Chuppah completed...wedding celebrated!

A while back I posted an entry about a chuppah (a traditional Jewish wedding canopy) in progress. I was commissioned to do the piece for two dear friends (Leslie Winner and Jerry Postema) who were about to be married.

Well, the chuppah got done in time to make its debut at the wedding.

You'll see, from the picture that the chuppah was held above the couple's heads, suspended from four wooden poles. As is traditional, the poles were held by those closest to the bride and groom - in this case their children and other beloved relatives.

I solved the problem of attaching the chuppah to the poles by sewing a fabric loop (heavily reinforced - but easy to remove at the end of the wedding) to each corner of the chuppah.

I threaded a binder ring, first through each fabric loop, and then through the "eye screw" found at the top of each wooden pole.


To pretty up the attachment, I passed streamers - made with fabrics used in the chuppah - through the ring binders.

The wedding itself was a joyous occasion...a celebration of two people finding each other, and love, in the 2nd half of life.


Here's the piece now...both the front and labels on the back.




I took off the loops, placed two sleeves on the quilt --- one for the hanging rod and a second on the bottom for a "weighting rod" (to keep the quilt hanging flat).

Of course, I'm looking forward to seeing the piece in Leslie and Jerry's home. But even more than that, I'm looking forward to watching them enjoy their lives together for many happy and healthy years to come.

Mazel tov!

Debbie

A "Chuppah" Under Construction: process and progress

I've recently been commissioned to do a chuppah for some friends who are about to tie the knot.

"What's a chuppah?" you may well ask.

It's a Jewish wedding canopy, a structure that forms a roof over a bride and groom during their wedding ceremony. Although the chuppah symbolizes many aspects of love and marriage, it's most often described as representing the couple's future home. It's openness -- no walls surround it -- symbolizes the hospitality and generosity that the couple hopes will be a hallmark of their home.

Fortunately, my friends prefer simplicity. A good thing since the wedding is at the end of January and a highly complex design might have put me in a tailspin.

Since I've never made a chuppah, I thought it might be fun to document the process:

So where to begin? I wound up being inspired by a Celtic chain that forms the borders of my friends' ketubah (a traditional Jewish marriage contract) and abstracted the chain into a series of braided designs.



The braided theme seemed apropos. It's reminiscent of braided challah bread that's served for Sabbath and festival meals. But it also seemed symbolic of the marriage: two friends weaving the individual strands of their very full and active lives into a new, even richer, life together.

The couple chose the 2nd design...shown
here with the strands of the braid shaded.

The basic design seemed "okay," but I wasn't quite satisfied
with the dark strand. It seemed too clunky...

So back to the drawing board for revision:

I decided to add a couple of twists to the darker braid and this has become the final sketch....





and here's the mock-up with fabric in the couple's chosen colors: deep blue, claret red, and harvest gold.



The only problem here, the braids seemed too "flat."

So back to the drawing board one more time to add some dimension with some lighter colored fabrics.





Here's the pencil sketch mock-up for the "final" final draft...












and the "final" final mock-up in fabric...

Well almost...the braids need to be lowered a bit so that the design is more or less centered on the vertical.

And I'm still pondering the top and bottom borders (shown here in blue)...

We've all (bride, groom, and me) decided not to use a border on the sides. We wanted nothing to restrict the flow of the braids and the life that my friends will share together.

But perhaps the border should contain all three colors? or maybe just the blue and claret (since a light gold will form the background for the piece).

I'm on my way with this...and I'll post the finished product...*eventually.*

But in the meantime...suggestions for my border conundrum are welcome. Please feel free to leave a comment!

Debbie