Pysanky

This year I finally broke down and purchased a pysanky kit online.

My friend Larissa used to invite me over to do this complicated egg decorating when I was a kid. But a much, much older kid than my kids are now. But I wanted wanted wanted to do this so badly, and I was sure that, with a little help, each kid could make some really cool eggs.

It was a long process. I used to think it was the dye that needed an hour to fix itself to the egg. The dyes actually worked fast - I found that five minutes in a dye could get it to hold. It's the process of applying wax to the egg that is so time consuming.

And it's longer with the boys. Why? Because of the fire.

Yes, fire. See, you light a candle and then heat up the little tool with the wax in it over the candle to soften it. My kids weren't sure what the flame was supposed to do. They kept trying to hold the little tool right at the end, which had just been in the flame. A couple of times they accidentally scribbled on the fingers holding the egg - with hot wax.

You may notice that there are only ten eggs in the bowl. See, these eggs were not hard boiled. You either do them raw or blow out the shells. I am not an expert in blowing out eggs, so I took my chances. (also, I thought it would be easier to get the eggs to stay in the dye if they were full of... egg.) I broke one halfway finished. Nate broke one he had finished and was so proud of he refused to put it down. And then he cried.

The kids made some pretty cool masterpieces. They worked with me, one at a time. They opted to do less designing and more scribbling. I did a few, also, so they could see what kinds of things you could do, but I am also not that good.

We finished up yesterday, when we also colored the dozens of eggs I hard-boiled with the friendly coloring kits. After the bright colors of the pysanky these all looked pastel. And after the scribbled designs on the pysanky, these all looked really boring.

The kids were proud of them, of course. And instead of 10 eggs in a week they made 30 eggs in ten minutes. I guess it's faster. But I think we're keeping the Ukranian egg decorating kit for next year. As the kids get older, they can really have fun with it.