Friday, March 11, 2011

Saying my prayers.....

The first weekend that Kerry was in the hospital was the hardest.  In all honesty, we didn't know if he was going to pull through or not.  My friends in Israel said a prayer for him in their Synagogue and then sent me the prayer.  Colleen wrote it in calligraphy 3 times.  I loved that she would go to so much effort to get it right.  So I wanted to preserve it.



Just click to enlarge.  It's 16" x 20".  The background is white velvet.  The prayer is wrapped in an old prayer shawl, tallit, that I found at a thrift store....made of rayon...so when I washed it, it fell apart.  I draped it around the prayer and let it dry, tucking the torn parts into the folds.  No one will ever know!

Very vintage pale blue rose buds with handmade new silk roses, with a few flowers, leaves and ribbons tucked in...because he gave me a rose a week later.



Each of the corners have a sterling silver star of david added....


This is a 2" patera type finding....with over 100 swarvosky flat back crystals set into it.  Took some time....but it really is gorgeous when you see it in person!





Each of the upper corners have crystals set in the pattern of swirls.  Hmmm.....interesting getting hot glue to adhere to velvet....but it worked.  Took most of the afternoon on just these 2 flourishes.



A closeup of how I did the folds.  Now, my camera setting must have been off as this is pure white.







I will get this framed in the next couple of weeks....but I love the idea of making memories bigger than life....hanging them on the wall....especially this prayer, one I continue to pray every single day.

5 comments:

Neet said...

So very touching Jen - and so very very beautiful. A true work of art (or heart).

madelineas said...

This is so beautiful so happy you have preserved it.
Bless you both

Lisa'sLettersandLace said...

This is so beautiful and special. I love how you designed this piece to hang on your wall, to share a large piece of who you are as a family.
I love your arts and crafts so I came over to share an award that was given to me last week. So I linked you from my post, thank you for the inspiration. Blessings to you and Kerry.

Shoshi said...

This is absolutely beautiful, Jen - the more so because it is from the heart and means so much. I love the idea of the ancient tallit which has been worn out with use - so many prayers! I am praying you and Kerry.

Jennifer Moore Lowe said...

Shoshi - I wonder what people do withworn out tallits? I'd love to do more of these - wouldn't they make wonderful gifts? Of course, finding the vintage flowers would be almost as hard to find. :o)