PYSANKY BASICSBATIK EGGSby MAGGIE

Demonstrating Pysanky Writing

4/14/2015

You may be asked to do a demonstration on the Art of Pysanky Writing. You can negotiate a fee or gratis, without payment as a volunteer.
Tips:
1. Prepare a ½ dozen to 1 dozen eggs beforehand, in different stages to show the audience: dividing the egg, measuring out a design, the first waxing, second wax, etc.
2. Your audience will ask questions. Having display eggs you have made is valuable to answering questions, with an example in hand.
3. Have at least three eggs that are completely waxed and dyed, so that you can demonstrate taking off the wax with a cloth and candle. This breathtaking moment will speak louder than any explanation.
4. Have a display of eggs from ostrich to quail that makes for a great "hands on" and "show & tell".
5.   Show & Tell eggs are a great discussion focus for children. I always include a full goose egg that is not drained, to show difference in weight.
6. Set up the work station in an organized and attractive way.
7. Include cultural items to the display to emphasize tradition and ethnicity. ·
8. Include your name and business cards to the table.
9. Prepare some take-away activity for the pre-school child traveling with their parent.
10. Prepare a slide show in a digital frame. This photo shows a small space for the demonstration.

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Filtering Dyes

4/14/2015

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My favorite colors to use on each egg are yellow and orange. Ocassionally these colors can " sour or develop a gel called mother". To correct the problem, I filter the dye through a fine sieve-a knee high stocking (found at a dollar store). I prefer to strain the dye into a clean container. Next, I microwave the dye to boiling and add a fresh tablespoon of white vinegar, when cool. While heating up the filtered dye, I wash out it's holding container and dry it with a lint free paper towel such as Viva. Finally, pour the refreshed dye back into the correct container.

OCASSIONALLY A DYE, LIKE YELLOW or ORANGE CAN SOUR, OR DEVELOP A GEL CALLED "MOTHER"

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Submerging a Blown Egg in Dye

4/14/2015

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I have been teaching pysanky for several years now, and always used fresh unblown eggs in the classes. Ocassionally a student dropped an egg, that burst. This season I used emptied eggs. To help submerge the blown egg in the dye, use a mini half-pint water bottle. If you are working with a goose egg, you may need to add spoons to help to fully submerge the goose egg. Fill the water bottle only half-full when working on chicken eggs.

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Beginner Tip-How to Write Straight Lines

4/11/2015

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Once your pattern is measured onto the egg, it is time to start waxing the basic lines; these can often be long straight lines.
Try not to sketch short lines, but rotate the egg as your write.
Always write slowly.

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Gold & Silver Inks Video Clips

9/29/2014

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Thank You to Karen for the Demonstration and Videos!

SIMPLE SUPPLIES

Karen says the Silver from Karetake is too thick. Instead- Daler Rowney Pearlescent Silver or the Winsor and Newton Silver.

Shake Up the Bottles

Fill Up a "New" Manual Kistka

Writing on the Egg

When Finished, Clean the Kistka

AT THE END, KAREN BLOWS INTO THE KISTKA TO CLEAN OUT THE INK.

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Rebecca's Improvised Blas Fix

9/2/2014

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" When I needed a bunch, I made blass-fix style units for friends and family. I bought 1 oz. accordian squeeze bottles from Amazon, very cheaply. They are meant to refill computer ink and come with the screw-on blunt needles so it is simple to make a small hole in the center of the bottom. Look at the nails in the hardware store and they have the same size and tip style found on the blass drill. I hope this helps. Oh...my cost was about $2 each."

The bottle is not huge, only 1 ounce and easily fits even my small hands. At first use it seems a bit stiff but by the time my first dozen eggs were empty it is as easy to use as my well worn blass.

Look at the nails in the hardware store and they have the same size and tip style found on the blass drill.

My cost was about $2.00 each.

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Teacher Tip-Demo for Showing How to Add Patterns to the Egg Shell

7/24/2014

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I MADE A GIANT EGG FROM FLEXIBLE WHITE CARD, TO USE IN DEMONSTRATING HOW TO ADD A PATTERN TO EACH QUADRANT. IT IS LAMINATED, SO I USE A DRY MARKER FOR DRAWING.

