Craft stained glass windows from melted crayons

      Remember melting crayons to create beautiful stained glass window art when you were a kid? My Sunday School teacher did this in class with us many years ago. We would shave crayons with small hand-held pencil sharpeners onto white tissue paper. Then our teachers would carefully cover our tissue and shavings with wax paper and carry the layers over to an ironing board and melt them by rubbing a hot iron over the surface of the wax paper. 

      You can actually achieve the same melted effect by using a hair dryer if you wish. I also remove the wax paper after it has cooled. This only takes seconds to accomplish and then all you need to do is cut a black template from construction paper in order to frame your melted master piece.

      This craft needs adult supervision and patience. I've used some stained glass window frames for me teaching samples that are a bit complex. Design stencils for window frames that are simpler if your students are younger.  Have the children cut out the frames before shaving and melting crayons.

Above you can see that a small hand-held pencil sharpener is quite adequate for shaving crayons. Remove the paper first and don't use too many dark colors for your mix, otherwise, the results can turn a bit muddy. I used the original cut templates for my teacher's sample so that I wouldn't need to cut my stencils twice. After this I then created a template from the sample that could be printed out in black and white so that my students only needed to cut out the center of the design.

Just left, you can see the stained glass window taped onto an actual window. The colors a very brilliant. I have limited my color choices to reds, oranges and yellows in order to emphasize a monochromatic palette. You may wish to teach students about color mixing or the color wheel during this lesson by requiring young students shave together particular color combinations.

More Examples of Melted Crayon Crafts:

• Wax Paper Sun Catchers for Kids
• Melted Crayon Eggs
• Color a Heart Shaped Crayon Design

More Stained Glass Easter Window Coloring:

• Crucifixion window from Chartres Cathedral
• The Last Supper Window at Chartres Cathedral
• Jesus washes the feet of his disciples...

Heavenly Ways to Color Easter Eggs

Egg coloring and dying process reminds me
of the views of heaven brought back by NASA
James Webb Space Telescope!

       These "heavenly" looking Easter eggs were colored by combining two traditional techniques. 

1. First, you will need to hard boil white eggs on the stove top. While the eggs are still hot, use tongs to remove them and set them inside of a paper egg carton cup. The crayons may be either rubbed directly onto the hot surfaces of the egg or these may be shredded using a pencil sharpener and sprinkled onto the eggs to melt down the sides. 
2.  The hotter the egg surface, the brighter and bolder the crayons will look. 
3. Next, it is very important after these first two steps to let the eggs cool down completely before dying them.
4. Prepare the food dyes by boiling hot water and adding 1 cup of water to a heavy mug along with a Tablespoon of white vinegar and four to five drops of food coloring for each mug. 
5. Then stir each color with a spoon and allow the dyes to cool completely before soaking the eggs in them. Often times when dying eggs the food color mixture is warmish, however, if you where to dip the crayon covered eggs in a hot to warm food dye at this point, most of the crayon color would melt off with the soft wax covering.
6. The food dye colors will naturally attach themselves to the parts of the egg where there is no wax pigment.
   

21 Additional Helpful Hints for Painting and Dying Easter Eggs:

1. Eggs at room temperature are easier to dye.
2. Soaking empty egg shells in a vinegar and water solution will loosen the inside membrane so that it may be removed easily.
3. You can rub the surface of a dyed Easter egg with vegetable oil in order to intensify the color.
4. You can paint the surface of a hollow egg with any type of paint, but most folk artists prefer dyes, inks or acrylic paints.
5. Designs 'in the round' are considered more aesthetic because the egg itself is round.
6. Although American crafters have a preference for pastel colored eggs, the bold colors of the European/Asian folk artists are the oldest and the most traditional.
7. Vinegar kills most molds, bacterias, germs etc. associated with eggs.
8. Hard-cooked eggs minimizes cracking when dying edible varieties for Easter. Bring the water to a boil, then turn of the burner and allow the eggs to sit in very hot water for 12 to 18 minutes, longer if the eggs are larger.
9. Fresh eggs are difficult to peal.
10. Hard-cooked eggs are edible when refrigerated up to one week, if you leave them in the shell.
11. If you remove the shell from a hard-cooked egg, eat it immediately.
12. Eggs left in their shells are not microwavable.
13. You can not cook an egg in it's shell if you try to do so above 10,000 feet. If you live in the mountains, you will need to blow out the contents of the egg before dying or painting them for Easter!
14. If you should decide to craft with plastic eggs, it is best to lightly sand these before applying glue. The unaltered plastic surface is very difficult to adhere many objects to.
15. Always seal surfaces of wooden or plastic painted eggs with acrylic varnish or Mod Podge in order to preserve your work.
16. Real hollow eggs that are either hand-painted or carved are considered more collectable because of their fragility. 
17. Some antique metal eggs with original paint are also highly sought after by collectors.
18. Silk dyed eggs must be dyed in an enamel pot that you have no plans for using for any other cooking purposes. This is because silk dyes are toxic and these dyes also interact with metals in unpredictable ways. You can find enamel pots in resale stores or Goodwill outlets. These were very popular during the early 1900's.
19. To achieve dark colors on your eggs, simply leave them in dying solutions longer. 
20. You don't need to purchase little kits to dye your eggs. You can mix your own egg dye with one cup of boiling water, a tablespoon of white vinegar and a little food color. 
21. Dye your Easter eggs in deep mugs so that the eggs may be submerged completely for a uniform dyed surface.

