Ukrainian Pysanky Easter Eggs

Service Description

The workshop will begin with an overview of the origins of the pysanky craft, the legends and the traditional designs used on the eggs. People will begin drawing with pencil on the egg to make a simple basic design and then be instructed in how to use the kistka, or stylus, used to cover the egg before dipping it into the first color. Beeswax is used, the kistka being heated and the tips being dipped into the wax to melt it. The first color is usually the white lines of the basic egg and then each subsequent color is then covered with wax to preserve that specific design's color and shape. Wax is baked off at the end in a warm oven. Instructor Bio Jan Caruso is a semi-retired school psychologist who was an art minor in college. She is the daughter of two Ukrainian parents and grandparents. She was taught, at age 12, how to decorate the pysanky eggs by her maternal aunt. She grew up in Syracuse, NY and met her husband, Frank, at SUNY Oswego where they attended college. They moved to western MA in 1978, as newlyweds, so that Frank could attend law school and Jan could work on her Masters Degree.