Mizrach Sunrise, Cropped Detail

Size: 9″x12″, not including tassels
Stitch: chain, twisted chain, net stitch
Materials: Linen, DMC perle cotton

According to my blog, I started this piece somewhere around February 2008. The artwork was finished at least 6 months ago, but it sat in a drawer waiting for me to be motivated/inspired to do the “finishing” work. I’m a notorious procrastinator about doing finishing work. Usually it’s fear related. I’m so afraid of making a mistake and ruining a piece that’s taken months of work to complete.

Mizrach Sunrise, Full Piece View

After all the worrying about the finishing work, I ended up just backing it with simple muslin. I didn’t add any batting between the two pieces of fabric, which created a lovely natural airspace. It adds an additional level of dimension and texture to the piece.

I’m also planning on keeping this one for myself instead of selling it or giving it as a gift. This piece represents a huge artistic break through for me, and I want to keep it as a reminder of a big spiritual/artistic turning point and the friend who inspired it.

This piece was envisioned as a “mizrach,” an eastern wall marker and focal point for prayer. I leave it to you to decide if it should be on on the east wall as a sunrise or west wall as a sunset.

6″ on unbleached muslin framed in hoop
Stitches: back stitch, french knots, lazy-daisy (detatched chain), satin, outline
Private Collection

First in a new series of Hamsas I’m working on.  This one is already planned as a gift to a friend who collects hamsas.  The design is inspired by the henna work of a good friend who is a henna artist.

Also, this piece is the beginning of me using a new cipher to sign my work.  Names are really important to me,  and I realized that this is not the work of Carly Lesser anymore.  It really represents a shift and is part of the work of being Ketzirah.  The new cipher is a pomegranate with the Hebrew letter Kof (ק) in the center, for my Hebrew name Ketzirah.  Originally the Kof was a pictograph that symbolized a needle, which a is a super fun “coincidence.”  I can’t say that I think this is a coincidence at all, but to each her own.

I started working with round pieces recently too.  This is also a fairly intentional shift.  I’ve also taken on the moniker of Magelet, which means circle maker.  This is one way to express that part of my work in a very literal way.  The desire to work with round forms came before the concious realization of the connection.

Technorati Tags: hamsa, amulet, magelet, embroidery, henna, french knot, back stitch, chain stitch

This has been finished for a while, but I didn’t have any good pictures of it.

The work is done in the Tambour Stitch style, but with a standard embroidery needle. I used DMC Perle Cotton for this, which gave it a really nice texture.

It’s available for purchase at my shop on Etsy.

Technorati Tags: embroidery, judaica, tambour stitch, original design, pomegranates, challah cover

Size: 2.25″ H X 3.5″L X .75″ D
Materials: Linen, Cotton, Modeling Compound, Altoids Tin
Stitches: Running, Colonial Knot, French Knot, Sheaf, Algerian Eyelet, Fly
Status: Available on Etsy

This is the first in my series of altered Altoids boxes. I’ve developed a bit of an addiction to the chocolate covered and sours, and decided I needed to do something with the boxes!

The Altoids tin is covered with a hand embroidered cover featuring an original design. The artwork on the cover is intended to represent the scent of the spices swirling through the air. The stitches include running stitch in bright blue, white, pink, and green; french & colonial knots, sheaf stitch, seed stitches, and fly stitches. The edging was created using a heated modeling compound with which I cut an “egg and dart” border.

The box is filled with my own blend of spices which includes bay leaves, rose hips, rose petals, cinnamon, cardamom, and citrus. The sweet and spicy scent is sure to return your soul to you after Shabbat!

Altoids is a registered trademark of Callard & Bowser.

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Size: 8.5″ X 8″
Materials: Wool Felt, Linen, Cotton , Organza Ribbon
Stitches: Running, Satin, Ribbon, Long/Short, Stem, French Knot
Status: Available on Etsy

I’ve been working on this piece for more than 6-months. It began as a 6×4 and then grew into a wall hanging. The name comes from the question everyone asks when they see the piece, “Where’s the snake?” The answer is simple — the snake is gone and Chava (Eve) stands alone. This is the moment just before she makes her decision to eat.

Chava Decides
This is my decision. This is my first decision.
Do I eat and allow my mind and body to grow,
Knowing it will bring death into the world…
Or live in ignorance?

As I wrote in an earlier post about this piece, “the snake is not present, because the focus is on her decision. In my midrash Chava makes a choice, she is not tricked by the snake. She listens to the snake and then does something she’s never done — she makes a decision on her own — thereby beginning history (herstory, if you like).”

Technorati Tags: etsy, chava, eve, judaism, feminism, midrash, pomegranate. fiber art, textile art, needlework, judaica

I worked in the garden over the weekend and Art took some great pictures of me “in action.” I actually didn’t realize he was snapping away at first, and then he was having too much fun and being terribly distracting. But — it was really nice to get some good shots of the artwork. I’m finishing the final assembly tonight. It’s taking me 3x longer than it should to assemble it because I’m just being so careful. I really don’t feel like making a stupid mistake this close to being finished.

More pictures on Flickr, of course!

