this weekend brought the spring equinox, ostara, and the fine tradition of ukrainian egg dyeing. it is a fabulous meditative process which i found i had precious little patience for. but oh well, i did the best i could anyway. it is kind of like batiking an egg. first you apply the wax by way of a kishka that you scoop the wax into and heat up over a candle- then you draw on the egg. then you dye the egg. then you add more wax and dye again in a slightly darker color- times infinity. then to get the wax off, you must hold the egg close to a candle flame (but not too close or you might scorch it) and melt the wax and wipe it off. this takes a long time. then, you poke a hole in each end of the egg with a needle and blow it out using a puffer tool or your mouth. this is challenging because if the hole is not just the right size the puffer tool will not work. and if you blow too hard the egg could break. my friends did a great job with their eggs. mine could have been better- but let's just say i save my patience for countless other painstaking tasks. and i am thankful to my friend for inviting me to participate in her yearly ukrainian egg dyeing ritual- because it's always good to convene with an egg- well, at least once a year.
egg waxing
egg dyeing
egg blowing
eggcellent
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