UNDER CONSTRUCTION

There is a lot we can all learn from the traditional pysanka. If you look at the eggs in Manko's book, you will find a wealth of designs. The folks pysanky she shows are more modern ones, created in the late 20th century, but most are ancient designs copied from older pysanky in museum and private collections.  These pysanka patterns, passed on over generations, have been perfected, with unity of design and color and theme, in a way that few beginners (or even those of us who have been around a while) can do themselves.

Simplicity of design, no superfluity of colors, and unity of design and color are things we can all take away from the traditional pysanka. I find that, since I have been studying and copying them, my work has improved tremendously.  I only wish these sorts of resources had been available when I first began making pysanky, instead of only so much later on in my career.....

NOTE: Illustrations on this page are from Mytsyk and Fusyn’s “Pysanka” (pysanky from the Cherkasy region), and Kulzhynsky’s Descriptions of a Collection of Folk Pysanky (pysanky from the Poltava region shown below)

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