Then the wax goes over the yellow…

This is an ostrich egg, which is huge, heavy and rough textured.

The traditional Ukrainian technique is called wax resist, like batik.

First I divide off the general divisions of the design in pencil.

The pencil will be wiped off when I remove the beeswax.

Then I put melted beeswax where I want the egg to be white.

Then it gets dipped in yellow dye.

When the color is intense enough, it gets taken out anad dried.

Then wax is put where I want it to stay yellow, then it goes into an orange dye bath.

This continues with darker and darker colors until it is done to my satisfaction.

When the beeswax is melted off and the egg cooled.

The next step is that it gets two coats of varnish.

Then I blow it with the smallest hole possible – yes just one!

It is a challenge! The last picture is after the first coat of varnish, drying on the drying board, which I made out of a piece of plywood and some finish nails.