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Archives - Winter 2005.
| Eggs As Art When an eggshell is a canvas ... by Lisa Price  After Anna Hancher passed away, the women of the family met at her house to go through her belongings, sifting through what to keep, what to give away, and what to discard. In one closet they found dozens of treasures, saved and set aside for them as if Anna knew they would someday be found by appreciative hearts.The treasures were dozens of egg cartons, which were filled with dozens of empty eggshells. "Whenever she bought eggs, she went through them to pick the ones with the best shells," said her daughter-in-law, Marie Hancher, Frackville. "And whenever she used eggs for cooking or baking, she took the time to blow the egg out, saving the shell."  If you see a woman at an area grocery store, opening carton after carton of eggs and rejecting those seemingly perfect, you’re probably witnessing step one of the Ukrainian art of creating decorated eggs, or Pysanky. The individual eggs are Pysanka.The art, most busily created just before Easter, has been handed down through generations of Ukrainian people for 5,000 years. To them, the eggs were a symbol of the resurrection and the promise of eternal life; before Christianity Pysanky symbolized new life in the springtime. "But Pysanky could be given at any time during the year—they were even put inside coffins to ward off evil spirits," said Donna Hancher, Marie’s daughter. "Each of the colors has its own meaning." The first eggs dyes were made from natural materials, such as onion peels and beets. The most significant color was yellow, which symbolized wheat, the major crop of the Ukrainian people. Their life revolved around the success of the wheat harvest. Purple symbolized royalty, red meant sun and happiness, blue was for the sky and good health, brown for the earth, white for purity and green for rebirth. Artists also use symbols such as the deer for prosperity, a bird for the coming of spring, a wavy line for eternal life and an eight-pointed star for the sun. The term Pysanky is derived from Pysaty, which means "to write," which sums up how the art is created on the egg. Although a basic Pysanka can be created in about an hour, the more detailed and colorful designs require hours of effort. One night in January, Donna and her three girls, Maria, 12, Nadya, 9, and Anya, 7, gathered at Marie’s house to make Pysanky. Marie and Donna, who have taught classes in the ancient art, explained the process as the girls’ concentrated, their heads bent over the eggs. Before or after the work is done, the egg is emptied. By making small holes at either end, the insides of a raw egg can be blown out. The holes must be sealed with beeswax, and the egg shells must be at room temperature before the egg is decorated. Some Pysanky makers prefer to empty the egg after decorating, so that the egg’s weight makes it easier to keep it submerged in the dye. The girls’ eggs were pre-emptied. They sealed the holes with beeswax and then placed the eggs on a piece of tissue paper on the table. Using pencils, they carefully and lightly drew the basic design. Meanwhile, they each heated a kistka, or writing tool, in the flame of a candle. When the kistkas were hot, the girls scooped a small amount of beeswax into the funnel located over the point of the tool. They wrote in wax over their careful pencil lines, stopping to reheat or replenish the kistka as necessary. It’s like art done backwards—the beeswax lines will remain white when the egg is dipped into its first color dye. Then step by step, working from white and yellow to the darker colors, such as red and purple, beeswax lines are drawn and the egg is dipped in dye. "The Ukrainians were farmers, and for them the eggs symbolized new beginnings," Donna Hancher said. She runs a store, Uniquely Ukrainian, from her Frackville home. "They were often given as gifts—to a farmer to bring good luck to the harvest, or to someone who was ill, to bring good health." The basic technique, writing with melted wax, remains unchanged, although the implements have modernized. Instead of the kistka, Pysanky makers can use an electric tool which remains at a constant temperature. "I might have been eight or nine years old when my mother and father taught me," Marie Hancher said. "We used to melt wax on a stove, and use a straight pin to apply it to the egg." After all the designs and dyes are applied, including the final background color, the egg looks like a dark blob. Underneath, its design is hidden by the succession of dyes, until the egg is heated to remove the wax. "That’s when the magic happens," Marie Hancher said. "When you see the colors come to life, and see the design appear." She held her completed egg alongside a candle flame, heating the wax and wiping it away with a clean cloth, doing a portion at a time. Around the table, her daughter and granddaughters worked on their own eggs, in various stages of design. "Or maybe this is the best part," she said quietly, looking around the table at the generations of faces, bent to their work and softly glowing in the candlelight. "When your family is together, keeping the old customs alive. |
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