Birkat Chaverim Blog

I have been meaning to post about this book for a long time but the Tenth of Tevet is appropriate due to the name of the book and the connection of the Prophet Jeremiah to the period of seige and destruction of Jerusalem.

This book has a much happier subject. I found it at Shavua hasefer (book week) this past year and immediately bought two copies and showed it to my class (doll clothing) for inspiration.  The book is called Rechov Yirmiyahu or Jeremiah Street and is written by Libi Daon and illustrated by Lena Guberman.
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I know the title starts with Scarves, and I’m including one photo of a scarf at the top, but I am going to start with the updates. Now that Chanukkah/Hanukkah is over we can get back to other topics. I have been working on a variety of graphic design projects but most are identity related and I’m not going to post any at this time.
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Tonight is the last night of Hanukkah/Chanukkah. I took some photos in the neighbourhood of traditional Jerusalem lamps or lamp boxes and I am including them in this post.

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Although I have not posted recently about the chug (workshop/class), we are meeting again this year and are working on a variety of projects, mostly not doll clothing. Some participants are working on animal shaped ouch relievers (you know, those things that sit in the freezer and when you get an ouch, relieve the ouches) and others are working on scarves, some intended as Hanukkah presents. I’ll post photos when they are finished (assuming I remember to photograph them before they get taken home.)

Here are a few clothing items that the girls made in the meantime:
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Here are a few more fun things for Hanukkah/Chanukkah:
The first two are in Hebrew but have a lot of pictures so for readers who don’t read Hebrew, you can get the gist of the project anyway.

How to for a fondant dreidel necklace My thanks to Tal Tsafrir from Taltalim for allowing me to include a link and use an image of the project.

Hanukkah gelt (money) is a big thing for children and really the more traditional custom (in contrast to gift giving) for this holiday. Make your own chocolate Hanukkah gelt using actual coins as guides.

For families planning Bar and Bat Mitzvah celebrations or even weddings during this time, you could actually personalize Hanukkah gelt by creating round stickers with your information, to place on the outside of the gelt. Or if you wanted to be really fancy (and if bringing food items without Kosher certification to your celebration location is not a problem,) you could make a mold for poured chocolate with names and so forth.

Here’s another Hanukkah item where you can make your own mold or buy it ready made. I love these draidel crayons. The ones depicted can be ordered through Oriental Trading Company, but you could equally make your own using a small plastic draidel as a mold.

Oil or candles are a big part of Hanukkah. A tutorial for rolled beeswax candles and other candle making can be found at Candlehelp. For oil, it would be fun to do projects related to the properties of oil and water. In particular, when getting your oil and wicks ready, adding water and food coloring below the oil.

For other Hanukkah ideas see:Some Hanukkah Craft Ideas,  Hanukkah is coming related artwork, or Felt Food Latke tutorial Hanukkah lights and a few more projects