and Appel Farms in NJ, River Arts School in Cornish NH, and Blue Spoon Farm in NY, sharing legends, traditions and techniques. I am a member of the International Egg Art Guild and currently working towards a masters level in the art of pysanky, and also a member of the Carpatho-Rusyn Society.
A Carpathian woman is using a stylus that appears to be a straight needle to apply bees wax to an egg.
Pysankas of the Ukrainian Carpathians by Solomchenko, 2002.
Peasants often made a crude wooden tool with a pig-bristle fixed to the end. In earliest times, it would have been a thorn. Today pysanky writers use a copper, metal or electric" kistka". What is a kistka? A kistka or kystka is the name given to the stylus (tool) used in making pysanky in some areas of western Ukraine and in Poland. It is also referred to as a pysachok and pysaltse. It generally consists of a small metal reservoir with a fine tip/opening on a wooden or plastic handle. Wax is scooped into the reservoir, heated, and then this stylus is used to write with wax on an egg's shell.
