Pysanky Annotated Bibliography

Ukrainian Gift Shop Publications

 KMIT, ANNE AND , LORETTA LUCIOW, JANET LUCIOW, AND LUBA PERCHYSHYN.  Ukrainian Easter Eggs: And How We Make Them.  Minneapolis, MN: Ukrainian Gift Shop, 1979.  If you only buy one of the UGS series, this is the one to get.  It begins with the culture and history of pysanky, along with an excellent explanation of the symbolism and technique, before presenting twenty-seven eggs in simple, clear, black and white illustrations.

LUCIOW, JOHANNA AND ANNE KMIT AND LORETTA LUCIOW. Eggs Beautiful: How to Make Ukrainian Easter Eggs. Minneapolis, MN: Gopher State Litho, 1975.  This early UGS book presents a good explaination of the culture, history, and technique of pysanky along with eighteen designs in black and white.

PERCHYSHYN, LUBA AND JOHANNA LUCIOW AND NATALIE PERCHYSHYN. Ukrainian Easter Egg: Design Book 2.  Minneapolis, MN:  Ukrainian Gift Shop, 1986.  Twnety-four new patterns are presented here along with the same information about culture and technique from the previous books.

 PERCHYSHYN, NATALIE. A Kid's Guide to Decorating Ukrainian Easter Eggs.  Minneapolis, MN: Gopher State Litho, 2000. With bold colors and a spiral binding (making it easier to lie flat), this book seems simple, but nonetheless presents the entire pysanky process along with many tips and tricks.

 PERCHYSHYN, NATALIE. Ostrich Pysanky: Decorating Ostrich Eggs the Ukrainian Way.  Minneapolis, MN: Gopher State Litho, 1996.  Step-by-step instructions guide the artist through the arduous and daunting task of decorating an ostrich egg for the first time. Detailed advice relevant only to ostrich egg pysanky are most helpful.

PERCHYSHYN, NATALIE. Ukrainian Easter Egg: Design Book 3.  Minneapolis, MN:  Ukrainian Gift Shop, 1995.  Twenty-four eggs are presented here in step-by-step fashion, along with some explanation of symbols and colors.

PERCHYSHYN, NATALIE. Ukrainian Easter Egg Design Book 4. Minneapolis, MN: Gopher State Litho, 2002.  Twenty-four eggs designs by Luba Perchyshyn, in color.

PERCHYSHYN, NATALIE AND DEANNA PERCHYSHYN. Ukrainian Easter Egg Design Book 5. Minneapolis, MN: Gopher State Litho, 2006.  The fifth design book in the series contains 26 patterns, including Luba's fabulous award-winning ostrich egg and one goose egg.  The patterns are in color.

 PERCHYSHYN, NATALIE AND LUBA PERCHYSHYN, JOHANNA LUCIOW, AND ANNE KMIT. Ukrainian Design Book: Book 1. Minneapolis, MN: Gopher State Litho, 1984. Twenty-four egg patterns presented in clear, easy-to-follow black and white.  Nice explanations of symbols used for each egg.

ELYJIW, ZENON. Sixty Score of Easter Eggs: A Comprehensible Album of Ukrainian Easter Eggs.  Rochester, NY, Private Printing, 1994.  I met Mr. Elyjiw and saw his collection of pysanky, all those pictured in this book, which were carefully stored in drawers in his living room.  Organized by region, the book provides a priceless record of historical pysanky designs.

TKACHUK, MARY AND MARIE KISHCHUK, ALICE NICHOLAICHUK.  Pysanka:  Icon of the Universe.  Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada:  Ukrainian Museum, 1977. The tiny Ukrainian Museum in Manhatten, near the pysanky supplier Surma, sells this little booklet full of treasures about pysanky history, folklore, and symbolism.  Pysanky instructions are minimal but there are some good hints and tips here.

Pysanky Technique

BADULAK, HELEN. Pysanky in the 21^st Century. Kutztown, PA: The Kutztown Publishing Company, Inc., 2004.  Helen's book was a huge sensation when it came out a few years ago, filled as it is with photos of hundreds of her amazing eggs, and step-by-step instructions too.  Helen Badulak almost single-handedly created the "Master of Pysanky" adjudication process through the International Egg Art Guild.

