Tay Morgan
“Two or more are Pysanky, Ukrainians don’t pluralize the same way we do in English,” she says. “For example, the tool that we use to write on the egg with beeswax is called a kistka, two or more are called kistky.” The Pysanka process is involved and takes time to create. When asked about the average amount of time it takes to create one egg she says, “This question is impossible to answer because the time required changes depending upon the intricacy of the design, the number of colors used and the size of the piece.” The time involved is one of the reasons that Larsson has moved from designing pysanky eggs to creating pysanky jewelry, especially earrings. “About 10 years ago I was at a show and realized how much better jewelry sells than eggs on a stand, so I decided to figure out how to make jewelry out of the egg shells. That is what I do now almost exclusively. I am having so much fun it’s ridiculous,” she explains. After decorating the eggshells, Larsson cuts pieces out using a Dremel rotary tool with a diamond cutting wheel. She covers the art piece in EcoPoxy, a non-toxic liquid plastic hardener that makes the jewelry durable. “If I had a very intricate design with three or four colors in it, that could take me two or three days just to put the design on the egg,” she says. “I started making earrings out of the eggshells about 10 years ago,” she notes. The traditional Pysanky method starts on the white eggshell, and each dye bath is darker than the previous one. It goes from white to yellow to orange to red to black. 26 DeSoto
Tay Morgan’s Easter Eggs
Explaining how it works, Larsson says, “We write on the egg with melted beeswax. It’s that simple. We write over the plain white shell and over the shell after it is dyed. The beeswax seals whatever color is under it so that when we change the color of the egg those lines will not change.” She also said modernization brought bleach and soaps that enable artists to use the colors in whatever order they choose opening the world of design to infinity. Larsson’s work can be found mostly at craft fairs. Her first spring show in Memphis, Tennessee, will be at Art in The Loop, April 5-7. She is scheduled for five more shows in 2019 including Nashville, Tennessee; Paducah and Louisville, Kentucky; and Atlanta, Georgia. AnsleyLarsson.com A FOREVER EGG For those who want a painted egg to keep forever, Tay Morgan Designs offers hand-painted solid wood eggs. Morgan’s Easter creations feature themes such as Baby Lamb, Baby Chick, and Baby Resting Bunny. Her eggs also can be customized with monograms, gold leaf foil and sorority and fraternity letters. Her Ole Miss and Mississippi State designs have become hot sellers. A graduate of the University of Mississippi, Morgan studied art and says her maternal grandmother, Mimi, is responsible for her artistic and creative influence. “She always had a project going on at her house… painting furniture, painting Christmas ornaments, needlepoint, cooking, and painting original art. It was a fun place to visit and play growing up.”