 Spring by Anne K. Alexander
Early in the morning
When the sky is still and gray,
The robin perches on a tree
And sings a roundelay.

History of Pysanky From The Ukraine

      A pysanka (Ukrainian: писанка, plural: pysanky) is a Ukrainian Easter egg, decorated using a wax-resist (batik) method. The word comes from the verb pysaty, "to write", as the designs are not painted on, but written with beeswax. The word pysanka refers specifically to an egg decorated with traditional Ukrainian folk designs, and is not a generic term for any egg decorated using wax resist.

      Many other eastern European ethnic groups decorate eggs using wax resist for Easter. These include the Belarusians (пісанка, pisanka), Bulgarians (писано яйце, pisano yaytse), Croats (pisanica), Czechs (kraslice), Hungarians (hímestojás), Lithuanians (margutis), Poles (pisanka), Romanians (ouă vopsite, incondeiate or impistrite), Serbs (pisanica), Slovaks (kraslica), Slovenes (pisanica, pirhi or remenke) and Sorbs (jejka pisać).

Easter egg from Romania. Note the mostly white Pysanky in the
front, "Similarly, it is appropriate to give young people pysanky
 with white as the predominant color because their
 life is still a blank page."

      The art of the decorated egg in Ukraine, or the pysanka, probably dates back to ancient times. No actual ancient examples exist, as eggshells are fragile. As in many ancient cultures, Ukrainians worshipped a sun god (Dazhboh). The sun was important - it warmed the earth and thus was a source of all life. Eggs decorated with nature symbols became an integral part of spring rituals, serving as benevolent talismans.

      In pre-Christian times, Dazhboh was one of the main deities in the Slavic pantheon; birds were the sun god's chosen creations, for they were the only ones who could get near him. Humans could not catch the birds, but they did manage to obtain the eggs the birds laid. Thus, the eggs were magical objects, a source of life. The egg was also honored during rite-of-Spring festivals––it represented the rebirth of the earth. The long, hard winter was over; the earth burst forth and was reborn just as the egg miraculously burst forth with life. The egg, therefore, was believed to have special powers.

      With the advent of Christianity, via a process of religious syncretism, the symbolism of the egg was changed to represent, not nature's rebirth, but the rebirth of man. Christians embraced the egg symbol and likened it to the tomb from which Christ rose. With the acceptance of Christianity in 988, the decorated pysanka, in time, was adapted to play an important role in Ukrainian rituals of the new religion. Many symbols of the old sun worship survived and were adapted to represent Easter and Christ's Resurrection.

      In modern times, the art of the pysanka was carried abroad by Ukrainian emigrants to North and South America, where the custom took hold, and concurrently banished in Ukraine by the Soviet regime (as a religious practice), where it was nearly forgotten. Museum collections were destroyed both by war and by Soviet cadres. Since Ukrainian Independence in 1991, there has been a rebirth of the art in its homeland.

A mix of modern, diasporan and traditional Ukrainian pysanky.

      No actual pysanka have been found from Ukraine's prehistoric periods, as eggshells do not preserve well. Cultic ceramic eggs have been discovered in excavations near the village of Luka Vrublivets'ka, during excavations of a Trypillian site (5th to 3rd millennium BC). These eggs were ornamented, and in the form of торохкальці (torokhkal'tsi; rattles containing a small stone with which to scare evil spirits away).

