Ask me anything about pysanky

  Ask me anything about pysanky—tools, technique, tradition and more . . . .

Q. Is there a podcast relating to pysanky? 

A. Yes, listen to Joan Brander's Pysanka Power Podcast on your favourite app or here.

www.BabasBeeswax.com

#PanyaPysanka #AskMeAnything #JoanBrander #BabasBeeswax

Our Tuesday Tips for the kistka

What’s your style of learning? is it listening (we have a podcast), is it watching (we have a YouTube channel), is it doing (we have a tutorial), is it online (we have digital resources), or is it reading (we have unique publications). Learning pysanky is easy, fun and affordable. Continuing in our Troubleshooting series, here’s our Tuesday Tip for pysanky.

Put the tip of the kistka (i.e. the narrow end of the metal funnel) into the candle flame; that is, do not hold it “upside down” with the wide end of the funnel into the flame.

© Joan Brander

Our team has you covered. You can trust the experts at Baba’s Beeswax. Our Mission is to provide you with everything you need to make beautiful pysanky the traditional way from pysanky supplies and kits to workshops and books. Our Vision is to inspire and encourage beginners, experts, and anyone interested in Ukrainian egg decorating to discover the magic of one of the great traditions of all time—PYSANKY!

#BabasBeeswax.com #TuesdayTipsAndTroubleshooting #PysankySupplies

Our Tuesday Tips for eggs

What’s your style of learning? is it listening (we have a podcast), is it watching (we have a YouTube channel), is it doing (we have a tutorial), is it online (we have digital resources), or is it reading (we have unique publications). Learning pysanky is easy, fun and affordable. Continuing in our Troubleshooting series, here’s our Tuesday Tip for pysanky.

Today’s Tip is do not use eggs with noticeable flaws such as thin, bumpy or creased shells. Larger size eggs tend to have thinner shells. Hold eggs up to a light source to find hairline cracks and weak spots in the shell.

© Joan Brander

Our team has you covered. You can trust the experts at Baba’s Beeswax. Our Mission is to provide you with everything you need to make beautiful pysanky the traditional way from pysanky supplies and kits to workshops and books. Our Vision is to inspire and encourage beginners, experts, and anyone interested in Ukrainian egg decorating to discover the magic of one of the great traditions of all time—PYSANKY!

#BabasBeeswax.com #TuesdayTipsAndTroubleshooting #PysankySupplies

My First Pysanka — Symbols my baba taught me

See Joan Brander’s whimsical, inspirational, and cute designs on face masks, apparel (more than just T-shirt), gifts and novelty items for your home or office (greeting cards, mugs, etc.) in our My First Pysanka Collection.

© Joan Brander

#CafePress #pysanky #UkrainianEasterEgg #BabasBeeswax #JoanBrander

A Pysanka Poem Worth Sharing

Joan’s been up to her literary ramblings again. This cute rebus puzzle is from zazzle .ca.

#PysankyHumour

Friday Funnies

Hope your day is colourful. Today is Friday and who couldn’t use a little pysanka humour to start off the weekend with credit going to ©Maria Scrivan for this levity.

#PysankaHumour

Ask me anything about pysanky

 Ask me anything about pysanky—tools, technique, tradition and more . . . .

Q. Are empty eggshells better than full eggs?

A. Traditionally, only full eggs were used to write pysanky. Neither is better. See here for pros and cons for each.

© Joan Brander

#PanyaPysanka #AskMeAnything #JoanBrander #BabasBeeswax

Our Tuesday Tips for an alternative to varnish

What’s your style of learning? is it listening (we have a podcast), is it watching (we have a YouTube channel), is it doing (we have a tutorial), is it online (we have digital resources), or is it reading (we have unique publications). Learning pysanky is easy, fun and affordable. Continuing in our Troubleshooting series, here’s our Tuesday Tip for pysanky.

A light coating of vegetable oil on your finished pysanky will leave a subtle sheen without leaving a harmful environmental footprint that results from using a varnish.

© Joan Brander

Our team has you covered. You can trust the experts at Baba’s Beeswax. Our Mission is to provide you with everything you need to make beautiful pysanky the traditional way from pysanky supplies and kits to workshops and books. Our Vision is to inspire and encourage beginners, experts, and anyone interested in Ukrainian egg decorating to discover the magic of one of the great traditions of all time—PYSANKY!

