transformation

I have been working on an an atara.

The silk for this atara began life as a ivory dobby woven silk.

The atara needs to be a deep blue.

There are many ways to dye silk. I like adding color in thin layers.

When you do you get a much richer and more interesting color. Yes, it does take longer.. Each layer of dye needs to dry before you add the next one.

So here is the silk after three layers. it needs to work with the wool you see at the bottom of the photo.

A few layers later...

it is just about right.

This atara needed text..

First I painted the text onto paper.

The text is " and you should do them (the mitzvot) with all of your heart and all of your soul".

There must be two dozen ways to transfer lettering to fabric. Lately, I have been loving this particular old fashioned method.

I traced the lettering above onto white cotton batiste.  Batiste is a smooth evenly woven semi-sheer fabric. I used the pencil lines on the paper to align the letters on the cotton.

Then I safety pinned the cotton with the drafted lettering onto the silk. The photo above shows the process in process. You can also choose to baste using a needle and thread. I chose the safety pins basting over thread basting for no particular reason.

I am stitching the heavy gold cord to the silk using the thin blue silk thread.

Some people wait until all of the letters are completed before cutting away the cotton batiste. I see the process of snipping and pulling the white cotton threads as a bit of a reward so I do this task letter by letter.
 

It takes a little bit of time but it is a satisfying process.

It takes some focus and is on the most part a forgiving process.

As of this writing I have completed two of the six words.

It's Friday, so I have been cooking.

This is chicken roasted with no-sesame Za'atar and a few more herbs and spices from my pantry.

It's the Za'atar mix with lots of thyme and black pepper added to it. Some got tossed inside the chickens and the rest was massaged into the chicken.

These potatoes were oven roasted with chicken juice from a pervious Shabbat. 

Our meal begins with this soup

Unfortunately it looks like industrial waste. I promise that it is delicious. It is a mushroom, chestnut and leek puree. Our dishes are grey. I have to figure out something so our first course looks somewhat appetizing. I may make some carrot flowers to top the soup.

I still haven't figure out the vegetable portion of the meal. Tonight's dessert is being brought by our

 guest.

Shabbat Shalom 

and looking forward to Purim!