While the Easter season approaches, and since I know that there are many of you out there who are pulling your wax and dye out this (Holy) week, I'll take the opportunity to share another wedding gift pysanky egg I made a little while back. This was for another 2012 wedding, that of my sister-in-law, Mandy.
Mandy was married to her Australian sweetheart in Lake Placid, NY. The timing of the day was perfect: there was barely a cloud in the sky and the autumn foliage was visible across mountain ranges as far as the eye could see! Mandy had the fall theme incorporated into her big day, so I had an obvious palette of colors to draw from for my wedding gift to the happy couple.
The lovely bride (photos of the wedding by Tom Semerano):
Mandy selected purple to complement the fall colors – always a solid choice.
The wedding ceremony was in the sweetest little chapel! I loved it.
The design for this one came to me fairly easily, but it did take me some time to work out the combination of leaves.
As in the case of Suki's egg, the gift was not presented to them until well after their first… and second… anniversaries had come and gone. As one meager excuse, it is difficult to figure out how to present a couple with a fragile gift when they live in Australia!
I hope you eggers out there get to some pysanky during the Triduum, or maybe after, during the Easter season! I'm going to do my best to get some of my own done while the spirit is moving me (I am currently working on a commission, which is very exciting; but I always want to stay on top of the seasonal nature of this craft!)!
Thanks for looking!
Mary Anne Russo says
Beautiful Bride, Love the necklace she is wearing would love to know more about the necklace.
Cathy Naus says
Hi Deidre, What a beautiful pysanky! I love the maple and oak leaf motifs. Could you tell me the order of dyes that you used? Was it yellow, orange, red and purple? How did you get the white band around the leaves?
Deirdre says
Hi Cathy! Thank you!
Yes, that was the order of the dyes. I have to admit that I don’t remember, but I want to say that I washed the egg back to white before applying the purple. Just looking at it now, I think that the purple would have been darker and not as clear if I had put it on directly over the red. (Washing back is a technique I only discovered a few years ago – it feels like a huge cheat!)
The white band was accomplished by applying white as my first color to all the spaces that are white on the final egg. It is meticulous to do it this way, and it requires that your pencil drawing on the egg be very precise: you have to wax *around* the objects instead of defining the objects themselves, so you rely heavily on your sketch. It can be done other ways: I could have left the white spaces til the end and then washed or bleached back after all the other color was done. But I opted to start out with the white in the traditional manner.
I hope that helps!
Cathy Naus says
So the “washing back” is that done with a little bit of bleach in water? I have done that before but with mixed results so I don’t do it often… I want to copy your egg, can you tell;)
Becky g says
Ah, washing back! I was going to ask about this, as my later colors tend to be a bit muddy and I was wondering if I should try a different kind of dye (I got mine from Surma), or if they just need to sit in the dye longer (I had it in the final colors for hours…). Does a soap and water wash do the trick?
Cathy Naus says
I just got some colorama dyes (pysnakyusa) they are very vibrant and take quickly (ie some in seconds). I have not tried them with washing back yet but now I will.
Deirdre says
Cathy and Becky, I don’t wash back with any bleach. I just use water and gently scrub around tricky spots with a very soft toothbrush. I have also used Mrs. Meyers soap and that worked beautifully; I would think that most dish soaps would be fine as long as you rinse very thoroughly.
I’ve only ever used bleach as a very last step before removing wax.
I’m interested in colorama — I am going to be trying out some new dyes soon, as I’m not 100% happy with all the colors I have (I think mine are all UGGs)
Deirdre says
Oh, and Cathy, I didn’t pick up on the fact that you wanted to copy the egg… but I’m very flattered! 🙂
Cathy Naus says
Deirdre, I did not pick up on the fact that Colorama has a “fixing” powder that you can add to the dyes instead of or in addition to vinegar. I think that it makes the dye stronger and they take faster ie as little as 5-10 seconds! So don’t forget it… Even without the fixing powder (using just vinegar) they are much better than any other dyes I have tried. And so many colours!!
Thank you for your washing back tips:)
Jennifer Gregory Miller says
Yes! I recently discovered the washing back and what a difference it makes!
