Pysanka
On April 21st Millie Butler came to Mrs. Dean's third grade class to teach the art of pysanka also known as Ukrainian Easter eggs. Pysanka is a decorated egg created by written wax batik method utilizing traditional folk motifs and designs. Designs are "written" in hot wax with a stylus or a pin head.
The first thing the students did was lightly sketch a design on an egg. After sketching the design, a tool called a stylus, or kistka, was used to scoop beeswax (the kiska has a little metal funnel on it that you heat in a candle flame.) The beeswax goes in the wide end and the skinny end is used to "draw" wax over the pencil designs. After the designs are waxed, the egg is dyed. Students were able to use one to three colors, in Ukrainian pysanka the egg is dyed multiple times with wax covering designs in each color. Finally the wax is heated over the candle flame and wiped off leaving the design on the egg.
A huge thank you to Mrs. Butler for teaching the students pysanka, they really enjoyed the day.