How to Make Polish Pisanki Easter Eggs

1. Melt the Beeswax

   Child carefully melts pure beeswax in a small jar lid inside a larger jar lid over low heat on a heating element like a kitchen stove, hot plate, or candle warmer. Before being heated, the beeswax is a lovely golden color. Beeswax darkens as it's heated, which makes it easier to see your designs as you work.

   Tip

   Candle wax can't be used because it's too soft and wouldn't hold the design. Beeswax is available in many places, including craft stores and health food stores.

   

2. Make an Applicator

   In Poland, Child's grandmother used a twig pushed into the end of a pencil eraser to transfer melted beeswax to an egg to create pisanki. When she came to America, she improvised by sticking a straight pin into a pencil eraser. "I have heard my tool loosely referred to as a pisak," notes Child.

   Tip

   The size of the pinhead you use in the pencil determines the width of the wax line you create on the egg.

   

3. Apply Beeswax to the Egg

   Use the pencil to dip the head of the straight pin into the hot wax. Apply the wax immediately to the egg, rolling the egg to draw the desired line instead of moving the pin. This is known as the drop-pull method of Polish pisanki. The wax just rolls off the straight pin. "That's why a steady hand isn't as important as one might think," Child notes.

   Warning

   Eggs can be hard-cooked or blown, but they must be at room temperature, otherwise, the wax won't adhere to the shell.

   

4. Dye the Egg

   The egg is now ready to be dyed. Dip an egg into dye, and follow the directions as to how long it should sit in the bath. Pisanki dye may be stronger and more potent than typical food coloring.

   Child only applies the wax and color one time. More intricate designs can be achieved by waxing and dying an egg several times. For more complex designs, start layering waxes and dyes with light-color dyes, and then progress to the darkest colors.

   Tip

   The dye Child uses for her eggs is Ukrainian. It's available from online retailers specializing in pisanki egg kits.

   

5. Dry the Egg Before Removing Wax

   While the melted wax dries almost on contact with the egg, the egg must dry completely after being dipped in the dye. Child uses a drying rack made from a piece of plywood with a series of nails hammered in, but you can use a cookie cooling rack or even bottle caps to stand the eggs up while drying.

   

6. Reveal the Design

   Child removes the wax from her pisanki Easter eggs by holding the egg over a lit candle to melt it off. She then rubs it off with a soft cloth or paper towel, resulting in a shiny, beautiful egg.

   Tip

   Some pisanki egg makers dip their eggs in mineral spirits, which is a paint thinner, to remove the wax.

   

7. Finished Pisanki Eggs

   Child typically doesn't sell her eggs, unless it's for nonprofit cultural events, such as the Polish American Cultural Society of Northwest Indiana's fairs. Child says her grandmother would begin making pisanki on Ash Wednesday, and, by the time she was done, she would have decorated 40 to 50 dozen eggs.

   

More Pisanki Designs

Here are more examples of Child's one-dye pisanki eggs. She uses hard-cooked eggs and says they will keep forever as long as they're not cracked. "We have one my grandmother made 40 years ago that's in perfect condition. If you shake it, the remnants of the egg sound like a marble rolling around inside," Child says.