David Bryniarski, a parishioner of Rochester’s St. Stanislaus Kostka Church, started painting eggs with his mother when he was just 5 or 6 years old. His mother had learned the technique from her mother, who hailed from Poland. In the intervening years he has painted hundreds of eggs, including many that he gives each year as Easter greetings to friends and family members.
The Polish word for the Easter egg is pisanka, which comes from the word pisac, meaning “to write.” And the intricate designs are literally written on the eggs by Bryniarski with a combination of molten beeswax and carbon black. The hot wax is applied using a fine writing stylus called a kistka. Eggs are then immersed in colored dyes, with the dyes only adhering to the unwaxed parts of the eggs. Bryniarski works from light dyes to dark as he “paints” the eggs, adding more wax designs as he goes. After the last dye has been applied, the eggs are held over an open flame to melt off the wax, revealing the multicolored patterns. A final clear varnish is usually applied to protect the eggs.
Bryniarski has helped keep this Old World tradition alive by teaching it to his children and by leading workshops coordinated by Rochester’s Polish Heritage Society, of which he is a member.
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Bryniarski examines the egg after starting to write a design.
Bryniarski holds the stylus, or kista, over a candle flame to heat the wax.
Bryniarski writes the base design on the egg.
Bryniarski continues work on the base design.
The egg is immersed in the first dye, which will turn it a light orange.
Bryniarski holds the egg after it was immersed in the first dye.
Bryniarski eyes the egg carefully as he writes on it.
Bryniarski spreads out his tools at the kitchen table of his Pittsford home.
Bryniarski removes the egg from the second dye.
Bryniarski works at his kitchen table.
Bryniarski works on further design after dying the egg red.
Bryniarski holds the dyed egg over an open flame to heat and remove the wax.
Bryniarski applies a clear varnish to an egg he has finished.
One of Bryniarski’s finished eggs, which says “Happy Easter” in Polish, sits in an egg holder at his home.
Bryniarski has painted hundreds of eggs over the years, many made as gifts for family members.