Katie says
I always love seeing your pysanky eggs! This one is beautiful! I am trying this for the first time this year. How do you deal with the yolks? Do you blow it out before or after, with or without the tool, or (I read this somewhere) do you just leave it in there and eventually it evaporates out (somehow I doubt without a smell)? How do you wipe off the extra wax at the end and do you put a polish on it? Thank you so much!
Deirdre says
Hi Katie!
Thank you for the compliments!
I do empty the eggs. I use the little yellow pump tool that’s available in basic Pysanky kits. I wash the eggs out by pumping a little water in and blowing them out again, and then let them dry thoroughly (days).
I remove the wax by holding the egg up to a flame and wiping the melted/melting wax away with a paper towel. This is a pretty safe maneuver although you have to be aware of the tip of the flame, which can scorch the eggshell! As long as you hold it to the side of the flame, you can get quite close and get the wax good and hot to wipe it away.
And then, yes, I put a polish on it. I am still searching for the perfect product, so I don’t have one to recommend strongly. But I’ve used “Baba’s Beeswax” varnish which is applied with a plastic baggie, and a spray on matte finish that’s just a generic crafting varnish.
Hope that helps!
Katie says
This helps tremendously! Thank you for the advice! Have a happy Easter!
Lisa G. says
The idea that anyone could draw like that even on PAPER is amazing to me. 😀 But I suddenly realized that your borders and leaves remind me so much of the late Trina Schart Hyman’s work, at least in St. George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges. Have you seen it? She would often use flora and fauna borders. You could do that – illustrate a children’s book!
Deirdre says
Lisa, this is one of the kindest compliments I’ve ever received on my artwork, if not the best — Trina Schart Hyman is basically my illustration idol!! Thank you so much!
I’m happy to say that I am starting out the process of illustrating a children’s book (a lovely Irish tale written by my dad), but I think it will be a long time in the works… 🙂
Lisa G. says
I wish you well with it!
Mrs. B. says
How lovely that you will have worked with both your parents – keep us updated!
I share Lisa’s admiration for your talent: you certainly know beauty!
Caitlin says
Yes, please keep us updated! I would buy that book immediately!
Deirdre says
Thanks, all! You’re so encouraging. 🙂
priest's wife (@byzcathwife) says
it is so beautiful- and also, a ‘late’ wedding present is a wonderful reminder to them of the excitement of those first days, which is important when we get used to the normality of marriage
Deirdre says
Thanks! I’ll look at it that way. 🙂
Gemma says
Woohoo, another Aussie/American couple over here in Oz! My husband and I are yet to meet another one over here but maybe one day we’ll bump into them somewhere and swap all our crazy meeting and immigration stories. The egg is beautiful! What a wonderful gift, so much thought and love put into it. I’m sure they will treasure it forever.
Deirdre says
Fun!
Stephanie says
Wow! What beautiful work you did! If you don’t mind sharing, how did you send the precious cargo on its long journey overseas? Was it shipped/mailed, or carried/delivered in person? I have family and friends overseas and find that a lot of my gift ideas/choices end up having to be influenced by how well the gift can make the transit over to them – I’d love to hear your insight form this experience. Thanks for sharing your wonderful work with us! 🙂
Deirdre says
Stephanie, I must admit that I waited until we were visiting with them so that I could give it to them in person and therefore give them the burden of getting it from point A to point B. I just made sure that it was in a package that would be hard to disrupt, and let them take it from there…
When it comes to packaging/mailing eggs, though, I do feel confident as long as there’s a good combination of “rigid/soft” — layers of soft around the egg, then a rigid box, then more soft, shock-absorbing layers, then another rigid box, etc.
Thank you for the kind comment!
Caitlin says
Just unbelievably gorgeous. Wow.
Mary Eileen says
I love seeing these eggs AND saying pysanky!
Jenny says
So gorgeous!
Leslie says
Hi. There is a wonderful and beautiful children’s book about pysanky that I stumbled upon I think you might like! It’s called P.zonka. Lays an egg by Julie Paschkis. Long time follower of the blog :).
Deirdre says
Thanks, Leslie! Sounds interesting!
Carly says
That is so beautiful, Deirdre!
Jennifer Gregory Miller says
Very beautiful! I love all your artwork!
Blair Arden Larson says
Mandy was one of my good friends from high school as was John! She was such a beautiful bride and what a beautiful tribute to her happy day!!