Ukrainian Egg Dyeing – A Family Tradition

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By Doris Faltys

SCJ alliance logoI remember as a child looking into the cabinet at the eggs sent by relatives from the Czech Republic. Elaborately decorated, I knew they were real eggs but I could not imagine how they had been painted.  The designs were fine and intricate; the colors vibrant.  Nothing like the eggs my sisters and I decorated using the wax crayon and the colors from the little tablets that fizz.  In my family we called them Czech eggs.

wax egg dyeing
The materials used to make the eggs are displayed.

Not long after college, I visited my extended family in the Czech Republic. I returned from that trip with a a corn husk doll that carries, on her back, an egg decorated with complicated geometric designs. The designs, though not as colorful, reminded me of the eggs in that cabinet.

A number of years later, looking for holiday crafts for the family, I was excited to find the Luba’s Ukrainian Easter Egg Decorating Kit. (I ordered this product online.)  The eggs pictured on the kit cover were similar to the ones from my childhood.

Ukrainian egg dyeing quickly became an Easter tradition for our family. For almost fourteen years, my family has gathered around the studio table, with the candles lit, and the honey smell of melting beeswax perfuming the air.

The dyes are not food safe, which may account for the strong color they produce. The suggested patterns are very complicated and so far we can only say we sometimes attempt to follow a pattern. We have not been able to actually create an exact replica. Despite that, our eggs still turn out beautifully creative.

wax egg dyeing
My husband, Barrett, and son, Rio, work on eggs.

At our house, we start with raw eggs – chicken, duck, or goose. Duck eggs can be found at the Olympia Food Co-op and sometimes a few weeks before Easter, goose eggs can be found there as well. We do not blow out our eggs. Once the dyeing is complete, we varnish the eggs which helps preserve the creation. We save our eggs to use each year for holiday decorations. We still have some of the eggs created that first year.

I am often asked about the shelf life of a raw egg.  A friend, who grew up in Lithuania, had eggs decorated by her mother that were over twenty years old. They were left raw and had never been varnished. The yolks had dried to a hard ball that rattled inside when shaken.

The kits include the directions, pattern ideas, dye packets, kistka, (the tool used to melt and apply wax), and beeswax. The dye process shades from lightest color to darkest color. The first step is to cover the part of the egg that is to remain white with melted wax. The egg then goes into the yellow dye. Next, the part of the egg that is to remain yellow is covered with melted wax. This is repeated with each darker color. The darkest color is black.

After going through all the colors, the egg is practically covered in wax and looks dark and lumpy.

wax egg deying
At this point, the wax is melted off the egg.

The final step is to hold the egg over a flame, slowly melting off all the wax.  This does take some time, heating and wiping always careful not to drop the egg.

My husband, Barrett, never uses a pattern. “It is very relaxing,” he shares.  “My designs are random scribbling on the shell. I never know what I am going to get.  It is kind of magical as the wax is removed and the colors are revealed.”

We frequently invite friends to join an egg dyeing party. The process does take some patience. Young children sometimes make solid colored eggs rather than decorated ones or use a Q-tip as an applicator instead of the kistka. Looking at our basket of eggs from years past, the solid colored eggs make a welcome addition to the presentation.

My 17-year-old son, Rio, asks this morning how long I am going to keep the egg decorating set up.  I tell him it will be set up for a few weeks and that he has plenty of time to invite some friends over if he wants.

wax egg dyeing
A finished egg is on display.

When asked what he likes about Ukrainian egg dyeing he responds, “With the wax, it’s an interesting and new way for me to process art. Everyone perceives art as paper, pen, paint, graphite, not wax.”

If trying for a complicated pattern, it can take over an hour for one egg. But, around a table of good friends or family, with lively conversation, a cup of tea or glass of wine, the flickering candle flame, and that honey smell in the air… It is kind of magical.

Author’s Note: When I was a child the Czech Republic was called Czechoslovakia. Later when I visited my relatives, it was the Czechoslovakian Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1906, when my grandfather came to America, he left the Bohemian area of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which is now the Czech Republic.

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