Faced with the task of copying an image from the internet and scaling it up to ketubah size, how does one go about it? Technique from primary school. Impose a grid onto your original, and copy each square into a scaled-up grid on your target medium. Printing the original picture gave me something on standard […]
This time last year, we had Quill Month – seventeen posts about quills. My new cohort of students is causing me to have more to say about quills, but first – here’s all the old posts. Of course, I suggest reading them all. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 […]
The ketubah text itself is a pretty standard text, with a few interesting features (click image to see bigger version; text reproduced in full below). The date of the wedding was 7 Marhesvan 5592, or Friday October 14th, 1831. It was in Modena (which they would have pronounced Modona, hence the spelling מודונא ) – […]
This design uses different sizes of letters to make a lovely rich lacy border. What are the texts it’s using? The first text around the outside is Isaiah 61:10-62:1. שוש אשיש בייﭏ תגל נפשי בﭏדי כי הלבשני בגדי ישע מעיל צדקה יעטני כחתן יכהן פאר וככלה תעדה כליה כי כארץ תוציא צמחה וכגנה זרועיה תצמיח […]
“Can you copy this ketubah?” my client asked me. Since this is a Historical Ketubah, there aren’t copyright issues, as there would be if someone wanted me to copy a contemporary design. So I’m happy to copy it; it’s lovely! “Copy” can mean several different things, though. It might mean “make us a border that […]
The Women’s Torah Project peeps sent me a pretty pretty certificate honouring me as one of the Sisters of the Torah, “dedicated to the discovery of ancient roots and the creation of powerful futures.” Isn’t that sweet and generous of them? As I think I’ve said before, the project organisers really are rather a special […]
Adhesive creep on a sefer Torah. The seam reinforcements are glued on; over time, the glue Creeps out from where it was originally put. Being sticky, the creepy glue sticks to a) other things b) dirt. Here, the glue from the reinforcement on the right-hand side of the picture has stained the Torah’s margin, on […]
First of all, I fish out my Full-Colour Sourcebook of Historic Ornaments. I have a shelf of books I use for inspiration, and this is one that never fails. Highly recommended. Turn to the Mughal India pages, because I’m in that sort of mood and I’ve got that sort of budget. I’ve been wanting to […]
A meditation on the incremental nature of change, with interconnected letters and increasingly-flourishing leaves. Attributed to R’ Abraham Joshua Heschel, although I truly doubt Heschel ever said that, such that if anyone can find me a primary source I will eat my hat broccoli. Prints available for purchase in my Etsy store, just in case […]
A very Rodeph-Sholom couple of weeks. Rodeph Sholom, for those not intimately familiar with Manhattan’s Upper West Side Jewish Scene, is a Reform synagogue of epic proportions, with after-school religious school program, and eponymous Reform day school a few blocks away. I have the good fortune to visit them relatively often. Week before last I […]
