sarah in nyc

Usually, when I write about a piece  I have it next to me so I can refer to it. but earlier today I shipped off the wedding tallit. It’s made out of silks tussa, a rouch textured silk that looks like a rough woven linen or burlap, but it has the sheen and luster of silk. I love working with it because it drapes like wool, without the itch. The blue tussah came from the Touva on 40th street.  That isn’t actually the name of the store, but it’s the name on the sign. The  owner pulled the blue silk out for me when I told him that I made tallitot. The owner kept pulling out fabrics that he thought I ought to buy. he wouldn’t give me the individual prices for the fabrics but the total was something I was pleased with.  This isn’t my favorite way to shop, but sometimes the fabric district experience isn’t exactly a first world shopping experience. It is a wonderful silk with a beautiful color and a lovely hand and it was perfect for the wedding tallit.   The groo...

of the Ultrasuede challa cover. I added lots more flowers, many of them with my pretty little forget-me-not stamp that I carved out of an eraser. I used Shiva paint stick with the stamp. I love how I can add shading to the stamp. I also painted in lots of details by hand. It never fails to amaze me how a little bit of color variation makes a leaf or flower look much more natural. I had decided to carve the edge of the edge of the challa cover with a tool I had bought at Michael's. It is an X-acto blade attached to a heating element. I purchased it with the hopes that it would create a really clean edge. Perhaps the Ultrasuede was too thick for the blade, but I found using it to be really frustrating. So I pulled out my trusty soldering iron and found that despite the fat point on the soldering iron, I got a cleaner edge with that tool. I painted a line of blue around the edge to show that the meandering edge is in fact intentional. Now I have to wrap up the challa cover and mak...

A Women's Minyan /Prayer Group asked me to come up with honors cards. At a service, there are various honors to be distribulted. On a regular Shabbat there are eight readings from the Torah. A member of the community honored by being called forward to recite the blessings before and after that reading. The Torah scroll is raised after the reading, and then, rolled wrapped and dressed before being returned to the ark. In some synagogues, the honors are simply given out verbally.( Someone will come up to you and ask if you want an aliya /to be called up to the Torah) Other synagogues give out cards. I guess the advantage of the cards is that the honoree knows for sure exactly which aliya they are being called up for.  It also helps the person giving out the honors keep track of what has already been given out and what is yet to be given out. Hebrew is a gender language. Unlike English , the words for numbers differ if they object being counted is masculine or f...