I also have to mention the frame I’m working on.  I usually work on such small pieces that I don’t need a hoop, but this was large and needed the extra structure.  Art watched me struggling to improvise a frame one night and I came home the next day and he had built me an embroidery frame, lined with velvet, made from the same ash as the Torah ark he had built for this congregation.  He’s just a darn good husband!

This has been quite the “days of awe” project for me, since I missed my Rosh Hashanah delivery and am now trying to be ready for a possible Yom Kippur debut — or Simchat Torah.

I’ll, of course, post more pictures and full details when the piece is completed!

Technorati Tags: judaism, torah mantle, embroidery, fiber art, judaica, tree of life

Queen of Sheba
Size: 6″x6″
Stitches: Cretan Stitch, Bead Stitch, Couching
Materials: Black Dupioni Silk, Varigated Over-dyed Silk Floss, Peacock Feather, Glass Beads, Frieze/Bullion Gold/Silver Combination Thread, Peacock Feathers
Status: Collection of the Artist


More on Sheba

Benjamin Bunny
Size: 6″x6″
Stitches: Satin, Long & Short, Stem, Herringbone
Materials: Cotton Toile Fabric, Cotton Floss, Angora Floss
Status: Private Collection

This fun little confection is an embellished Toile original. I may make other pieces from this Beatrix Potter Toile, but not probably not this one again. All the embroidery is done entirely by hand. You can see other examples of my embellished Toile work on Flickr.

The finished piece has been stretched over a canvas frame, which is about 1″ deep. It’s deep enough to stand on it’s own on a shelf, or hang on the wall.

And…yes…his tail is angora.

Technorati Tags: embroidery, benjamin bunny, queen of sheba, fiber art, textile art, etsy, peacock feathers

This mezuzah was created during the Kohenet training intensive as a gift for Mei Mei Miriam to commemorate her transformation ceremony. Mei Mei is very connected to water, so the image is intended to evoke a river winding through the land. The gold beads along the edge are for Oshun. Mei Mei is a priestess of Oshun from her time living in Yoruba country. The stitch-work, which is hard to see in the photo, is primarily palestrina stitch with beads in between for the river. There’s also running stitch and simple bead stitch. I left the fringe of the selvage edge to represent the fringes of the tallit.

Unfortunately, that’s the best picture I was able to get before giving it to her!

Technorati Tags: mezuzah, oshun, beads, water, miriam, embroidery, judaica

This is an experimental abstract portrait of the Queen of Sheba. Inspired by an astonishing midrash on her and King Solomon in The Nakedness of the Fathers: Biblical Visions and Revisions

It’s on Dupioni Silk with variegated over-dyed silk floss (cretan sitches), peacock feathers, gold/silver (real) couched cord, and glass beads. You can see the line at the top which is the top edge, the peacock feathers break that line a little — so it’s a touch bigger than 6×4. I wanted to capture her beauty, seductive power and mystery — which is why I went abstract. My intent is to evoke the sinewy lines of an hourglass figure with the mystery and beauty of peacocks, which I associate with Solomon’s temple and gardens. I almost started seeing a beautiful mysterious woman doing a fan dance with the peacock feathers.

An interesting turn came when I started pulling some of the individual feathers from the central “stalk.” The stalk came off in these gorgeous curls. When I started to play with how to use them, frankly it started to remind me of pubic hair. I’ve softened that effect in the final version, but you may notice that the curls are towards the bottom of the figure.

My husband actually thought the piece went this way:

He saw land, sea, and sky just by turning the image on it’s side. I’ll leave it to you to decide which is better! I am planning on doing a few more Sheba’s, once I get some more gold/silver thread. I’m really liking working with natural fibers, so I don’t want to use “metallic” floss on this if I can help it. This piece is also my unofficial entry to “Take a Stitch Tuesday” as this weeks is Cretan Stitch. I finished it last week, but something made me think to use Cretan Stitch!

This piece is unspoken for, so if you are interested let me know by leaving a comment and I’ll get in touch with you.

Technorati Tags: queen of sheba, sheba, nakedness of the fathers, fiber art, embroidery, peacock, goldwork, cretan stitch, take a stitch tuesday, silk, dupioni, beading

I decided to finish this piece as larger than 6×4, but I wanted to submit to the 6×4 challenge, since that’s how it started out, so I scanned it now. The edges are unfinished, so I cropped it at the 6×4 marks. I’m planning on adding dimensional tree branches across the larger open area on the right, with natural dried leaves to continue the garden beyond the flat image. It’s matted on green felt, and there will be felt vines coming out of the background.

It’s intended to represent the moment when Chava (Eve) decides whether or not to eat the forbidden fruit. The snake is not present, because the focus is on her decision. In my midrash Chava makes a choice, she is not tricked by the snake. She listens to the snake and then does something she’s never done — she makes a decision on her own — thereby beginning history (herstory, if you like).

At this past week’s Kohenet intensive, I also realized that this represents Chava as the archetype of the Seeker to me (more on this later). It’s the moment of seeking knowledge — and then changing the course of her life beyond what she could imagine.

Technorati Tags: kohenet, chava, eve, pomegranates, satin stitch, long short stitch, french knots, linen, ribbon stitch