I EXPLAIN TO THE CLASS THAT ADDING THE PATTERN ONTO THE EGG SHELL IS NOT "ROCKET SCIENCE"!
THE PATTERN IS REPEATED IN EACH QUADRANT.
Using a large demonstration egg is most helpful for the visual learner.

LOOK AT THE PHOTO OF ME ABOVE. I AM USING A DRY MARKER SHOWING HOW TO REPEAT THE PATTERN ONTO EACH QUADRANT. ASK IF ANYONE HAS ANY QUESTIONS!

THE "STAR PATTERN" IS USED IN THE BEGINNER CLASS. THIS IMAGE SHOWS ADDITIONAL LINES AND A MOTIF IS ADDED TO EACH QUADRANT.

A SIMPLE EXAMPLE TO ADD SMALL LINES AROUND THE STAR.

THIS STUDENT IS BEGINNING TO PLAN A PATTERN ONTO A WORKSHEET. SOME PEOPLE LIKE TO PLAN, OTHERS PREFER TO GO STRAIGHT ONTO THE SHELL.

beginner_worksheets.pdf
File Size:	7438 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

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Finishing Off an Egg at the End

7/24/2014

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photo #1 Removing the wax with a cut piece cloth, which hospital ORs throw away; these are good because they have a bite to the weave and pick up the wax.

#2 I remove any pencil line with a white eraser.

#3 Look at the white wolves teeth pattern-do you see some black bits? I scrape those away with a blade.

#4 You can see a red dot under the letter "e".
I used a black marker to cover it.

I use these pens to touch up colors on an egg. Staedtler 318 Lumocolor Pen Permanent Fine 0.6mm Assorted Ref 318WP8-buy at MICHAEL'S.

Yvonne's Tip: "Small uneven areas of the dye can sometimes be corrected with permanent markers. That the level of success can depend on the color in question, so experiment a little before doing it on your prize egg. Black markers are most useful (if your egg ends in black) for running around the white edge of the hole left behind after emptying the egg. " Thanks, Yvonne!(social media)

I scratched the star into the egg at the end; using a Fiskars finger blade.

FISKARS FINGER BLADE Look for it in the scrapbook section of Michaels.

Will I Varnish the goose egg? I might leave this as is-it already has a nice bees wax patina.

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Teacher Tip-Options for Removing Wax

5/4/2014

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There may be students who enjoy melting off the wax at the end of the process, while other would prefer another method. This post is for you, the teacher to decide what methods you will have available.

HEAT GUN

1 or 2 heat guns seems to work nicely. When students are ready to remove wax, send them to a table for a quick demonstration. The heat guns are nothing more than embossing tools that you can find in any paper crafting section of Michaels, Hobby Lobby, etc. Look for 50% off coupons to get a good deal.
Place the egg on a napkin in a small basket, and wipe it as the wax melts.
or lay the egg on a paper towel, cloth or tissue in a foil pie plate to absorb the wax.

CARDBOARD COFFEE HOLDERS can be most useful when removing wax with a hair dryer or heat gun. Line each section with a paper towel, coffee filter, etc., to absorb the wax.

Thanks to Tetyana Solotska for the photo and idea

HEAT GUN SET UP
I found this clever idea on social media. The teacher of this pysanky class in Japan is not allowed to use any candle power, no flames allowed, during class. Instead she mounts a heat gun and is able to have students remove wax safely.

You could instead of this mount, use a drying board to rest the egg on so your fingers don't get hot or damaged.

TOASTER OVEN
Pre-heat oven to 200-º or toaster oven
to 180 º
Place finished pysanky into a silicone muffin pan.
Time the eggs for 10 minutes, no longer.
The wax collects in the bottom, and when it cools, you can just pop the excess wax out!
You can also place a circle of paper toweling or a circle of coffee filter, in the bottom of each muffin space to absorb the wax (paper does not burn at low temperatures).
Finally, remove and wipe each pysanky with a clean soft tissue, if a lot of wax remains, repeat the process.

HAIR DRYER
What may be the safest way to remove wax when teaching children, is a simple hair dryer. When students are ready to remove wax, send them to a table with 1 0r 2 hair dryers, for a quick demonstration. Place the egg in a basket, on a coffee filter; the child may have a better control when removing wax.