      Similarly, no actual pysanky from the Kievan Rus' period exist, but stone, clay and bone versions do, and have been excavated in many sites throughout Ukraine. Most common are ceramic eggs decorated with a сосонка (horsetail plant) pattern in yellow and bright green against a dark background. More than 70 such eggs have been excavated throughout Ukraine, many of them from graves of children and adults. They are thought to be representations of real decorated eggs.

      These ceramic eggs were common in Kievan Rus', and had a characteristic style. They were slightly smaller than life size (2.5 by 4 cm, or 1 by 1.6 inches), and were created from reddish pink clays by the spiral method. The majolica glazed eggs had a brown, green or yellow background, and showed interwoven yellow and green stripes. The eggs made in large cities like Kiev and Chernihiv, which had workshops that produced clay tile and bricks; these tiles (and pysanky) were not only used locally, but were exported to Poland, and to several Scandinavian and Baltic countries.

      The oldest "real" pysanka was excavated in Baturyn in 2008, and dates to the end of the 17th century. Baturyn was Hetman Mazepa's capital, and it was razed in 1708 by the armies of Peter I. A complete (but crushed) pysanka was discovered, a chicken egg shell with geometric designs against a blue-gray background. The pysanka is currently being reconstructed; when completed, it will allow us to see what sort of ornamentation was in use in pre-1708 Ukraine.

      The Hutsuls––Ukrainians who live in the Carpathian Mountains of western Ukraine––believe that the fate of the world depends upon the pysanka. As long as the egg decorating custom continues, the world will exist. If, for any reason, this custom is abandoned, evil––in the shape of a horrible serpent who is forever chained to a cliff–– will overrun the world. Each year the serpent sends out his minions to see how many pysanky have been created. If the number is low the serpent's chains are loosened and he is free to wander the earth causing havoc and destruction. If, on the other hand, the number of pysanky has increased, the chains are tightened and good triumphs over evil for yet another year.

      Newer legends blended folklore and Christian beliefs and firmly attached the egg to the Easter celebration. One legend concerns the Virgin Mary. It tells of the time Mary gave eggs to the soldiers at the cross. She entreated them to be less cruel to her son and she wept. The tears of Mary fell upon the eggs, spotting them with dots of brilliant color.

      Another legend tells of when Mary Magdalene went to the sepulchre to anoint the body of Jesus. She had with her a basket of eggs to serve as a repast. When she arrived at the sepulchre and uncovered the eggs, the pure white shells had miraculously taken on a rainbow of colors.

Red, black and white colors on eggs.

      A common legend tells of Simon the peddler, who helped Jesus carry his cross on the way to Calvary. He had left his goods at the side of the road, and, when he returned, the eggs had all turned into intricately decorated pysanky.

      Many superstitions were attached to pysanky. Pysanky were thought to protect households from evil spirits, catastrophe, lightning and fires. Pysanky with spiral motifs were the most powerful, as the demons and other unholy creatures would be trapped within the spirals forever. A blessed pysanka could be used to find demons hidden in the dark corners of your house.

      Pysanky was believed to hold powerful magic, and had to be disposed of properly, lest a witch get a hold of one. She could use the shell to gather dew, and use the gathered dew to dry up a cow's milk. The witch could also use bits of the eggshell to poke people and sicken them. The eggshell had to be ground up very finely (and fed to chickens to make them good egg layers) or broken into pieces and tossed into a running stream.

      The cloth used to dry pysanky was powerful, too, and could be used to cure skin diseases. And it was considered very bad luck to trample on a pysanka–God would punish anyone who did with a variety of illnesses.

      There were superstitions regarding the colors and designs on the pysanky. One old Ukrainian myth centered on the wisdom of giving older people gifts of pysanky with darker colors and/or rich designs, for their life has already been filled. Similarly, it is appropriate to give young people pysanky with white as the predominant color because their life is still a blank page. Girls would often give pysanky to young men they fancied, and include heart motifs. It was said, though, that a girl should never give her boyfriend a pysanky that has no design on the top and bottom of the egg, as this might signify that the boyfriend would soon lose his hair.

More Related Content:

• How to Make Pysanka
• Pysanka Museum
• Customs and Traditions
• Pysanka Writing Videos