Creating exotic eggs is an art to dye for
Utahns take a crack at East European tradition
The evidence of dye meant they were making the beautifully decorated Easter eggs that not only declared religious devotion but also sometimes sent secret messages to the outside world.
For 20 years, the practice was banned.
After the Berlin Wall came down, Americans like Ingrid Hersman of Kearns went back to Germany and Poland to teach the art of Pysanky to women whose grandmothers once made elaborate designs on hollow eggs — designs created by painstakingly applying wax to layers of color.
When the wax is melted away, the complete design appears.
Today, Hersman teaches classes on Pysanky, or the art of egg decorating.
"I came all the way from Berlin to teach you," Hersman told her students at an Emporium cooking class at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi recently.
"You have traditions. You have family. You work on eggs together. That's what this is about," she said.
Hersman said the world has always worshipped eggs because they represent new life and new opportunities.
"All life broke from a shell," she said. "The egg was a miracle."
Various regions have recognizable patterns on their eggs — from swirls, stripes, figures and flowers to stars, dots and phrases.
Straight lines on the eggs come from endless practice. Complicated designs come from planning, creativity and a kind of talent for thinking backwards.
"The wax seals the surface, each color is protected from the next," Hersman said. "When the wax melts, the design appears."
Hersman doesn't use boiled berries or bark or seeds for her dyes, but she doesn't use the popular Easter egg dyes, either.
"You want to use an aniline dye. They're expensive, but they give a deeper color, and they last as long as they're not touched," she said.
After an egg is finished, she varnishes it to preserve it.
She works on all sizes of eggs, from small quail and guinea fowl eggs to ostrich, goose and duck eggs.
"These are from my chickens," she said, showing off a dozen brown eggs.
Judith Hutak drove from Ogden to learn from Hersman.
"My heritage is Russian, and when I was little, I remember watching my grandmother do these. Of course, I didn't pay a lot of attention then," Hutak said. "I've wanted to learn to do this every year, and now's the year."
Debbie Tingey reads the story "Rechenkai Eggs" to her first-graders at Suncrest Elementary every Easter and wants to have some eggs she's made to take to school to show her class.
Recent comments
To DYE for? My oh my.
T_H_R_O | March 21, 2008 at 6:05 p.m.
The Communists were not worried about secret messages getting to...
Contrarian | March 21, 2008 at 2:33 p.m.
