Monday, May 16, 2011

judaica

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

mezuzah

(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.

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