Easter Card 2012

Resurrection Paska on sepulchre created 25 years ago

Hard to believe 25 years have passed since my husband and I created the sepulchre for our church, St Demetrius the Great Martyr Ukrainian Catholic Church in Toronto, Canada. Just call us Fred & Wilma... 

This feather rock creation is unusual because massive volcanic material makes for a realistic-looking tomb for the Good Friday service.The tilted board was designed to hold the "plaschennytsia", a painted canvas with Jesus Christ laying in the tomb. The flip side was that it could not be quickly disassembled on Easter Sunday. The 'rushnyk' ritual cloth with the 'Paska' bread surrounded by 'pysanky' Easter eggs was our pastor's clever solution.

St. Demetrius church interior, Easter 2010

May the blessing and mercy of the risen Lord Jesus Christ, be with you always.

Христос Воскрес! Воїстину Воскрес!

"Pysanky: Then & Now"

There's one more chance to catch to see my multimedia presentation about Ukrainian Easter eggs at St.Vladimir Institute on Mar. 31st. The slides start off with traditional batik-style pysanky; goes on to visiting Pysanky Museums in USA and Ukraine; and ends with a contemporary beaded eggs. 

Maria wearing Nina McDaniel's 'gerdan' with an ostrich egg shell pendant. Photo: Ian Archer

This was first presented at the weeklong Pysanky Event from Feb. 25 to 29th organized by the Ukrainian Catholic Women's League of Canada (UCWLC) Museum of the Toronto Eparchy in conjunction with Canadian Ukrainian Art Foundation at the KUMF Gallery. 

 Beaded 'pysanky' display and Maria and Eugene's 'pysanky'. Photo: Ian Archer  

Maria's article in A Needle Pulling Thread, Spring 2011

Beaded 'pysanky' by artists from Ukraine

There was an exhibit of 'pysanky' by several artists, pysanky-making workshops, and a Sunday afternoon program with my presentation and a performance by a children's choir. I showed the pysanky presentation three more times to school children tours.

Ukrainian School students writing 'pysanky' at a Chromej Family workshop

Maria and Joyce try out electric 'kistky' styluses

Removing wax to reveal an electric 'pysanka'

Children's Choir from St. Mary's Dormition UCC. Photo: Ian Archer

UCWLC Museum Chair Marta Chomyn thanks pysanky artists: Maria Rypan, Parania Sozansky, Cassandra Wojchikowskyj, Maria Steventon, Doris Cherkas, Irene Chromej-Johnston. Photo: Ian Archer. (Lower) Olenka Kleban and Oksana Hawrylak of Kosa Kolekiv conducted pysanky workshops for St. Sophia School

St. Sophia School visit Pysanky Exhibit at KUMF Gallery

Grade 1 students journaling beaded 'pysanky'

Helen Basaraba's 'pysanky' inspire Grade 1 students

Best journal compliment by Grade 1 student

Hands Down - Beading ROCKS!

4 Girls, 1 Playtime


It's new, it's hot and it's catching on so fast! These exciting new Kids Beadwork Kits use large Jellies beads and stretch cord for the 5 year olds and waxed cord or finer stretch cord with mid-sizes for 10 year olds. There's nothing like it out there!

Find the Jelly Collection kits at the Spring Creativ Festival and let the kids choose the colours. Get started beading by signing up for a Make and Take "Jellies Ladder" bracelet at Rypan Designs - Booth #372

Jellies Ladder Bracelet

"Vertep" Nativity at St. Demetrius, Weston, ON

"Vertep" at St Demetrius the Great Martyr Ukrainian Catholic Church 

Two years ago this life-sized Nativity set was installed outside St Demetrius the Great Martyr Church on LaRose Avenue in Weston (Toronto), ON. The figures were written (painted) in the Byzantine iconographic style in Ukraine. 

The Holy Family

Each one was cut out and masterfully placed on the straw-strewn floor of the manger. The cradle of hay between the Wise Men and Mary convinces you this truly is the creche. The illuminated star woven from wheat shines on the Baby Jesus.  

"Христос Раждається - Christ is Born" in lights

I'm very fortunate to drive past this "Vertep" every day. It's a blessing as this Nativity is a daily reminder of why we're celebrating Christmas.

"God is with us!"  

"З Нами Бог!"

Miss December - Fan Wheel Snowflakes

Fan Wheel Snowflakes by Maria Rypan
December 2011 - Toronto Bead Society Calendar

Hard to believe December is here and folks with 2011 TBS calendars are now viewing a flurry of my Fan Wheel Snowflakes! There are a lot of ways to make a few of your own: beadwork kit choices galore; get a pattern for your own creativity;

Snowflakes by Jo-Ann Woolverton, ON

Order a Ukrainian PDF with illustrated instructions;

Intro of Ukrainian PDF 

Get the Russian language Oct 2011 (#10) issue of "Модьній" Bead Fashion magazine, Kyiv. The Fan Wheel Snowflake project is on pgs. 39-41;

“Модньій” Bead Fashion, pg. 39

Follow the English directions on pgs. 90-91 of Kalmbach’s Beaded Ornament for the Holidays and Beyond from Bead & Button; BeadStyle Magazines.

Beaded Ornament for the Holidays, pg. 90 

In the spirit of the season, enjoy snowflakes big & small, beaded or real kind. What a wonder! No two are every alike... Happy Holidays!

T&T Road Trip

For my Summer project for ANPT, I was on a mission to visit T&T Trading, Inc. where I imagined I should find some really neat beads. 

We travelled to Detroit; then 100 more miles to Grand Ledge outside Lansing, the capital of MI. Sooooo how could we miss it??

BEADS trailer parked on grass

Proper signage in a rural setting

BEADS spelt on the roof. Driver stretching legs after a long haul

A quizzical call from down the road determined we needed to turn back to find these landmarks. Moral of the story: Peal open your eyes for BEADS signs in all shapes and sizes.

Found the treasures I came for.

Have you heard of French seed beads? How about millefiore mosaic and drawn chevrons?

 Beadwoven color placement experiment

More variations... Which will it be?

What's new at the Vernissage, Lviv

 Beaded pysanky eggs by Luba Frankevych

It's been a long while since I've shown beadwork, so it's appropriate to follow up the ANPT 'pysanky' article with new sources of beaded eggs. In my short visit to the Vernissage on Aug 26th, I found a lot of fresh new directions for gerdany beadwork. A few craftspeople had beaded pysanky.

I liked Luba Frankevych's display because she meticulously beadweaves intricately-patterned nets around wooden eggs. She's holding the largest egg whose detail can seen in the top left corner above. I purchased the next size down and one more for a keepsake.

Luba shows her largest pysanka

There were several new stands with beadwork. The new trend was three-dimensional florals or mosaic (Peyote) leaves formed into 'kalyna' bunches. The beaded flowers were added onto netted collars, bracelets or used for pendants and brooches. They came in all shapes and sizes with the poppy as the most favorite flower. I purchased the "Kalyna" creation in red on a matte black net in the center of the display board.

Display of Gerdany by Nadia Emelyanova 

Poppy brooches by Valentyna Konkolowskaya