Weaving into Wire Baskets

Posted on January 28, 2018 by pomegranateguild18

Anna writes: What an exciting programme! Thank you to Reesa and Barbara for putting it together. After the oohs and aahs of a brief inspirational slide show, everyone jumped in to transform wire baskets and lampshades into upcycled “objets” adorned with ribbons, beads and a variety of trimmings. We challenged our creativity, love of texture, and – of course! – our stash busting goals by adding the scarves, remnants, trimmings, buttons, and other items from our closets.

This was a great chance to play together and to learn from one another, young and old. Now the oohs and aahs are for the work of our own hands!

The life-cycle in Moroccan Jewish textiles

Posted on February 25, 2017 by pomegranateguild18

Anna Vandelman writes:

My dear friend Suzanne Benchimol came to the Guild’s February meeting to teach us about Moroccan Jewish textiles. Most in attendance had no idea of the exquisite, sumptuous clothing they were about to see.

Suzanne made it most interesting by taking us through the lIfe cycle of clothing from the garments and wrappers of the Brit Milah to the henna ceremony garb and wedding dresses. WOW! She detailed for us every inch of each piece.

Suzanne is a very accomplished designer and seamstress. This is most evident in the unbelievable work on the layered wedding ensembles she creates. We saw some examples in photographs but the highlight of the night was the outfit we could examine – layer by layer – as Suzanne dressed our model, member Barbara Goldstein – a recent bride herself. We were impressed by the perfection of each embroidered stitch, bead, and decorative textile, no matter what we were shown.

Today many brides prefer to wear white gowns for their wedding day. So, it has become a custom that the richly embroidered dress and matching headress (the bride is seen as a queen and so a crown is essentia!l), is worn for the Henna Night, when all women add henna to the bride’s palms. The layers of the gown are designed to be adjustable in fit. The gowns were often shared around within families and communities, or loaned to poor families.

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Suzanne explained every custom, from the engagement to the henna night to the wedding day to the Brit Milah to the Bar Mitzvah and so on. She used videos to show us the ceremonies with the customary textiles in use. So, for example, the Brit Milah besides being shown on film was enhanced by the baby’s dress itself that we could see and touch. And the henna video let us see how family members would help support the crown, and gown. And we could also hear the typical ululations!

We were allowed to touch the textiles she brought for us to examine, including beautiful old silk shawls and heritage tallit bags. Besides being totally involved in the textile art of life- cycle clothing Suzanne actively invents and plans programs for residents and patients at Baycrest in the Home and Hospital and she has been honoured as a Baycrest treasure having her photo added to the wall in the Silverman Court.

Thank you Suzanne, for this special, informative and delightful evening!

And you shall teach your children – compassion and community service

Posted on January 2, 2017 by pomegranateguild18

Anna VanDelman writes

On December 21 Guild members spent a short time recalling the sweatshops some of our ancestors worked in at the beginning of the 20th Century. With a flurry of work, our members produced project kits for distribution to children in our community.

The evening was opened by a moving introduction by Samara Goldenburg who shared stories to convey the social myths and social work of the Jewish community. And, then Guild members rose to our challenge for the session: Six tables, each with a different age-based textile project to assemble materials and other goodies for. This project helped us responsibly use stash we had collected over the years (hooray).Members were so engaged in the process (the more kits, the more children we can help!) we could hardly hear ourselves talk.

At the end of our 90 minutes of piecework, we completed assembly of:

• 25 dinosaur kits

• 20 Teddy bear kits

• 25 glove puppet kits

• 25 tooth fairy kits

• 25 grab bag kits

• 45 sticky back tile kits

Congratulations to our programme team Paula Suchat Miller, team co-ordinator, Reesa Wasser and Shirley Gossak for the tremendous amount of work it took to enable Guild members the chance to pay it forward.

Heads UP!

Posted on October 5, 2016 by pomegranateguild18

Anna Vandelman writes

Hats off to programme guru Paula Miller as she continues to bring creative ideas to us at the Guild. For our opening programme this year– in our new accommodations at Beth Emeth Bais Yehuda Synagoge – she brought millinery expert, Ampara Findlay of Hatitude to run us through the ins and outs of making exquisite fascinators.

Everyone was involved and excited to participate – including those who came intending just to observe. Personal knitting and crochet projects were put aside as we all rummaged through the Guild stash and chose items of our own that we’d brought along for the evening.

After a brief introduction, we got to work. Amparo went around to each one of us helping us with our choices and making suggestions so that all of our creations looked professional.

It was, indeed, a fascinating evening. And we are sure that many new items of headwear attracted attention at shul this high holiday season!

