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More work on the Benjamin tallit bag

This is my sketch for the bag. Yes, it is an ugly and rough sketch, but it is good enough to serve as a map for my work. I decided to have wolf in a landscape. The verse makes up the low, rolling hills. The moon will be made up by the boy's Hebrew name.
I drew a curving guideline onto a piece of Bristol board and then wrote out the verse using the line to help me place the tops of the letters. Hebrew, unlike English, is written from the top down. So this was an easy way for me to figure out the placement of the letters. I then cut out the letters with an X-acto knife.
After the letters were cut, I then taped the stencil to the wool and filled in the letters with a stiff paintbrush that was loaded up with pigment from a gold oil paint stick.
Here is the wolf embroidery plunked down on the lettering landscape. The big gold dot is where
I tested out the oil paint stick out on a scrap of the wool. I don't have enough extra wool to be able to cover failures, so unlike my usual work methods, I have to be cautious.



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  1. SandyDecember 4, 2009 at 11:36 AM

    I wrote a big story and it disappeared when I tried to post it!

    Anyway, I wanted to say that I love the simple "pared down to the real essence" look of the design. It really works well. I am not good at simple in design. I get hung up on the detail.

    I really like the idea of the words as a hillside horizon line. The wolf is so effective. What a great idea.

    I think the family will be very pleased, and the lad will be especially proud to wear the tallit with so many memories and connections with his heritage.

    You have done very well!
    Sandy in the UK

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