#BabasBeeswax.com #TuesdayTipsAndTroubleshooting #PysankySupplies

Have some FUN, make a pysanka

See Joan Brander’s whimsical, inspirational, and cute designs on face masks, apparel (more than just T-shirt), gifts and novelty items for your home or office (greeting cards, mugs, etc.) in our Have some FUN, make a Pysanka Collection.

© Joan Brander

#CafePress #pysanky #UkrainianEasterEgg #BabasBeeswax #JoanBrander

Ask me anything about pysanky

Ask me anything about pysanky—tools, technique, tradition and more . . . .

Q. What is the traditional Ukrainian pysanka symbol for eternity?

A. Ribbons or meander.

 

© Joan Brander

#PanyaPysanka #AskMeAnything #JoanBrander #BabasBeeswax

Our Tuesday Tips for using a drying board

What’s your style of learning? is it listening (we have a podcast), is it watching (we have a YouTube channel), is it doing (we have a tutorial), is it online (we have digital resources), or is it reading (we have unique publications). Learning pysanky is easy, fun and affordable. Continuing in our Troubleshooting series, here’s our Tuesday Tip for pysanky.

Although the “candle method” of removing beeswax is popular, it can easily leave unsightly carbon on your pysanky. Instead, use the “oven method” with a drying board to remove beeswax.

Our team has you covered. You can trust the experts at Baba’s Beeswax. Our Mission is to provide you with everything you need to make beautiful pysanky the traditional way from pysanky supplies and kits to workshops and books. Our Vision is to inspire and encourage beginners, experts, and anyone interested in Ukrainian egg decorating to discover the magic of one of the great traditions of all time—PYSANKY!

#BabasBeeswax.com #TuesdayTipsAndTroubleshooting #PysankySupplies

Happy 30th Birthday

Today is the 30th birthday of Baba's Beeswax which was hatched in 1991. Celebrate this event and get a free gift. Contact us for details.

May the 4th be with you

 For some light-heartedness today, we only say this once a year.

Happy Easter to those who celebrate according to the Julian Calendar

The great gift of pysanky is hope. To write a pysanka is to believe in tomorrow. Wishing you a blessed Easter. May the promise of this day fill you with happiness, joy and love!

Unsightly pencil marks

Some lovely photos of beginners' pysanky on social media prompted me to offer this tip. I publish weekly “Tuesday Tips” on FB. This one brought to mind a troubleshooting opportunity.

"Today’s Tip is that if any residue of beeswax remains on your pysanka, wipe it off with a cotton ball or tissue of paint thinner or lighter fluid, try paint thinner or lighter fluid with discretion, using a q-tip, at any step of the dyeing process. “Paint thinner” or “lighter fluid” will also remove any unwanted pencil marks."

If you haven’t varnished your pysanky yet, it would benefit for this tip of using paint thinner (hardware store) or lighter fluid (I get mine at 7-11) to remove the pencil lines. The pencil lines do a great job of providing guidelines, but the downside is that it’s usually used on the white part of the egg, and will show up there. I use cotton pads (the type used for make-up from the drug store) or simply Kleenex. Surprisingly, it does not remove the dye. Just be very gentle with pressure.

ZOOM Let's Chat About Pysanky – The Last Step, Varnish

Because you asked about varnish:

During the pandemic, people with all levels of experience in pysanky engaged in free weekly ZOOM meetings sponsored by Baba’s Beeswax. The chats, moderated by pysanky expert Joan Brander, were informal in nature and educational in tone. Topics included such things as workshops overview, a show and tell, all about dyes, all about kistkas, more pysanky essentials, egg division, eggs in depth, pysanka symbols, pysanky in regions of Ukraine, the last step (varnish), and suggestions for subsequent weeks.

The climate was social and engaging, connections and friendships were formed, and free door prizes were awarded to celebrate 30 years of Baba’s Beeswax in business! 

Here’s the presentation from March 28: The Last Step – Varnish. 

Free ZOOM information

Nash Holos: Back to School?

Here's a post from Nash Holos that we'd like to share. It's never too early to think about back to school—virtually or physically. Nash Holos has skillfully partnered with educators as important decisions need to be made especially in these unusual times.

Nash Holos: Back to School?: Back in 2008 I thought it would be fun to create a quiz based on some of Ron Cahute's tunes that I aired on the show, from his language-...

