Labor of Love

Posted by Ulana Illiano on September 1st, 2008 — in Holidays & Celebrations | Click here to comment

Happy Labor Day 2008 from Jewish Gift Place! Throughout the year we strive to bring you the most beautiful handcrafted Judaica and Jewish gifts. On this special day we would like to take a moment to thank the artists in our collection for their hard work and dedication in bringing us their inspired treasures.

The items we sell at Jewish Gift Place are the result of hours of the artist toiling away in the studio. First, the artist must come up with a design. Some designs are the result of a moment of inspiration, but some may require working and reworking the design to get it just right — many hours and days of work. Making a pewter mezuzah like, for example, the Emily Rosenfeld Couple Mezuzah, requires many steps before it is completed. Pieces such as this might require a series of classical metalsmithing techniques including making dies by hand, and annealing and pressing the metal. Depending on the piece, additional steps such as adding wire borders, silver soldering, cutting, drilling, filing, sanding, and polishing may be required. It is a lengthy process, but one that results in some of the most gorgeous Judaica you will find anywhere.

The stunning pieces in the Gary Rosenthal collection are the result of combining copper, brass and steel with brilliant fused glass and 24k gold. For Gary, each day in the studio is labor intensive but a labor of love nonetheless. In a recent interview, Gary was asked about his creative process. His reply reveals the amount of time and work that goes into each and every piece in the Gary Rosenthal Collection: “I have an idea and then I collaborate with others and make prototypes until I see what I like.” At the time of the interview he was working on a beautiful Vertical Seder Plate. A quick look at this piece shows how involved Gary is in perfecting his craft.

Jewelry is a labor intensive process as well and, at Jewish Gift Place, we carry the work of artisans who handcraft jewelry for the most exquisite results. World-renowned Israeli artist Ayala Bar creates a dazzling array of intricate mosaic jewelry in which each bead is individually placed by hand. Nothing is routine to Ayala. The materials she works with – simple metals, glass beads, mineral stones and crystal rhinestones are used to translate her creative perceptions into intricate patterns with a thousand messages. This Ayala Bar Necklace, for example, clearly reflects the enormous task that each and every piece of her jewelry represents.

On this Labor Day, we at Jewish Gift Place would like to thank each and every one of our very talented artists for doing what they do every day. Without them, the world would be a much less beautiful place!