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A colorful coop of eggs. Trusty Assistant's is at the top
of the bowl, with all phases of the day represented. |
Somehow, through our neighborhood network and social media, we were connected with a wonderful person who delivers locally grown, free range chicken eggs every week to our door. What a deal! Being from a variety of chickens, most of the eggs are brown but there are some occasional light blue and white ones mixed in. When a decent size and color egg would come along, I would set it aside for pysanky and soon I had quite an accumulation of small ovoid blank canvases. With no immediate projects needing completion, I broke out the kistkas, wax, and dyes and started working on some designs.
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I took the compass rose
design from the Settler's
game board I recently
created and replicated it. |
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An egg created for a fundraiser for
African Wild Dogs. |
I first learned about pysanky from my high-school Russian Language teacher, Ms. McIvor, as a way to integrate some Russian (or in this case Ukrainian) culture into our language lessons. Being also interested in art (later becoming on of my college degrees), I took to pysanky quickly and spent much free time making them in Ms. McIvor's classroom during lunch or other free periods. After a long hiatus during college and after, I ordered a
kit with dyes and kistkas and wax online after picking up a book called
Decorating Eggs by Jane Pollack from an art store in Portland. Since then, I've been intermittently creating eggs for gifts or as charitable donations for fund-raisers or just for the fun of it. Just recently, my
Trusty Assistant has also taken an interest and has produced some quick and spontaneous designs.
The last batch of creations was a fun mix of some new contemporary designs that I find more challenging and fun with some designs that lean towards more traditional. Some of my favorites are ones that utilize the negative space or, in the case of eggs, the natural brown and white of the shell. Another break from tradition has been a blending of Ukrainian design basics with Celtic themes. Since I can trace my heritage back to both cultures, I enjoy mixing the two. Since the project front has been somewhat quiet recently, I thought I would post some pictures of the fruits of one of my other hobbies.
