Back at work

 I have taken a bit of a break from posting. Some of it was to acclimate myself to being back home and safe. For several nights when I would wake up in the middle of the night I would think that I was still in Dubai. Those of you with a more psychological bent will figure out that Dubai was a less terrifying choice than being in the safe rooms in Ashkelon. This morning I didn't wake up worried about getting plane tickets to safety. We are both still jetlagged.

Both of us are deeply grateful for all of the good wishes and prayers for our safety and hopefully we can all redirect those wishes and hopes to those who live in Israel.

I also wanted to create something of a space between our experiences in Israel and re-entering life back home.

Bonnie's tallit is due soon so I knew I had to get back to work on it. It has been a while so  I will remind you about this particular tallit.

Bonnie grew up in southern Massachusetts and she wanted the stripes to look like the water off that coast . I Shibori dyed the silk and then spray dyed it so it looks like the right kind of ocean.. The pale textured fabric you see behind the dyed silk is the beautiful nubby silk that Bonnie had purchased for this tallit.

The  text for the atara comes from Psalm 36, In your light we see light.  First I dyed a strip of silk to look like sky. I spray dyed it with dark colors one one side and pale on the other. I also dyed grosgrain ribbon using the same sky colors. This ribbon with edge the water stripes 

I  drafted the letters onto card stock using two pencils taped together.

I then used a blade to cut out the letters.

My thought was to have the first word באורך (in Your light) be bright on the dark silk and have the letters darken as the silk gets lighter and lighter.. To me at least, the change of light and dark lettering and silk sort of illustrates the verse.

I used oil paint sticks for the color.

I had chalked a guide line for the tops of the letters

Here is the whole thing. Yes, there is quite a bit of space between each word. That is deliberate.

Getting back to my regular life is making me feel more like myself.

It was a challah baking week. I made stuffed challot.

Shabbat Shalom to all of you.