Everyday People: Marylin Scott, crafter of pysanky eggs

Although they don’t come from a bunny and they are not filled with chocolate, the intricate eggs Marylin Scott crafts are rooted in thousands of years of Ukrainian tradition.

Scott began making pysanky in the winter of 2000, when her daughter Georganna Tomkins, now an art teacher in Mexico, Mo., returned to the family’s Nelson home from student teaching with the idea.

Decorating pysanky is an art form, originating in modern-day Ukraine, that is traditionally passed through generations from mother to daughter. The tradition of pysanky, which are seen as symbols of life, dates to 4000 B.C., when eggs were decorated to celebrate the start of spring.

With the advent of Christianity, the symbols used to decorate the pysanky were given new meaning, but Scott sticks to many of the traditional patterns, color combinations and motifs that have lasted thousands of years.

“I use only Ukrainian symbols; I don’t try to go off on my own. These symbols have been tried and true for thousands of years, and I figure there is still good luck and best wishes to prove from them,” Scott said.

Scott hollows out eggs from geese, ducks, chickens and sometimes quail for her craft. She begins the intricate decorating process by penciling designs onto the eggs with a klstka, a traditional stylus warmed over a candle.

She then uses beeswax to cover part of the egg before dipping it in the lightest color dye. Adding more wax along the way, Scott works her way up to darker dyes before melting off the wax and varnishing the pysanky to give them a glossy exterior.

“Sometimes you forget things or make a mistake, and you cannot erase it or add to it,” Scott said. “So if you make a mistake, you just throw it across the fence and start over.”

Depending on the size of the eggs and the design used, decorating the pysanky can take between three hours and two days to complete.

“I leave the house and cooking to my husband (Craig) if I’m working on a goose egg,” Scott said.

The meticulous designs require a steady hand and abundant patience, which Scott said she had developed in her 23 years as an elementary school teacher in Pilot Grove.

Since Scott started crafting the eggs almost a decade ago, she has decorated between 50 and 100 pysanky ahead of each spring. The crafts are sold at local craft shows and the Just-N-Habit craft store in Blackwater, but Scott said the process of designing the eggs is the most rewarding part of her hobby.

“I think just doing it is the best part; that’s how my husband and I are different,” Scott said. “When we did woodworking together, he was happy to get the product finished, and I just enjoyed doing it.”

Ukrainian folklore holds that as long as the tradition of pysanky is passed on to others, the world will continue; but if the art of pysanky dies, the world will cease to exist. Scott is doing her part to keep the tradition alive, and she does not envision a time in her life where she will not remain dedicated to her craft.

“Once I start, I can’t stop. I just want to keep making them,” Scott said.