Students tend to get carried away when writing pencil lines.  The look at a design, and feel they need to write it out completely on the egg in pencil.  Our job, as teachers, is to stop them doing this.

What should the pencil be used for writing?

It should be used for writing out a very basic “blueprint” of the design.

1. 1.The basic division.  I pre-write an “8” division on all my class eggs.  From this students can further divide the egg into a Barylka division, Sorokoklyn, or whatever the design they have chosen calls for.
   

2. 2.Basic outline of the major motifs.  Whether it is a ruzha, a vazon, a serpent, a goddess or whatever--a very basic outline in pencil is useful to get the scale and placement right.
   

What should the pencil NOT be used for writing?

Anything else.  Small details, wave bands, fringe, resheto, other decorative elements should be written in wax only.  All those excess pencil lines can be difficult to remove in the end, and can make the egg look “dirty.”

How should pencilled “mistakes” be removed?

NOT with the pencil eraser.  The pink erasers on most pencils leave pink residue and can scratch the surface of the egg.  I cut them off of all class pencils so students won’t be tempted.

White erasers do a better job, but I usually reserve them for the very end of the pysanka writing process, after wax removal, as they can also leave residue on the shell.  Saliva on a bit of paper towel works well, as does a bit of soapy water on a paper towel.

If eggs have a lot of pencil marks/smeared pencil visible after all the waxing i done on the white shell, I like to give the egg a quick clean. It is easier to do so on a bare shell than on a dyed one.