A tisket, a tasket, I made a yellow basket

Posted on May 4, 2016 by pomegranateguild18

Anna VanDelman writes
(with apologies to Ella Fitzgerald)

Once again Pomegranate members indulged in an exciting creative project. It happened on a beautiful evening at Temple Sinai on Wednesday, April 27, 2016. As we entered the hall we were treated to a display of members’ own creations of vessels, each one exquisite in own design and execution, made of felt, fabric, reed, and many other materials.

The evening began with a D’var Torah delivered by immediate past president Karen Chisvin. To set the scene for the program ahead, she spoke about the commandment to wash our hands – our instruments of work in the world. And she quoted from the words of Torah by Rabbi Frand about the vessels of the poor brought to the Temple for Shavuot. They were handmade wicker baskets, kept by the Kohanim to bring merit to the poor, while the gold and silver trays of the rich were returned to them as they were not vested with the labour of the pilgrims.

Melanie Siegel then introduced her friend and colleague, Michelle Zikovitz our guest lecturer for the evening. Michelle is currently Art Supervisor for the Town of Richmond Hill. She started out as a tapestry weaver and then fell in love with basket weaving. Her baskets are visually appealing as well as functional and practical.

Michelle then taught us to create a basic basket by weaving wet reeds around a styrofoam cup. We used her hand-dyed reeds (her personal favourite material) that helped us, like her other students of all ages, to develop an appreciation of the ancient artistry of basket weaving. And then, Guild members took off in all directions, using more reeds, our fabric stash, personal ornaments and other materials to continue and complete our work.

Michelle also directed us to Pinterest and other internet sources to explore more basketry ideas. For more about Michelle, see her website, and search for name in the images tab of your browser.

Thank you Michelle for a fascinating evening!

Planting Seeds

Posted on April 11, 2016 by pomegranateguild18

The Pomegranate Guild Outreach program “Seeds” travelled to Netivot HaTorah on March 30 to work with bat mitzvah age girls on a Life Skills stitching project. We enjoyed an intergenerational afternoon of sharing and stitching. This was just the start of the project and we are looking forward to the final work.

Finding the Story – An evening with Alice Vander Vennen

Posted on March 27, 2016 by pomegranateguild18

Anna VanDelman writes:
On March 16, 2016 three dozen women and men from The Pomegranate Guild of Judaic Textiles Toronto and Congregation Darchei Noam joined together at Darchei Noam for a wonderful evening of textiles co-presented by the two organizations. We were thrilled to see the Guild’s current exhibit “In Celebration” on display in the synagogue social hall, with our pomegranate grid hanging on one of the public feature walls and Melanie Siegel’s marvel hanging over the main stair.

Wearing two hats – one from each organization – Sara Levine Petroff introduced our guest artist, Alice Vander Vennen. Alice is an artist of Dutch parentage who presented a slide show with comments, explaining how the methods and materials of her art are related to her life. Alice juxtaposes text with natural and found objects scavenged from many sources. She works intuitively with a strong basis in composition and colour. Many of the pieces are large and rich in deep colours 18″ by 50: some forming portraits. In other works, a canoe-like shapes of sticks and wire speak of journeys.

Alice then led us through a hands-on session of collage and composition. She shared some of the tips and tricks that work for her: using a frame to test a composition, cutting and repositioning, reaching for “just the right detail.” At one point in the evening as she was teaching her technique she looked down at her clothing and cut a large button off the jacket she was wearing. Though we all gasped and held our own clothing closer to us we realized that for Alice, inspiration is everywhere. This was an evening of pure magic. Thank you Alice for allowing us a view into your own creative process.

If you want to get your socks knocked off visit Alice Vander Vennen – Original Works

Trash into [fabulous] textile greeting cards

Posted on March 13, 2016 by pomegranateguild18

Anna VanDelman writes:
On a beautiful, cold, clear evening, Temple Sinai was ABUZZ with the excitement of creating 4″ x 6″ pieces of fabric into gift/greeting cards.

Rikki Blitt introduced our own TallitMaaven and fabric design diva, Marilyn Cohen Levy, who presented power point slides showing her amazing work on cards, postcards that yes, go through the mail, and a variety of her other amazing projects. And, who knew what you can do with dryer lint!

A plethora of ideas flowed through the evening. Marilyn generously shared an incredible amount of her stash so that we all took home several cards. This is pure mitzvah work allowing Marilyn to reduce her own stash and of course purchase more fabric. And I, for one, will never have to purchase another greeting/gift card. How lucky we are as members of this Guild to count such talent within our core.

