Ukrainian Egg Dying part 1

Ukrainian egg dying is a wax resist method for dying artistic eggs.  An intricate pattern or design is created by drawing on the egg shells with wax using a tool called a kiska.  You then dip the egg in dyes, covering the sections you want to remain those colors as you go.  I have traditionally done Ukrainian Egg dying every year as part of my pre-Easter activities.  This year is the first year I have done it as an adult in my own home.  In the past, I have dyed raw eggs that were unblown.  Once they are colored, you can let the insides dry slowly and after about a year they are completely dry.  Since I was not sure I could keep raw eggs either in our current apartment, or through our upcoming moves without breaking them, I decided to blow the eggs out first.  I used a single hole method, drilling a small hole in the egg shell and then blowing all the insides out before rinsing thoroughly. 

Out of the dozen eggs I started with, I only lost two in the process.  They popped when I inserted the pump.  They dyes are made by mixing powdered pigment with boiling water and vinegar.  I set up nine different colors.

I dyed eight of the eggs, and my mother dyed two, so I thought I would share a few photos each day this week until Easter.  Call it Holy Egg Week.
The first egg I want to share was one I wanted to imitate a vase I saw.  It was white with a blue floral print on it.

Here is a close up of my favorite flower from this egg.

This flower inspired me to try a more structured version of this egg.  I created a herringbone pattern to divide four panels in which I depicted a few flowers like the one above.  Here is is during the process, after I had put on the wax but before I put the egg in the dye.

You can see how challenging it was to get the whole panel evenly colored so it would turn out white.  here is the final result.

Check back tomorrow to see some more eggs.
What are your pre-Easter traditions?