Surma

 
 

Surma, a Ukrainian store in New York city which opened in 1918, has been selling packaged dyes since at least the 1950s.  They produced one of the earliest booklets on pysankarstvo (by Yara Surmach) and have been selling pysachky, beeswax and other supplies from their New York location, and by mail for many years.

After 98 years of business, Surma closed its doors permanently in June of 2016.  You may still come across their dyes now and again, so I am leaving this page up.

They had a nice selection of basic dyes, and lovely packaging; their color line was


Yellow

Orange

Bright Red

Pink

Green

Light Blue

Aquamarine

Dark Red

Dark Blue

Violet

Brown

Trypillian Brown

Black



Surma’s colors were similar to the UGS line with two significant exceptions:

  1. 1.The orange is not vinegar-free, but does turn gelatinous when the vinegar is added.  The resulting color is much more intense, but I don’t like gelatinous dyes.

  2. 2.The Violet is breathtakingly gorgeous.  It is the most beautiful, intense purple dye I have ever used, and I’ve stocked up on this one.  The UGS Purple is very blue; this Violet is not.


Surma over the years, with proprietors Myron Sr. and Markian Surmach:


























  Pysanka Dyes        UGS dyes



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