Bio-Lancaster Fainting, Saturday, April 15, 1995
'll
1 Ml
Mrs. Same’s fourth grade class works on pysanky. The students wear
cover their desks with newspaper while working on the project.
LORETTA GOLDEN
Cambria Co. Correspondent
JOHNSTOWN (Lancaster Co.)
It’s time to begin coloring Eas
ter eggs. A centuries-old craft
called pysanky is a wonderful
decoration for eggs.
Psanky are very fancy multi
colored eggs. It is a folk art that has
come from the countries of Eastern
Europe.
You will need adult supervision
with this project. It works best to
use hollow eggs. To do this, pierce
both ends of the egg with a hat pin
and insert this far enough into the
Maggl Brandle, toft, and Stephanie Greenwood, fourth
graders, prepare to place an egg into the Jar of yellow dye.
The small board with three nails that Stephanie is holding
keeps the hollow egg submerged in the dye.
ids A
Time To Color Easter Eggs
egg to pierce and stir up the yolk.
Blow into the narrow end and the
egg will exit trhough the wide end,
which has been enlarged slightly.
The inside of the shell should be
rinsed with a small amount of clear
water. Pat the egg dry with a clean
paper towel.
Now you are ready to begin app
lying a design. Before beginning,
make sure your hands are clean;
otherwise, you will leave smudges
on your egg.
Eggs should be at room temper
ature and placed in vinegar and
water to rinse the shell. The vine-
ihlrtsand
gar also prepares the shell to accept
the dye.
An easy way to divide the egg in
half is to place a rubber band
around the egg and trace around it
lightly with a pencil.
Use a an instrument that
resembles an old-time fountain
pen, to apply the wax. The tip of
the kistka is heated slightly and
beewswx is scooped into its reser
voir above its tip. Again heat the
kistka slightly and the beeswax
will be free flowing. Seal the holes
in the egg with the wax.
Anything drawn on the egg with
the kistka will remain white.
The egg is ready to go into it’s
first color of dye. This is the light
est color of the sequence you wish
to use.
Take the egg out of the dye and
pat dry with a clean paper towel.
Use the Idstka to fill in any
spaces, lines, designs, etc. whicy
you wish to remain yellow. Dye in
the next darker color. Now you
have some white and yellow pro
tected. Continue with the kistka
and dye. After the last color is
applied, dry the egg for at least 10
minutes. No moisture can be on the
egg for the last step.
At this point the egg looks rather
messy since the beeswax is an ugly
greenish-black color. It’s difficult
to imagine that this mass of wax is
about to be turned into a work of
art. The beeswax is removed by
heating the egg near the candle
flame and wiping off the wax with
clean tissues.
After the wax is removed, finish
the shell with shellac or varnish.
This protects the dye.
The symbols drawn on the eggs
mean different things. For
example:
• Ribbon—the usual decoration
around an egg means eternity.
• Dots or circles stars or
constellations.
• Nets Knowledge in
Christian times they symbolize
fishing fra* men.
ome&*
Taryn Lechak with her grandmother Susan Kerekes
works on psanky and checks designs during a class held In
Johnstown.
• Leaf of flower life or
growth; beauty and children.
• Pine needles suggest long
life and health.
• Deer and horses wealth and
prosperity.
• Birds fertility and fulfill
ment of wishes.
• Spider healing powers and
good fortune.
• Grapes sign of good
harvest.
Colors also have symbolic
significance.
• White purity
• Yellow moon and stars;
symbolizes successful harvest.
• Green spring; freshness.
• Blue sky, air, and good
health.
• Orange endurance and
ambition.
f
5 %f
WORD FIND
Dye; Pysanky; Kistka;
Egg; Symbol
C
• Red sun; happiness in life;
hope and passion.
• Brown coin of earth and
harvest
• Purple—color of royalty; rep
resents faith and trust.
• Black darkest time before
dawn.
Use some of the above symbols
to design and color the eggs below.
Egg No. 22
White
(Turn to Page Bit)
Easter,
I M
O B
E J