ALCOHOL JEWELERS LAMP

Some recommend a small alcohol jewelers lamp. No soot and the adjustable flame is really low and hot. Safer than an open candle. It is also useful when working out doors in spite of any wind.

Tea lites don't get hot enough for heating a kistka or removing wax from the egg.

NO TAPERS! too long...

Use short stubs only, while writing and removing the wax.

CANDLES
Some classes provide candles for the students. Others ask the students to bring a candle and holder; inevitably, they bring a taper(too long) or tea lite(not hot enough). Be sure your students bring a candle stub.

Pure beeswax candles would be optimum, because it doesn't produce soot. But they are expensive.
Church Candles- churches may be generous and let you have their candle remnants. These are often a higher content of beeswax along with the paraffin wax, are a good size for manipulating the kistka and the egg; and they are slower burning.

This is like an old dish cloth.

When teaching I use candles to remove wax. But more important is that I give each person a cut piece of cloth that has some "bite" to it; like in the picture. I feel that paper towels, TP, only pushes the wax around and does not lift it, so wax is left behind on the egg.

SCORCHED EGG
For a scorched egg a bottle of Goo Gon and a q-tip can remove the mark. Try to demonstrate that the candle flame is adjacent to the egg; and the egg is not placed in the flame.

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Saving Dyes

5/4/2014

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A question was asked on social media:
Do you save your dyes from year to year or do you make new ones every year? if you store them, how do you recondition the colors?

IF YOU WRITE PYSANKY ALL YEAR LONG

Some people work on eggs all year long and continue to use the same batch of dyes. Always check to see that dyes are not moldy. Some people strain the mold from the dyes and then heat and reuse it. Tymothy wrote to me and said that he "save dyes more than 6 months. All dyes usual stay in cooling room year-around".
I prefer to mix up a new batch and am certain that the jars that I use are sterilized in the dishwasher. I never mix fresh dye powder into old dyes. There could be cross contaminants in the old dye. As a rule, if I am working for several hours on penciling in a design, I don't want my Pysanky to be ruined by weak dyes. So I make sure that all the dyes are strong. I see no need in saving dye from year to year. We work in an art where the dye product is so cheap. I also keep in stock those tried and true colors that I love using, so I have them when I need them.

"... your work will only be as good as the product you are using"

If you only write eggs a couple of times a year, mark the month/year on the jars when you mix them. Each time you use it, you may need to add 1 Tbsp. vinegar to recondition the dye .
Cyn says: "When I make new dyes I dump the old, scrub the jar in hot water and start again. I don't add new dye to old mainly because I work on duck eggs, which I think contaminate the dyes more than the chickens eggs do. I also have a theory that as the dye molecules come out of the dye, they do not do so evenly, so what is left is not quite the original color. I have seen this with greens that over time become blue. Also I think duck eggs pull a lot of dye out of the solution, further weakening the dye bath".

IF YOU TEACH CLASSES
I teach pysanky classes and so I make up new batches of basic colors at the start of the season. I use 2 packets of each color per jar + 1 Tbsp. of vinegar. My dye table for teaching consists of 2 jars of yellow(as there can be a backup on the yellows), orange, traditional red(UGS Scarlet+ UGS Red), turquoise, deep blue, purple, brick red and black. As people are beginning to learn the art, I want the colors to be vibrant for their eggs; and not have disappointed students.

ADDITIONAL ISSUES WITH DYES

BLUE DYES
Some blue dyes will not keep their original shades longer than a few weeks/months. You can still use, if you like the shade that it colors or mix a new packet of dye.
ORANGE / GOLD DYE

I have always had issues with oranges and gold. They tend to separate and congeal.
The best orange which I have settled with is TANGERINE, from pysankyusa.com
as it has no issues with the vinegar, and is a strong orange.

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<<Previous

Demonstrating Pysanky Writing

Filtering Dyes

Submerging a Blown Egg in Dye

Beginner Tip-How to Write Straight Lines

Gold & Silver Inks Video Clips

Rebecca's Improvised Blas Fix

Teacher Tip-Demo for Showing How to Add Patterns to the Egg Shell

Finishing Off an Egg at the End

Teacher Tip-Options for Removing Wax

Saving Dyes

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