I’ve taken you through the basic steps of pysanky… from white egg to wax covered, multi-colored egg. The last dye was black. There is no need to cover the black since you are done!
Congratulations!
Now comes the fun part!
I’ve said that… now I’m going to retract it! If you are going to blow your egg, leaving just the shell… we need to do that next. I have left the white and yolk inside in the past… eventually it dries up (usually) and traditionally, that’s how it was done. But I did have one explode and it was nasty! So, now I blow the guts out of the egg! It’s easy too, but not so fun! If you don’t want to “blow” it, skip this next part.
Choose if you are going to hang your egg for decoration, or set it on a stand, and choose that end to drill so the yolk can escape. I’m planning on hanging this egg.
Using my dremel tool, I gently drill through the egg. If you don’t have a drill, use a pushpin to puncture the end, eventually getting a hole about this size. It doesn’t look like you’ve drilled all the way through, but that is just the membrane holding the yolk inside. Before doing this, if there are areas uncovered by wax, you may want to cover it with wax, egg white and yolk will smear the dye and mess up your pretty egg.
I have this handy dandy little egg blower. This item lets me just drill one hole. I used to pick out a hole on each end and blow through the egg. That works. This is just better! Use your pushpin to break the membrane. Insert egg blower and blow!
This is slimy, but not bad. Blow your egg into a bowl and throw it away… the dye makes the egg yolk inedible. Alternately blowing and letting some white escape is the best technique. You will have to “break” your yolk inside too, so it can come out of the hole. Wipe off the end of your egg when all the insides are outside… and wash your blower thoroughly.
I then place the egg on some upright wire on my “egg board” a friend made me. There’s a tad bit of egg guts bubbling out the end, I’m not too concerned about that. Anything to hold the egg in place will work… even a heavy wire stabbed into half a potato would work! Get creative! My oven is set to 225 degrees. Place it in there and wait 2 or 3 minutes.
Grab a paper towel, the warm egg, (don’t burn yourself) and wipe away the beeswax! Wow! Look at the difference! You may need to return it to the oven a few times before all the wax can be wiped away. This is where the ooh and aah noises appear! Then, before you want to show all your friends, put it back in the oven and let it set and “bake” in there for 10 or 15 minutes. This will dry out and cook any egg white left behind.
Then enjoy.
All the gorgeous colors come through. Even that green turned out OK. Glue a finding on the top if you want to hang your egg, or use some candle stick’em to hold it in an egg base.
I like my fishies!
Add it to your collection, until you decide to give it away! Many Native Americans believe you should give your first creations away in order to bring blessings on the ones that will follow… and I have given many many of these away, keeping only a few of what I’ve made through the years. I used to cover these with a clear polyurethane, but they have yellowed since and so I just leave them as they are.
And remember if someone drops one… it is just an egg, a smidge of dye, and some time. You can always make another! That’s the fun of pysanky!