And Baba's Beeswax would like to add pysanky to your cultural experience. Here’s a helpful YouTube step-by-step video.

But not only that—how about these teacher resources: see the Course Outline, Lesson Plan, Reading and/or Handouts, Free Activities and Printables for Kids, Access to Resources for Teachers, Students, and Parents, and Peer Review here https://www.babasbeeswax.com/TeacherGuide.htm.

There's so much to learn! Have a great summer.

Baba's Beeswax Appreciation Event

A big shout-out to our outstanding pysanky team, volunteers and spouses as Baba’s Beeswax honoured them for all their hard work and support with gifts, an east coast lobster feast, and a powerpoint celebrating our achievements. Isn’t that orange colour glorious? But first—Tom's "how to eat lobster" demonstration. What more can we say. The photos say it all and we hope you enjoy them.

Pysanka Power Podcast – Episode 6

If you're still sitting on the fence and not sure if writing pysanky is for you, or if the clock is just running out before Easter, Episode 6 of the Pysanka Power Podcast gives some other methods you can try. There's other types of Ukrainian decorated eggs in addition to pysanky.

As mentioned in an earlier blog, the Pysanka Power Podcast was launched in collaboration with Nash Holos Ukrainian Roots Radio.

Now you can listen to all Episodes on your favourite podcast platform. Here's a few of them, with more being added, and of course on our website and on Nash Holos! Just search "Pysanka Power Podcast"!

• Anchor - https://anchor.fm/joan-brander
• Breaker - https://www.breaker.audio/
• Pocketcasts - https://www.pocketcasts.com/
• itunes - https://www.apple.com/ca/itunes/podcasts/
• Radio Public - https://radiopublic.com/
• Google podcast - https://podcasts.google.com/about
• spotify - https://open.spotify.com/genre/podcasts-page

We're eggs-cited to launch this new initiative for 2019! Pysanka Power Podcast aired weekly on the Vancouver edition of Nash Holos and on internationally syndicated broadcasts to 20 countries around the world on AM, FM, shortwave and satellite radio.

Thanks for listening!

Saving the world one pysanka at a time . . . . ™

We'd love to get your feedback. Please comment below with your impressions, questions, and suggestions for future episodes.

Follow us:

https://www.facebook.com/BabasBeeswax/

https:/www.flickr.com/photos/iluvpysanky/albums

https://www.linkedin.com/company/baba-s-beeswax/

Pysanka Power Podcast - Episode 5

Listen to Episode 5 of the Pysanka Power Podcast to learn about the technique of using pencil guidelines for pysanky. Even the most experienced egg artists use pencil guidelines as a framework to maintain geometric balance.
You'll get how to's, pointers and troubleshooting problems and solutions in this segment.

As mentioned in an earlier blog, the Pysanka Power Podcast was launched in collaboration with Nash Holos Ukrainian Roots Radio.

Now you can listen to all Episodes on your favourite podcast platform. Here's a few of them, with more to be added, and of course on our website and on Nash Holos! Just search "Pysanka Power Podcast"!

• Anchor - https://anchor.fm/joan-brander
• Breaker - https://www.breaker.audio/
• Pocketcasts - https://www.pocketcasts.com/
• itunes - https://www.apple.com/ca/itunes/podcasts/
• Radio Public - https://radiopublic.com/
• Google podcast - https://podcasts.google.com/about
• spotify - https://open.spotify.com/genre/podcasts-page

We're eggs-cited to launch this new initiative for 2019! Pysanka Power Podcast airs weekly on the Vancouver edition of Nash Holos Saturdays at 6 pm on AM1320 CHMB or streamed online at www.am1320.com, and Wednesdays at 11 am on CHLY 101.7FM in Nanaimo or online at www.chly.ca. It also airs on the internationally syndicated edition which broadcasts to 20 countries around the world on AM, FM, shortwave and satellite radio.

If you miss the broadcast, you can catch the show at the Nash Holos website www.nashholos.com. You can also get the audio archives and transcripts of the Pysanka Power Podcast at our website BabasBeeswax.com.

Saving the world one pysanka at a time . . . . ™

We'd love to get your feedback. Please comment below with your impressions, questions, and suggestions for future episodes.

Follow us:

https://www.facebook.com/BabasBeeswax/

https:/www.flickr.com/photos/iluvpysanky/albums

https://www.linkedin.com/company/baba-s-beeswax/