The Ketubahs

This couple bought their Ketubahs from me almost a year ago.  Yes, Ketubah-s.  Two of them.  As in, they each gave each other a Ketubah.  He gave her the standard Aramaic one, and she gave him basically the same thing but insert names in opposite blanks, and it was translated to Hebew.  Since last year, I have added a design and a Bracha that they read under the Chupa.  Enjoy!

Jerusalem Birkat HaBayit, New and Improved

After experimenting with different floral designs for the Birkat HaBayit, I came back to my good reliable Jerusalem design.  This time I tried playing around with the colour schemes and, in one of them, even went to a totally different bold extreme.  Don't worry, you can still order a Birkat HaBayit with the subtle earth tones, the couple I made that one for explicitly said that they didn't want anything neutral.  I also played around with papercutting vs. writing out the text and seeing how that effects the rest of the design.

The One With The Calligraphied Verse

The One That Isn't Neutral

Chinese Art

One of the pieces I revisited in the past few months in my Birkat HaBayit.  I have come to accept, that although I get bored with repeating, the Blessing for the Home will always be in high demand.  So, instead of trying to do away with it, I have been trying to reinvent it.  Last time I tried that I up with some floral designs.  This time, I made it to match the style of the family who was receiving the gift.  They are a fan of Chinese art, so I incorporated some Chinese flora into the original floral design.  I also tried adding a painted layer, which is a first for me.  The papercutting is framed suspended between two pieces of glass so the the branches cast shadows around the painted flowers.  I think the effect is delightful. 

Back and Ready for Action

I’m back again!  I know that I generally do not talk about my personal life in a standard bloggy kind of way, but this time it’s relevant.

I am pleased and proud to announce that I have completed my undergraduate degree in not-art.  Here’s the relevant part- before continuing on to my next degree in not-art, I am taking a few months and devoting them to doing art!  This means that I am finally open for orders full time.  I know I have turned a lot of you down in the past due to time constraints, but not this time.  If you or anyone you know would like an original Nechama papercutting, please shoot me a line!  I’m also working on a Facebook page, so check those out as well and show them to all your friends.

As well, I am going to try to go back to posting a piece a week.  Here’s my first post.

When you last heard from me few months ago, I mentioned that I was going to be taking a little break during which amongst other goals, I would try and come up with some new and fresh designs.  Well, we all know how busy life can get and how time can run away from us.  Although, I did not get as much done as I wanted to, but I did make this beautiful Ketubah for my cousin and my new cousin-in-law.  I very happy with the finished work and I hope you like it too.

See you next week!

A Confession

Some of you may have realized that recently I have been using the same basic designs and slightly adapting them each time I do a new piece.  I mentioned that in this post a little while ago.  Here is another example:

The design in the paper-cuttings below are basically mini versions of the design I made for the first Ketubah in this post.  Although I have done other variations of this design, like adding the nice leafy background, giving it somewhat of a musical character (below), and working with English text (also below), the bottom line is that they are pretty much all the same idea.

Although I quite like these pieces, I confess that I am getting bored of doing the same thing over and over again, and I've been having some trouble coming up with new designs.  Some might call this Artist's Block.  It's really not so bad.  I haven't stumbled into a deep depression of anything because of this.  I think I've been rushing so much to get pieces done I just haven't had time to stop, think and come up with new material.

And so, I present to you my plan to start my creative juices flowing once more.  I actually came up with this plan about a year and half ago and kept pushing it off.  I figure if I publish it here, I will be forced to stick to it.

From now until Purim I will not be taking orders and I will not be be working on the three wedding gifts I still owe to 6 of my wonderful friends.  Instead, I will finish the Megillah (for those of you who didn't know, I'm also a "Stam Soferet") I promised to Sod Siach two Purims ago, and I will focus on sketching new ideas.  After Purim, I will make three breathtaking and brilliantly original wedding gifts.  That will probably take me to through to July when I will begin taking more orders.

See you all then!

The Musical One

The One With the English

Knock Knock

Here's a new simple gift idea - door signs!

"The Most Noble Thing"

I made this piece for an aspiring writer friend of mine.  He had read an article in which a number of authors shared some advice on writing, and forwarded it to me under the subject "The Most Noble Thing" with a note to especially read Khaled Hosseini's bit.

"You write because you have an idea in your mind that feels so genuine, so important, so true. And yet, by the time this idea passes through the different filters of your mind, and into your hand, and onto the page or computer screen—it becomes distorted, and it's been diminished. The writing you end up with is an approximation, if you're lucky, of whatever it was you really wanted to say.

When this happens, it's quite a sobering reminder of your limitations as a writer. It can be extremely frustrating. When I'm writing, a thought will occasionally pass unblemished, unperturbed, through my head onto the screen—clearly, like through a glass. It's an intoxicating, euphoric sensation to feel that I've communicated something so real, and so true. But this doesn't happen often. (I can only think that there are some writers who write that way all the time. I think that's the difference between greatness and just being good.)

Even my finished books are approximations of what I intended to do. I try to narrow the gap, as much as I possibly can, between what I wanted to say and what's actually on the page. But there's still a gap, there always is. It's very, very difficult. And it's humbling.

But that's what art is for—for both reader and writer to overcome their respective limitations and encounter something true. It seems miraculous, doesn't it? That somebody can articulate something clearly and beautifully that exists inside you, something shrouded in impenetrable fog. Great art reaches through the fog, towards this secret heart—and it shows it to you, holds it before you. It's a revelatory, incredibly moving experience when this happens. You feel understood. You feel heard. That's why we come to art—we feel less alone. We are less alone. You see, through art, that others have felt the way you have—and you feel better."