Ancient Eggs Remade - Traditional Dyed Talisman Eggs With Circuit Board Design

A friend recently took me to a workshop where I learned the traditional and intricate art of creating pysanky, Ukrainian dyed eggs. I also learned that wax-resist dyed eggs were made in slavic regions during pagan times, long before they were thought of as Easter eggs. This ancient art form was originally used to make talisman eggs and was considered an important and probably mystical skill. Traditionally, the eggs were written on with wax and then dyed in layers. They depicted symbols of fortune, fertility, health, etc., and were intrinsic to important life events and needs. Highly detailed patterns were passed down through families like secret and cherished recipes.

The process is pretty much the same today as it was in ancient times, but rather than the traditional patterns, I make my own designs, including the tech version I'm demonstrating here. My other modern update is sometimes using an electric wax writing tool, though I still use the traditional styluses and candles as well.

Ancient history (pre-400)

Washed, hollowed real egg, holes sealed

Pysanky, Ukrainian, or other intense egg dyes (these are not edible)

Vinegar

Beeswax, filtered

Kistka or other traditional stylus for melted wax

Candle

Paper towels

Paint thinner

Oil based varnish

Pencil

Something to weigh down your egg - I use pill bottles partly filled with water

First decide on a design for your egg. There are many traditional designs online and in books that come with patterns and instructions for the order of laying down wax and dyes, if you want. But I like to create my own. For this demo I wanted something high-tech, so I looked at computer circuit boards to plan my general design and colors. Traditional pysanky are very intricate, with a lot of line work and crosshatching, so I thought a circuit board motif would be very appropriate. I found these two circuit board photos online to use as reference.

Draw your design on your egg in pencil. Hard pencil is best. Your drawing doesn't need to be perfect or exact, though many people section their eggs into quadrants before starting. Symmetry is another hallmark of the ancient designs. You can go over lines as much as you want, the pencil will not show in the end. However, DO NOT ERASE any pencil marks. This will leave a residue and the dye won't take. If you really mess up, clean your egg with some dish soap and water.

The kistka is your writing tool. It has a well for wax with a tiny hole to let the wax through, mounted on a wooden handle. You can still buy this style, or a modern kistka, which can be made of other materials. It is also possible to buy an electric kistka, which stays hot without a candle.

The candle: This is your heat source for melting the wax. Any kind will do.

Beeswax is used for the resist. You can buy the natural color, but most people use black for the visibility while drawing.

(Kistka image is from Wikipedia)

To Begin: Melt a small amount of wax in the kistka bowl by heating the metal end in your candle. Then press the kistka tip or dip the kistka bowl into the solid wax to scoop up some wax. The wax will melt very fast. (There are special wax sticks for the electric kistka)

White Layer: Every time you apply (draw with) melted wax, the color showing will be protected and stay. Therefore, if you want any white on your finished egg, the white sections have to be covered by waxing the bare egg. On my egg I planned to have a few white nodes, so I dotted wax in those spots.

Wax all lines and shapes you want to remain white.

After your first layer of wax is applied and before you add any color, submerge your egg in pure white vinegar for about 15 seconds. Put your weight on top of the egg to keep it from floating up. You will see bubbles form on the egg.

Remove the egg and dry it. You will only do this once per egg, before adding dye.

You generally want to go from lightest to darkest colors. Decide on the first color you want to dye your egg. I wanted my circuitry lines to be light blue, so I submerged my entire egg in light blue dye. Every line drawn over the first color will be that color when the wax is removed.

Submerge your egg in your first dye color. Check the color periodically by lifting the egg up out of the dye with a spoon.

When the dye color is the intensity you want (anywhere from a couple of minutes to a half hour), remove the egg and gently pat dry with a paper towel.

(The yellow example egg is the base color for my fireworks design - more later)

Again, every line and shape drawn with wax will be this color when the wax is removed. Write over your pencil design with melted wax for everything that you want to be this first color. All of my light blue circuit lines are drawn over the light blue layer. It took a long time! I followed my design and improvised a little too.

You will wax and dye a new layer for every color you want. Here are some other examples with more colors than my circuit egg.

Note: Sometimes colors don't layer well. Unwaxed dye can be gently washed off in cold water and a drop of dish soap using a toothbrush. Rinse well and pat dry.

I wanted some of my lines to be green, but didn't want to wax and dye the entire egg, so I applied some dye directly to those areas with a paintbrush and reapplied until I got the color I wanted. You can do this for any colors and details you want, but it's best for small contained areas. Dab the excess dye with a towel to dry.

Then you can draw over the spot-dyed sections. I drew more circuit lines so some would be green when the wax came off.

When you've dyed and waxed all the layers in your design, you'll add the last color. This is usually the darkest color and the background. I wanted a dark computer blue, so I chose royal. I checked often and let the egg sit in the dye a long time to make sure there would be enough contrast in the blues.

This is so much fun! The wax removal is when you get to see what your artwork actually looks like.

The wax is removed with heat. Most people use their candle to melt the wax off the egg, but I use a craft heat gun. Candles can leave soot on your egg and take a lot more time - I guess I'm impatient. Either way, heat part of the egg until you see the wax get liquidy and then wipe the melted wax off with a paper towel. Continue until all the visible wax is off.

Note: Never hold your egg over the candle or it will get soot. Always hold it to the side of the flame.

(fireworks egg again :-)

To clean off the wax residue, put a little paint thinner on some paper towel or a rag. Very gently wipe the egg. The dye can still come off at this stage so don't scrub. Your egg will look a little dull, but that's okay.

Using nitril gloves, coat a very thin layer of oil-based varnish over your entire egg. I use a few toothpicks in some foam as a stand to dry my eggs. Let this coat dry completely and add one or more additional coats of varnish.

This tutorial gives you the basic information to create a simple 2-3 color design. Note that there are many techniques in addition to the ones I talked about here, and there are specific processes for dyeing with specific colors. Also, you can buy pre-emptied eggs or hollow them yourself. (I like to do them myself before dying and not waste the eggs). I imagine I'll have more pysanky tutorials down the road, but for now I hope you have fun with this one!