And now for something a bit different….this falls under my bucket list of scrolls. I had wanted to try Psyanky since I had seen a scrolled ostrich egg a few years back. The inspiration came from the recipient’s own heraldry which was an egg…how better than to give her one?
I understood the concept of Psyanky, and watched a TON of YouTube videos and bought two books. Then I purchased the egg and crafting supplies. I drew out by designs on graph paper first. Besides her egg heraldry, a large part of her service was through Troll; so I also drew a troll cross (or trollkors) which is not really an ancient symbol or rune, but thought to have come about this past century.
The egg’s shell was cleaned and stripped of its glossy coating, and I then drew cross lines and circles to aid in placement of the drawings, done with pencil lead until they were placed to my satisfaction. Bees wax and dying ensued, using a large gallon zippered plastic bag to swish around the egg and color (after first plugging the bottom hole). Half way through, I flushed the colors that weren’t covered by wax off in order to “restart” and prevent the colors from being too muddy – especially that of the main blue background.
Words were written using (quite anachronistically) a permanent Sharpie pen as period inks would not take and black dye would be a bit too transparent. One all was applied, the wax was melted off, some finger tips were singed, and the surface cleaned. The white remaining areas were then treated with miniatum and gold leaf. I chose such a modern size due to the porosity of the egg, the surface smoothness and the known stickiness and behavior of the miniatum. The last thing I wanted was for gesso to just pop off with time or handling. The bottom was sealed flat with wax, and the egg presented with a stand.
I confess to a great deal of enjoyment from trying Psyanky, and have purchased more accessories for further decorations. And possibly another award.
Philomene’s Scriptorium 