I know it’s not travel related.. or maybe it is, but I spent Sunday learning the Ukrainian art of creating Pysanka, the traditional Ukrainian Easter eggs…

 Setting Up

Cleaning Eggs with Vinegar

Well, painted is a misnomer anyway because the eggs are not really painted..They are created by drawing the designs with wax and then soaking them in dye.. It is called the “wax-resist” method or batik.  Some people just start with wax and draw the design but, as novices, we drew ours with a pencil first..

Then covered the penciled drawing with the wax using a stylus .. The cup of the stylus is filled with black wax and heated over a candle..

It takes a steady hand, which means I probably should not have had 3 cups of coffee before starting .. Then it is soaked in the dye for the 1st color.. starting with lighter colors first..

Areas of your egg that you want to remain that color are then waxed over before being soaked in a different color dye

And the process continues until you have finished with all the colors that you want to have on your pysanka egg.. the darkest, background color being left for last..

It is messy and time consuming but also a lot of fun.. it took me back to the days of decorating Easter eggs.. And I know I will try this again..

Happy Travels!!

Photos by me (Steven Liveoak) , Iryna Gashporenko and Elena Galay