POLLAK, JANE. Decorating Eggs: Exquisite Designs with Wax and Dye.  New York, NY:  Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 1998.  Jane Pollak became famous for her magnificent quilt-pattern eggs, which sold for a fortune at exclusive Manhattan are galleries before she turned her attention to inspirational speaking.  The book is worth obtaining just for the photographs of modern pysanky from artists all around the world, but includes wonderful text and instructions also.

Children's Picture-Books

 KIMMEL, ERIC. The Birds' Gift: A Ukrainian Easter Story. New York, NY: Holiday House, 1999.  An ancient Ukrainian folk tale about the origin of pysanky eggs comes alive in this  beautifully illustrated book.

POLACCO, PATRICIA. Chicken Sunday. New York, NY: Philomel Books, 1992. 

          Well-known author and artist Patricia Polacco drew on her own personal experiences to write this lovely story about a young girl who taught her two friends to make pysanky.  Wonderful lesson plans based on the book can be found online.

Pysanky-Friendly Design Books

APPLETON, LE ROY H. American Indian Design and Decoration. New York, NY: Dover Publications, Inc., 1971. This book balances text and illustrations, explaining the history and meaning behind all the patterns. It was first published in 1950 by Scribner's Sons, NY, NY as Indian Art of the Americas. 

 BENTLEY, W.A. AND W.J. HUMPHREYS. Snow Crystals.  New York, NY: Dover Publications, Inc., 1962.  An amazing collection of photos of actual snowflakes, this book, first published in 1931 by McGraw-Hill Book Company, is a treasure trove of snowflake design ideas.

BERLO, JANET AND PATRICIA CREWS. Wild By Design: Two Hundred Years of Innovation and Artistry in American Quilts. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press, 2003.  Filled with fantastic and colorful quilt designs, this fine art book provides a wealth of inspiration from modern quilt artists.

DUKE, DENNIS AND DEBORAH HARDING. America's Glorious Quilts. China: Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, Inc., 1987.  An oversized coffee-table book, this publication is chock full of quilt patterns that lend themselves quite nicely to pysanky designs.  I include it here not as the "best" book of quilt patterns but as an example of the kind of book of photos that inspire endless geometric designs.

GILLON, EDMUND. Geometric Design and Ornament. New York, NY: Dover Publications, 1969.

 HESSEMER, F.M. Historic Designs and Patterns in Color From Arabic and Italian Sources. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc., 1990.  Presented in full color are fabulous mosaics and tiled patterns from Italy and Northern Africa.

 JONES, OWEN. The Grammar of Ornament: All 100 Color Plates From the Folio Edition of the Great Victorian Sourcebook of Historic Designs. New York, NY: Dover Publications, Inc., 1987.  Classic collection of patterns from nearly every culture and period in history; an endless source of inspiration for pysanky designs.

MACCARTHY, MARY. The Crafter's Pattern Sourcebook. North Pomfret, Vermont: Trafalgar Square Publishing, 1999.  I just LOVE this book!  It contains a little bit of everything, with simplified patterns from almost every culture and historical epoch that are easy to copy.

MEEHAN, AIDAN. Celtic Design: Knotwork: The Secret Methods of the Scribes.  New York, NY: Thames and Hudson, Inc., 1991.  Detailed illustrations and step-by-step instructions unravel the mysterious Celtic knot.  The best book on drawing knots I have ever found.

SPERO, JAMES, Editor. Decorative Patterns From Historic Sources. New York, NY: Dover Publications, 1986.

 VAN ROOJEN, PEPIN. Batik Patterns. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: The Pepin Press, 2002.

          Batik lends itself to pysanky particularly well, although the color range is limited.  The book includes a CD that provides all the designs, which makes copying and adapting them much easier.

WILSON, EVA. Islamic Designs for Artists and Craftspeople. New York, NY: Dover Publications, Inc., 1988.