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[yuuago]

It's tired and I'm cold, so I'm just going to jot a few things down.

☆ I'm going to be learning to write pysanky this year - do traditional eggs using wax-resist method. Making the holes and blowing out the eggs is surprisingly easy if you have the right gadgets; I hope to have several ready when it gets closer to Easter. I know that my first tries won't look very nice, but that's okay. Doing it well will take practice, and if I don't like the results, it's easy enough to just toss them and try again next year.

☆ Fic rec: Folie finally finished the long VME casefic she has been working on for months, and it's SO GOOD. Read it here: Lest the Devil Close His Fist 20.6k of mystery, thriller, and a miracle that turns out to be... well... not quite. I think it's possible to understand and enjoy this one even if you haven't seen the canon, as long as you know the basic premise of Vatican Miracle Examiner. (VME in a nutshell: two priests from the Vatican travel around to various locations in order to test whether reported miracles are genuine. There, that's the canon, now you know enough to read the story. ;p )

☆ I think maybe the weather is making me exceptionally tired... It's starting to get lighter out, but ughhh, not fast enough. Winter will be over when? (At least two months more of it. Sigh.)

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

This might sound crazy, but I actually found a pysanky kit in a mall one day. It seems like the real deal: basically it's a wooden handle that holds a small metal funnel that the wax pours through. It also came with a bunch of wax, a map of areas where pysanky is practiced and their traditional patterns, as well as instructions on how to actually do it. It all looked believably authentic and well researched, surprisingly enough, for how cheap it was. I've used it and the results were better than expected (the decorated eggs looked very ... ancestral, somehow) but it's definitely a craft for steady hands if you wanna make it really Aesthetic. Mine aren't.

My family uses another traditional egg coloring method which involves small plant leaves, lots of onion peel, and pantyhose. Great results are almost guaranteed even for people who lack the dexterity required for pysanky. I can teach you if you're interested :D Learn ALL the traditions?

LK

[yuuago]

Oh really? Neat! That kit sounds a lot like the one I have - the tools are very simple. I expect my results won't be very Aesthetic at first either, but you never know~ xD

OH I've heard of the version with the leaves, yes! In Ukraine this type is called lystovky, I think. Are the pantyhose for keeping the leaves in place, or something else?
My issue with that one is that I don't know where I would get leaves for it - there are no plants until late May/early June. Though I guess one could use herbs from the grocery store maybe? :Va

[(Anonymous)]

Yep, the pantyhose is for keeping the leaves stuck to the egg while it boils and dyes.

Oh right, I keep forgetting Canada is an Actual Frozen Wasteland and you... don't get spring, exactly, like we have it. I'm not sure what you mean by herbs - potted fresh herbs will work. Refrigerated cuttings might work, though that's a bit iffy. This method relies on the leaves keeping their integrity in simmering and then hot water for a few hours and idk how that works with leaves that aren't entirely fresh. Hmpf. If you want to be really hardcore, you could try sprouting some plants yourself, there is some time for them to happen until Easter, if you can put them under a light for several hours a day.

You know, I've always imagined I would love to live in the extreme North, but the need to garden, plant and grow things is strong in this one. I've never considered how these clash before. I'd probably have the sickest greenhouse :D

LK

[yuuago]

*_* How neat! I was always wondering how that dying is done, because it seemed like something that you'd need more than just egg + leaf + onions for but I couldn't figure it out. Never would've guessed. Mystery solved.

The grocery store stuff I was thinking of is like.. fresh cuttings? But they don't sell the whole plant. I GUESS in this situation one must grow one's own. xD

I've always imagined I would love to live in the extreme North
Haaa, oh dear... xD Yeahhh gardening + north, not necessarily compatible, BUT. Greenhouses! Or, on a small-scale, starting seedlings off indoors at an early date and then planting them several months later when the outside is, uh, hospitable. It's something I want to try some day when I have room to do so. :Va

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, neat process, right? Somehow it doesn't lose its charm for me even though we do it every year. The leaf prints are so pretty! And it is impressive how strong of a dye onion is - thought you need a LOT of peels. My mom starts saving them months in advance :D You should start doing that, actually, they will work for pysanky too.

We start seedlings indoors here as well! In fact, that's what I'm gonna be doing for the better part of March. Bought some seeds today, and I need to gather the ones I already have around the house and figure out if I can/need to start any of them already. I get in this gardening frenzy at the beginning of spring :D *vibrates with anticipation*

LK

[yuuago]

HMM that's a good idea, and it would be a colour that doesn't come in the dyes... I definitely should consider that.

What kind of things are you going to be planting? o3o

[(Anonymous)]

I bought a "balcony mix" of flower seeds that looks promising, as well as some morning glory. I've been wanting to grow a green wall on my balcony to shield me from the dust, since i live in a very traffic-heavy and construction-heavy part of town, as well as from the light and heat (south-facing room). Not gonna rely on these exclusively though, I think I'll actually try to get pole beans to do most of the heavy lifting. Not sure how this will work but it's gonna be entertaining :) I try new plant experiments each year and for the most part they turn out well, maybe this is what's called a green thumb? (or just the south-facing balcony helps).

I also have various packs of saved and traded seed. Some basil, chilis, kale, and even more flowers iirc. There's probably more. I'll try to plant as many as possible on my balcony and seed-bomb various parts of town aand possibly even plant some out on public ground if I'm feeling gutsy enough (and grow pretty seedlings). You have NO IDEA how addictive this gets. I'm also helping my grandma plant her garden. She lives in a village and has a lot more space and I love it. I have to actually go to the market to buy seedlings for her and it's so nice, the sellers always give you some extra and it's such a good vibes situation :D

LK

[yuuago]

Sounds good! Those green walls always look pretty cool, if it's the same thing I'm thinking of.

Garden work does sound fun <3 I HOPE YOU WILL ENJOY IT

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks mate! Definitely will :)

LK

[dhampyresa]

You should take pictures of pysanky and show us!

[yuuago]

:D Sounds like a good idea. I'LL TRY