You will need to get supplies ready

Making "Pysanky" or Ukrainian Easter eggs is fun but you'll need to act now (!) to get your supplies ready in time.

I haven't even finished with Christmas yet; I still want to post a few of the recipes and there's a box with a Santa and other Christmasy odds & ends which I've been tripping over and which I need to find a more permanent space for, and yet, already, it's time to think about Easter. That is, if you want to make these eggs.

I get my supplies from Baba's Beeswax which conveniently runs a booth in a local mall every year. But you, dear friends, can also order online and if you order now, all your supplies will arrive in plenty of time.

On the Baba's Beeswax website you'll see the more traditional, and beautiful Ukrainian designs. We make our own designs and as you can see, some of us are into more abstract stylings.



Now, traditionally, pysanky are made with blown out eggs, but in my opinion, blown out eggs+children=the kind of frustration which will make everyone cry and leave you sitting at a table alone wondering why you thought this would be a good idea.

I hard boil them, and even then, we've had some tears shed when an almost finished egg has cracked. Once, I was using a candle flame to remove the wax from one of Hugo's eggs - this is the last step and pretty fiddly and by then Hugo was losing patience with the whole thing - and the egg cracked in my hands. Ummmm. Oooops?



So, you hard boil them. Let them cool completely. And, learn from this mistake I've made several years in a row, after you've decorated them and have removed the wax and oooohed and aaaahed over how magical they turn out, put them safely into the egg carton and leave them on the counter. DO NOT put them in the fridge. If you put them in the fridge, and then take them out for your display at Easter breakfast/brunch/dinner or for your Easter basket, they will get condensation on them and the colors will start getting splotchy.



So just let them sit at room temperature.

These eggs are not for eating. They are just for decoration. We make a separate batch of eggs just dipped in plain dye for eating at our brunch. I do use the Baba's Beeswax dyes though and they're heavenly; the colors are so bright and strong, and they're food grade.



You need at least 3 eggs per person and about 3-4 hours for this activity, though some patient people will be able to do it longer. You can also store the mixed dyes in mason jars and so you can spread the activity out over several days. Some kids work very fast. Hugo can do a dozen eggs on his own in just a short time. Amelia is more the meticulous faberge style egg artist.

You need an open candle flame in order to melt the beeswax which is applied to the eggs so there is an element of danger (though hot beeswax is not hot enough to burn your fingers); adult supervision is necessary. Most kids 5 and over will be able to do this activity.

One final tip, from Roo: "Don't drink a really large cup of coffee just before starting some quality time painting eggs with your kids."

Let me know if you decide to make pysanky!