Decorating tradition

By VIRGINIA ROSS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
Jennie Losten steadily moves the small tool in her hand from wax to flame to canvas.
The 80-year-old Union Township woman says she's no artist. But members of the small crowd that gathered around her recently at the New Castle Library disagreed.
Losten, a New Castle native, uses melted beeswax and dye to create vibrant paintings on eggs.
Dozens of her Easter eggs are on display through April at the library.
Last week, Losten presented her first demonstration of the Ukrainian tradition known as Pysanky.
"I was a little bit nervous," she said later. "But I'm glad people are interested. If you look close at this, you'll see my lines aren't perfect. I'm not an artist. No two eggs are the same. But I guess that's what makes them special."
How she started: Losten said her parents, who were born in Eastern Europe, brought a simple form of the craft to the United States. Her dad used to put a straight pin in an eraser, put the tip of the pin in wax, which had been melted on the stove, and use the wax to make "chicken-scratch-like marks" on eggs.
"It was simple, nothing elaborate, nothing like this," she said. "But it was tradition. Eggs were decorated and given to wish someone a happy life, a good year, prosperity, fertility."
About 25 years ago Losten began taking a serious interest in the art and attended egg-decorating workshops.
"I never thought I'd get this far," she said. "But every year you do a little more and then a little more. Before you know it, you have a collection and you're giving them away. They're wonderful keepsakes. I started buying books to learn more. You learn as you go."
Losten's display at the library features dozens of eggs, including several goose eggs. They feature flowers, crosses, plants, ethnic designs and symbols. One egg has a humming bird.
"Sometimes I see things or sometimes people send me cards and I think the pictures would look nice on an egg, so that's what I do, I put them on the eggs," she said.
Losten said she seldom uses store-bought eggs, preferring to use eggs straight from the farm because their shells are tougher and not so easy to break.
How she does it: She uses a stylus to gather a small amount of wax, holds the tool over the candle flame to melt the wax and uses the wax to cover the pencil lines she draws as her pattern.
When the pattern lines are covered in wax, she dips the egg in permanent, non-edible dye. The portion of the eggs covered with the wax will not be subjected to the dye, so whatever color is beneath the design will remain.
Sometimes she draws over the natural color of the egg, other times she will dip the egg before waxing it.
When she's finished layering the egg, she holds it over the candleflame to melt the wax, then wipes the wax off with a cloth or paper towel.
When the eggs are dry, she pokes tiny holes on both ends, inserts a long needle inside to break up the yoke, then blows the egg out.
Losten said some crafters will boil their eggs, rather than hollow them, but if an egg cracks, it must be tossed because of the odor.
She works on several eggs at a time and said she's never timed herself, but knows some people spend up to 10 hours on one egg.
"It's all a layering process," she said. "It takes a lot of time and patience, but it's very relaxing and peaceful. And when you're done, you have a beautiful picture, a part of tradition."