Crafts Night: Pysanky Easter Eggs

Every other month I get together with some friends from my local Newcomers Club for a night of crafting.  Sometimes we just bring whatever current project we are working on, other times we all work on the same project.  Over the past two years we have tried scrapbooking, card making, home decor, jewelry making, and knitting. This week we decided to try our hand at Pysanky (Ukranian) Easter Eggs.  One of our group members has been making these every year for the past 5 years or so, so she had all the necessary supplies, and was able to instruct the rest of us.  

These are the ones my friend has made over the years.

Basically, you create a design on your egg using beeswax and a stylus, then put the egg in a light colored dye bath.  

K. is quite the artist!
She spent a long time putting very intricate designs on her egg.

The parts of the egg covered in wax will remain white.  After coming out of the dye, you add more wax designs, then put it in another color dye. You can repeat this process as much as you want, progressing from light to dark colors. 

Once you are finished, put the egg in a 200 degree oven for a few minutes to soften the wax, and wipe it off.

You end up with a beautiful multi-colored egg!  Here are the finished products:

Mine's the bright red one in the back.
I "egg-lifted" one of my friend's designs!

It was actually a lot easier that I thought it would be, but does require quite a bit of special equipment.  I would love to try it again though, now that I have a better sense of what I am doing!