Hilary’s Tallit—Complete!! Hurray!!!

 

 

I know that this tallit looks simple. Actually, that was a design  goal. But creating this tallit has been anything  but simple. No, it wasn’t client troubles. Hilary has been delightful.

 

Mostly this tallit has involved several technical challenges.  The black and white stripes are from a tallit that is over a century old. Hilary washed it. I pressed mended and interfaced the tallit. I hope that the glue on the interfacing helps keep the fibers together for a long time.

 

The red silk comes from a silk scarf that had belonged to Hilary’s mother. The red scarf had been painted with vaguely calligraphic Asian looking flourishes. The strident red needed to be toned down a bit to work with the rest of the tallit. I had suggested using Chinese border designs. Hilary had suggested that I use the initial letters of the people who are remember in this tallit.

Initially, I didn’t like Hilary’s idea at all.  I played with some letter stamps that my youngest had sweet talked my mother into buying him when he was five.  I love that the result is both Jewish as well as being vaguely Asian. after I stamped the letters I added further embellishments ( Hoo-has in the parlance of my household) in gold.

 

This is the atara.

 

One of the pinot/corner pieces.

 

I love that this tallit is quiet, despite the fact that it is red black and white. Hilary is happy and that , of course, is the most important thing.