White work

When I began doing the work that I do in fabric both my clients and I were seeing to work with colors that danced In those days I produced lots of work where I felt like I pushed the limits of the level of friction possible between colors.

I don't know if it is the current political situation but  this has been the summer of producing things that are white on white.


My nephew's bride is making her chuppah and asked relatives to make all white squares.

This was what I made. All summer I have been working on an atara. That too is white on white.


It has been something of a long slog.

My hands have to be clean. I will stop to wash them several times during a work session.

It's a lot of hand embroidery. while it is time consuming I can work while I am in conversation with someone.

Eventually my embroidery was completed, but i needed to finish off the piece.

This piece was supposed to be about the reflective quality of the whites.
i added machine embroidery both the the border of the piece but also to the ribbon finishing it off.

The atara is made on an old cotton damask tablecloth. You can see the raised sheen of the hand embroidery against the subtle pattern of the tablecloth and contrasting

in a quiet way against the slightly different sheen of the machine embroidery.

There is  a whole lot going on in a quiet way. All of the various shades and textures of white feel like a visual representation of the soft thrum of services led not by a cantor but by a Baal T'filla,a service leader.

Yesterday my client also asked me to make new pinot for this tallit.

 I made the pinot out of more of the table cloth. the corner pieces which will hold the tzitzit are all similar but not identical. This is a deliberate choice on my part. I want the users to know  in a visceral way that there are many ways to connect to mitzvah.


I am now most of the way finished with adding a border to the pinot.

Continuing on the theme of white on white....

I made a giant batch of noodles on Friday for two Cholesterol Death Kugels  for two different pot luck meals. 

With both the cooking and the sewing working white on white is about creating satisfying texture.