judaica

I've been messing around with dead bike parts again and turning them into ritual Judaica items.



(mezuzah, made from Japanese quill pedal and various tiny bits)

I can make mezuzot (singular: mezuzah; like above, the things Jews nail to the doorposts of their homes); kiddush cups and candlesticks (for use on the Sabbath and Holy days); and Yaddayyim (singular: Yad; the pointer we use to mark our place when reading aloud from a Torah scroll iin synagogue).

I've mostly given these away as gifts, and have sold only a few over the years -- Judaica made from bike parts has kind of a limited market, at least here in decidedly not-so-Jewish Oregon. Lately, as part of my re-examination of my connection to Jewish life, I've been making this stuff again. Now that I've figured out the various processes, the items themselves take less time to make -- but sourcing dead bike parts has become more difficult as more vintage bike parts end up in a million little secret "hoard-piles" of collectors, and for sale online. Still, it's cool to make them and hopefully I'll find homes for all of them before too long.