How to Decorate Easter Eggs Ukrainian Style!

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Jennifer Stern, contributor

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After I set up, I realized there were a few steps I had to do before I could start dipping those eggs.

Jen Stern

Here are my first two finished eggs. Although they don't look like the eggs pictured on the cover of the kit, I'm happy. The more you make, the better you'll get at it. (I'm just warming up!)

Jen Stern

This is the cover of the original kit we used to decorate eggs when I was a kid.

Jen Stern

After I set up, I realized there were a few steps I had to do before I could start dipping those eggs.

Photo: Jen Stern

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While I was waiting for the red dye to take, I snapped a couple of pictures of the girls. They came home from school and wanted to get into the action.

Abby loved helping me dip the eggs.

Anna didn't want any of her design to be white, so she dipped it in pink before she started working with the wax. You can pick any of the light colors and start with that (instead of white).

Anna patiently worked on her design.

After making my red flowers, I wanted to add some green leaves, so I dipped my red egg into the green dye. After 7 to 8 minutes, the transformation was complete.

If I had left my red egg in the green dye for a longer period of time (15 minutes or so), the egg would be a more vivid green color.

When you have run out of colors, the last step is to melt the wax off. Heat the surface of the egg with the flame of your candle and gently rub off the wax. Keep melting and rubbing until the colors are nice and crisp and there is a shiny clear "varnish" covering the egg. 

I was planning to photograph eggs that I had made when I was a teenager...I remember seeing them displayed in a glass dish last Easter. When I asked my mom for them, she informed me that they finally cracked and she had to throw them out. They lasted for more than 20 years before they broke (I wish I had thought to take a picture of them before.) I guess it's time for a new collection!

As the black wax melts away, the vivid colors of your design are revealed. It's surprising to see how they came out!

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How to Make an Egg Dish  

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Oeuf Couture: How to Dress an Easter Egg

Comments (3)

diyday writes: I wonder, why distilled water? Less impurities? Would boiling the water beforehand serve the same purpose?
Posted: 8:56 pm on May 9th

designerdiva writes: We hold an "Eggstravaganza" at my church each year, which include egg dying for the little ones, and pysanki egg decorating for the older crowd. I find decorating the eggs very relaxing.
To mimimize the eggs cracking, both while we work on it, and later, we always use organic eggs instead of the regular grocery store eggs. They typically have a thicker shell.
If you want to keep your egg for many years, you will need to rotate it periodically (monthly) until the insides dry up.
Posted: 3:50 pm on April 7th

marie99 writes: i started making these eggs when i was a child and as you haven't done them for many years.......my baba won awards for her eggs and embroidery.........those were the days
Posted: 12:29 am on April 2nd

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