Reesa Wasser flew in from Florida baggage and all to thank Marilyn for all her work and for sharing her special talent with us. Certainly a night to remember!

A Night at the (Beth Tzedec Reuben and Helene Dennis Museum) – Not scary at all!

Posted on December 27, 2015 by pomegranateguild18

Anna VanDelman writes:

On Wednesday December 6th, three dozen Pomegranate Guild members and guests made their way through Beth Tzedec’s current renovations to the beautiful chapel for an evening of Judaic treasures – artifacts recycled and repurposed, in keeping with this year’s theme. Rkki Blitt introduced our speaker, Dorion Liebgott, who is both a long time Guild member and long time (25 years) curator of the Museum.

We sat in awe of the precious artifacts Dorion brought for our delight. Of particular interest to us as textile artists were items that involved the reuse of fabrics. These included a wimple (Torah binder) of German origin. The wimple was recycled from a infant’s swaddling cloth. It was cut into strips that were sewn together and embroidered with a formula including the child’s name, birth-date, and blessings. This binder would have been wrapped around the Torah used on the child’s 3rd birthday, his Bar Mitzvah and his wedding. We also examined was a Torah crown made of damask silk (rather than the usual silver) and a parochet (ark curtain) made of recycled fashion fabrics.

Dorion showed us Chanukah menorahs – one reconstructed from a rifle, and another made of empty bullet cartridges mounted on Plexiglas from the American Military – that demonstrate how Judaic ritual items can be made with objects and materials found immediately at hand.

Parochet

Chanukiah – rifle stock

Wimple

Silver chanukiah

Collaged Judaica

Pidyon Ha-ben basin

Chanukiah – bullet casings

Parochet

Parochet – pomegranate detail

Parochet – with text and pomegranate detail

Textile Torah crown

Sometimes conventional items have inscriptions added to make them suitable for Judaic purposes. We were shown a large pewter bowl with blessings inscribed with reference to the redemption of the first born son for the ceremony of Pidyon Ha Ben, and a seder plate that was also created by inscribing a standard pewter plate. In some cases items are adapted merely by use: a locked sugar box and open candy silver candy dish are two objects that have become etrog containers by declaring them so.

Several Yads (Torah pointers) demonstrated a collage approach, constructed by adding multiple small pieces of other objects to create a pointer. Their awkwardness in both appearance and function are clues to the “fakery” behind their construction.

Many of the precious objects Dorion showed us were from the Cecil Roth Collection in the Museum, and Dorion also shared the story of how the Reuben and Helene Dennis Museum acquired them. All the photographs in this post are published with the permission of the museum.

Rikki thanked Dorion, as we all did, for a fascinating evening teaching us that we can continually recycle and re-invent old artifacts into new treasures.

All the photographs in this post are published with the permission of the museum

We got hooked!

Posted on November 30, 2015 by pomegranateguild18

Janis Katz writes

“GET HOOKED” – it’s not what you think!
Continuing this year’s theme of “Do Not Waste”, Guild members and guests spent the evening learning about, and practicing, the art of “hooking” (or sometimes “prodding”). This event was co-presented and hosted by Congregation Darchei Noam.

Our Guild secretary, Barbara Goldstein [see more about Barbara below], gave us a primer on (rug) hooking: she showed us stunning samples of her own work (bags, chair pads, cholent trivets) and then demonstrated how it’s done. The supplies are few: latch hook canvas, a crochet hook (or chopstick), and a darning needle. Then there’s the fabric: everyone grabbed their favourite from the Guild stash – chiffon, velvet, cotton, wool, etc. – and started tearing or cutting thin strips about 1 cm wide.

With this technique, you start on the edge first. Fold back one row of the canvas and whipstitch or overcast using a darning needle threaded with a fabric strip. Then you use your crochet hook or chopstick to fill in the grid. “Hooking” uses a crochet hook to pull up fabric loops in each grid square. “Prodding” is done with a chopstick, to push loops down in the grid. The loopy side is the right side.

Everyone had a great time tearing strips of fabric, hooking and prodding, and chatting.

A tip from Barbara: you could “get hooked” on this technique and be tempted to go out and buy fabric, but remember – do not waste, use your stash!

The Guild was delighted to be able to partner with Congregation Darchei Noam for this event, and we’ll be partnering again in March and May of 2016.

A note about Barbara: Barbara is a graduate of Sheridan College and Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Textile Studios, as well as an active member of The Pomegranate Guild of Judaic Textiles, Toronto. She has exhibited in many art shows, most recently “The Edge of the Forest”, now traveling across Canada. All completed work shown in this post are Barbara’s.