Just to let you know.
I like to have about a month and a half to create a custom piece. I can do it quicker but like to have the time because if anything goes wrong at any point in the process (one
bad dye leak, one steaming kerfuffle, one cutting or sewing error) I have to start over from the beginning! You’ll never know about it - but it does happen.
It all starts with you.
After you reach out, we’ll find a time to talk. We’ll discuss your hopes and dreams for your custom piece. I want to know what makes you you. I know what questions to ask, and how to transform your ideas into a beautiful design that reflects your personality and your spirituality. For now, all of my consultation appointments are strictly over the phone, Zoom, or email. After our first chat, I’ll draw preliminary designs on paper and send them to you. Next we can talk about colors, make some changes, or start from square one.
Where magic happens.
I use the highest quality materials in all of my products: 19mm silk charmeuse, French dyes, and quilter’s cottons. After the drawing looks the way we’d like, I stretch the white silk on a frame and then take a bottle filled with gutta (a viscous product that dries and keeps the silk dye from migrating to where it doesn’t belong) and using a thin tipped bottle, draw onto the silk. I then set up the dyes I want to use, blending them to the perfect tone. Once I begin painting, I have to paint fast…if I pause, it dries, and strange water lines form. So having a clear vision of what I want to create is essential.
After the dye dries.
Once the silk dries for at least 24 hours, I steam it for two hours; that process sets the color. I go to the fabric stores to find the perfect fabric border (for wall hangings and challah covers), backing (for tallit which keeps the silk from sliding off one’s shoulders) and for the matching tallis bag. I hand draw the atarah (the neckpiece), reinforce the corners, and then I sew it up! For the tallit, sometimes I do a tzitzit tying ceremony with the Bar or Bat Mitzvah and his/her family. Many times I tie the kosher tzitzit myself and sit in prayer while I tie.