Embroider something beautiful...
I love embroidery. I've taught to lots of different groups of people. I've learnt over time what embroiders well and what kinds of stitches you can use to acheive various effects. I wanted to share with others the very enjoyable and relaxing occupation that's accompanied me over the years, so I started putting kits together.
Starting with some material and carefully chosen threads, a beautiful original piece of Judaica textile art gradually emerges. Undeterred by small time-bites, the design gets finished in 5-minutes-here, 8-minutes-there. The great triumph is bringing something to the finishing line, despite all the other things going on in your life. Sometimes that's a major satisfaction in a time of turmoil.
It doesn't have to turn out perfectly. Embroidery's a forgiving art that allows for the occasional unpicking. It adapts itself to your location and time-frame. You don't need expensive, bulky equipment, or a long training. You're essentially returning to and revivng a folk-art that women in previous generations knew to utilize in order to produce today's cherished heirlooms.
The attraction of hand-crafted in an age of computerized, standardized sameness is compellling. Even the same design comes out differently when two different people embroider it.
And it's just as much about becoming as being. The process is as important as the finished product. Whilst you're threading the needle in and out of the material, the embroidery becomes invested with your thoughts and wishes. A hand-made gift is rich with connecting threads that bind the giver and the receiver, back and forth, in and out.
It's individual, it's colorful, it's a theraputic stress-reliever, and it fits just neatly into the slimmest briefcase.
First of all, i design the embroidery, taking in to account its purpose, size and colour palette.
Choosing the colors is a very careful process that takes time and trial and error, until I'm convinced that I've got the right mix. I draw inspiration from many sources around me, and collect color mixes that I like that stay stored until their hour arrives. When it's time to use one of my favorites, I try to match the embroidery threads up as accurately as possible.
Then I embroider the design myself - partly so I can have an example for the front cover of the kit, and partly so I can figure out the best way to embroider it.....which stitches to use where, how dense or light the textile cover should be.
Once I've completed the needlework, I take a long hard look at it, and sit down to write the best instructions I can, hoping that someone across the world away will be to almost hear my voice explaining each twist and turn of the needle through the fabric.
The graphic artist I work with then designs the new embroidery kit's packaging. We put the kits together ourselves, making sure each one goes out with all the component parts - threads and needle, stitch diagrams and instructions, and of course the material with the design hand-printed on it.