Drawing on her Ukrainian roots, Cadott woman creates art to last a lifetime
Using a writing tool, beeswax is melted and drawn in a design over the surface of the egg.
Multiple dyes are layered atop the other, while the design builds after each dying.
Partially melted wax reveals the “magic” of creating a Ukrainian
Once the wax is melted and the design is revealed, the multi layers of colors blend together seamlessly.
After cooling, the egg is given a couple coats of varnish and left to dry, before the insides are blown out, which ensures the egg will not rot.
It’s a centuries old craft, passed down from generation to generation of Ukrainian women – the art of dying pysanky Easter eggs. For Marcy Najbrt of Cadott, the craft was taught to her from her grandmother and mother, when she was 12 years old, and she now creates her own designs in her rural home.
Marcy grew up in Michigan, but moved to Cadott, in 2018, to be with her husband, Keith Najbrt, whom she met online. Since then, Marcy has even more time to work on her eggs and Keith has even created a few, under her tutelage.
Marcy’s grandmother, Maria “Mary” (Mesliuc) Stanley, came from around the area of Bukovina in the Ukraine, emigrating to Michigan, in the early 1900s. Mary became a U.S. citizen in 1937, when she married Marcy’s grandfather, Mike Stanley, formerly Stolarchuck, who became a U.S citizen in 1935.
While she is not certain how far back the pysanky making goes in her family tree, Marcy is the fourth generation to create the delicate dyed eggs, as her great-grandmother was the one who taught Mary the art.
“Each region (in the Ukraine) has a different way that they make them,” said Marcy.
By using a writing process like a batik method, beeswax is drawn on the egg as “ink.”
“You can’t just use regular candle wax or anything, the dyes will bleed through it,” said Marcy.
In the “olden days,” people turned to nature for their dye colors, such as flowers, walnuts, roots and berries. While the natural dyes may be better than the chemical dyes used nowadays, for Marcy, she is fine with the modern dyes, because there are so many colors.
All her dyes and writing tool supplies come from a trusted company she has used for many years, the Ukrainian Gift Shop in Minneapolis, Minn.
To begin, Marcy lets the eggs get to room temperature, then cleans them with vinegar, but a soapy mixture can also be used. Once the egg is clean, Marcy starts her design drawing lines, by using a non-photo pencil.
“Basically, you get an idea of what you want to start writing,” said Marcy.
Using a writing tool that has a funnel on top that holds the wax, the tool is heated over a candle, then applied to the egg. The
Marcy Najbrt creates colorful designs in her Cadott home, as part of her heritage making Ukrainian Easter Eggs. Since she was 12 years old, Marcy has perfected her craft, as taught by her grandmother and mother. Easter egg.
wax appears like a thin ink on the surface of the egg and cools immediately when applied. Marcy then dips it in room temperature dye mixed with water and vinegar for a few minutes.
The dye job doesn’t always turn out how she planned, but Marcy just keeps going.
“Sometimes, I look at pictures and kind of get an idea, and then as I’m doing them, I totally change what I’m doing,” she said.
Marcy said it is a process of learning what colors to use together, as some colors do not turn out well when dipped over a previous dye.
“It’s always lightest to darkest,” said Marcy.
For a traditional Ukrainian Easter egg, she begins with yellow dye, moves on to green, with an orange wash in between, then red and finally, black. When people describe dipping their boiled eggs into hot water filled with dyes, Marcy’s reaction is surprise.
“Oh, that’s not what we grew up doing,” laughs Marcy.
Every Easter, Mary made pysanky eggs to put in Easter baskets, along with breads and meats, and would take them to church and bless them. Marcy’s grandmother still created eggs until she was almost 80 years old, walking around making the design, whereas Marcy has to sit at the table to draw the egg designs.
“It was so great, growing up,” said Marcy. “I’d come home from school and you could tell it was almost Eastertime – just the smell in the house of beeswax.”
Usually, Easter is the proper time to make the colorful eggs, but Marcy often makes three or four a week. She does sell them upon special request, but donates many of them for benefits and gives them to family members.
“It’s not the money for me,” said Marcy. “It’s something I love doing.”
Making the pysanky is not an expensive undertaking, as Marcy has much of the beeswax that belonged to her mom, Lillian, which lasts for years. Her writing tools are only about $5 and the dyes are only $1 each. Obviously, in the rural area they live, it’s easy for Marcy to find fresh chicken or duck eggs, which dye better that commercially raised eggs.
Using designs from the Trypilian region of the Ukraine, many of Marcy’s eggs bear more muted colors, but she also features many bright designs, as well as the traditional pieces. Included in the designs, are gnomes, deer, mermaids, flowers, birds, toadstools, butterflies, wheat, snowflakes and even a cow.
“I’ve done a lot of different things,” said Marcy, admitting she prefers to do her own designs. “I don’t have favorites.”
Based on the different designs and colors, each egg has a different meaning. For example, chickens and roosters are for fertility, wheat is for harvest and a straight line is for everlasting life. “When you’re writing an egg, you can actually be telling a story,” said Marcy. In olden times, Ukrainian women used a candle to melt the wax that essentially acted as a protective seal, to reveal the colorful design. Her mom and grandma stuck the eggs in the oven to melt the wax off to reveal the design, but Marcy has her own method. “I’ve learned over the years, that a blow dryer works great, so I use a blow dryer,” she said. Once the egg is cool, Marcy uses GooGone to clean any excess residue off, then gives the egg a couple coats of polyurethane. After that, she hollows out the egg with a corsage pin and ear syringe.
Marcy recalls the one time she worked 10 hours on one egg and it literally blew up in her face when she tried to remove the insides.
Now, she usually devotes only a couple hours on each egg, depending on the designs. In a way, she is breaking tradition, as Marcy’s grandmother, along many other women from the Ukraine, didn’t believe in hollowing out the egg.
“They thought it was evil to take out the insides,” said Marcy.
While the method is passed down from generation to generation, Marcy has yet to find a relative to impart the egg-dying skill to. She tried to teach her great-niece who lives in Michigan, but Marcy doesn’t think it’s something the teenager is interested in. Not all is lost, as Marcy babysits another great-niece weekly, and has hopes she will take it up when she’s a little older.
“Someone needs to learn,” said Marcy.
In addition to the eggs on display that she created when she was 16, and those her husband made, Marcy has some from her mother from around 1999, and others from her grandmother. If the Ukrainian eggs are properly taken care of and the insides are removed, Marcy said they are something that can be kept forever.
“They’ll last you a lifetime.”
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="243"]
Marcy Najbrt creates colorful designs in her Cadott home, as part of her heritage making Ukrainian Easter Eggs. Since she was 12 years old, Marcy has perfected her craft, as taught by her grandmother and mother. Photo by Ginna Young[/caption]
