I took this photo at the Pysanky USA Retreat (2016) someone had cleverly made their own alcohol burner. As always, when using a flame and flammatory liquids extra care is critical!
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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.  EMBOSSING GUN
 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.
 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.
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.
 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.
I met a woman who uses an alcohol lamp that runs on denatured alcohol because it does not smoke or leave an ugly smoke smudge on the pysanka when taking off the wax. I still prefer to remove the wax by hand (with a lighted candle and now I can use the alcohol lamp), as many others use a heat gun or microwave oven. The lamp was cheap, I bought four on amazon.com and the denatured alcohol was cheap too. Oh, and if you are working outdoors, the wind will not blow out the flame!  |
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