Skip to main content

Evolution

I made this challah cover a few years ago.  The text is an intentional prayer that some people recite before kiddush. I did the calligraphy on a beautiful light weight wool. The border is an upholstery fabric.

 

hinini

Most of the other challah covers that were made during the time period I made this challah covers have all sold. This one has languished in my completed objects suitcase. There is nothing wrong with it. It just wasnā€™t great.

Yesterday, I decided to revisit it.  In the heyday of Yiddish theater Shakespeare's plays  were advertised as being  farteicht und farbessered  ā€œtranslated and improvedā€™ . That expression is often used  to described the process of fiddling and improving  of anything.

So in short, I  farteicht und farbessered the challah cover.

hinini (2)

I added leaves to the  half hearted trellis-like designs on the sides of the text. I also added  scrollwork that was farbessered  with a bit of glitter in the paint/dye mixture.

hinini (4)

The first word was given extra outlining.  I also added bits of glimmer to the border. 

 

I covered the rayon stitched border with vintage velvet ribbon in sea foam green. I think the piece is much improved. What do you think???

hinini (5)

Despite the fact that this challah cover is made out of soft Easter-egg like colors and is pretty glittery, it isnā€™t flashy or tacky. 

 

To me this improved version of the challah cover reminds me of  a shy person who learns how to do public speaking.  The volume is now turned up enough on this piece. I hope it finds a good home.

hinini (6)

Comments

  1. " I think the piece is much improved. What do you think???"

    Yes. :)
    Looks great!
    Sandy

    ReplyDelete
  2. Looks much better and the coloring is perfect. A question re: glitter-just finished a "fairy cape" for grandtr.made of tulle and satin with LOTS of glitter- how do youkeep it from getting all over the place especially getting out of machine-tried vacuuming etc. still see the stuff! Margie

    ReplyDelete
  3. I add the glitter to the paint/dye. I have not found it to be messy. I do know that adding glitter on top of an adherent is horribly messy. the summer my oldest was doing lots of glitter and glue activities i kept finding glitter in her scalp weeks later.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I love hearing from my readers. I moderate comments to weed out bots.It may take a little while for your comment to appear.

Popular posts from this blog

Connecting with the past

A few months ago I had a craving for my fatherā€™s chicken fricassee.  If my father were still alive I would have called him up and he would have talked me through the process of making it.    My father is no longer alive so I turned to my cookbooks and the recipes I found for chicken fricassee were nothing at all like the stew of chicken necks, gizzards and wings in a watery sweet and sour tomato sauce that I enjoyed as a kid.  I assumed that the dish was an invention of my fatherā€™s. I then attempted to replicate the dish from my memory of it and failed.   A couple of weeks ago I saw an article on the internet, and I canā€™t remember where, that talked about Jewish fricassee  and it sounded an awful lot like the dish I was hankering after. This afternoon I went to the butcher and picked up all of the chicken elements of the dish, a couple of packages each of wings, necks and gizzards. My father never cooked directly from a cook book. He used to re...

The light themed tallit has been shipped!!!

 I had begun speaking to Sarah about making her a tallit in the middle of August. It took a few weeks to nail down the design. For Sarah it would have been ideal if the tallit were completed in time for her to wear it on Rosh HaShanah., the beginning of her year as senior rabbi of her congregation. For me, in an ideal world, given the realities of preparing for the High Holidays I would have finished this tallit in the weeks after Sukkot. So we compromised and I shipped off the tallit last night.  I would have prefered to have more time but I got the job done in time. This tallit was made to mark Sarah's rise to the position of senior rabbi but it was also a reaction to this year of darkness. She chose a selection of verses about light to be part of her tallit. 1)  אֵל נוֹ×ØÖøא עֲל֓ילÖøה  God of awesome deeds ( from a yom kippur Liturgical poem) 2)  אוֹ×Ø ×—ÖøדÖøשׁ עַל־צ֓יּוֹן ×ŖÖ¼Öøא֓י×Ø   May You shine a new light on Zion ( from the liturgy) 3)  יÖøאֵ×Ø ×™Ö°×”Ö¹...

מְחַיֵּה הַמֵּ×Ŗ֓ים

  וְנֶאֱמÖøן אַ×ŖÖ¼Öøה לְהַחֲיוֹ×Ŗ מֵ×Ŗ֓ים: בּÖø×Øוּךְ אַ×ŖÖ¼Öøה יְהֹוÖøה מְחַיֵּה הַמֵּ×Ŗ֓ים   You are faithful to restore the dead to life. Blessed are You, Adonoy, Resurrector of the dead. That particular line is recited at every single prayer service every day three times a day, unless you use a Reform or Reconstructionist prayer book . In those liturgies instead of praising God for resurrecting the dead God is praised for  giving life to all.  I am enough of a modern woman, a modern thinker, to not actually believe in the actual resurrection of the dead. I don't actually expect all of the residents of the Workmen's Circle section of  Mount Hebron cemetery in Queens to get up and get back to work at their sewing machines. I don't expect the young children buried here or  the babies buried here to one day get up and frolic. Yet, every single time I get up to lead services I say those words about the reanimating of the dead with every fiber of my being. Yesterday, I e...