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New mezuzah cases
Aug. 11th, 2003 11:34 amI played with Fimo yesterday, for the first time. I'd gotten some remaindered at Michael's some weeks ago, just because it was there (and cheap). The package had red, orange, and yellow - bright, trippy colors. It took so a lot of effort to get the clay malleable. I warmed it up by holding it, then started squeezing it. It's really a challenge, much more so than the hardest color of therapy stuff I had last year, and remained just a bit more crumbly than I would've liked.
I used a wine bottle to roll them out, on the plastic sheet that came with the kit. Also included was a plastic cutting tool. I'd had a mezuzah fall off an inside doorway, a case I'd never cared much for, so I decided to rehang it with a new case. I cut out a back, made holes in it for nailing (not that I do - I use Fun-Tak or its equivalent - so I'm not sure why I did this), then started working on the front. I cut out a circle, and lots of petals, and assembled a flower, which I molded over an aluminum foil form, to make sure it didn't collapse while baking. The front is short enough that the mezuzah klaf (parchment) shin (Hebrew letter, not a body part) is easily visible, so I didn't have to figure out how to work a shin into the flower design.
I had a lot of clay left over when I finished that, so I made another case, this one with a solid front, a shin and some polka dots on it. Yet more clay (I'd thought they were small enough pieces when I got the kit, really). I made a couple of beads, and finally I'd used it all up.
The directions had me baking the pieces for half an hour at 265 F. I had no way to know if they were done, but took them out; I didn't want them to get lightly browned or whatever. I was surprised to find that the large pieces of plain color developed patterns, internal freckles of the same color. Cool. I also learned that forming beads on bits of foil is not the best; despite the warnings against using flammable items, toothpicks would likely have done better. Next time... (though I'd like different (or just more) colors to play with).
I hung both cases yesterday, the klafs fitting easily, the bright colors not quite fitting with the other colors around the house, but pleasing me anyway.
I used a wine bottle to roll them out, on the plastic sheet that came with the kit. Also included was a plastic cutting tool. I'd had a mezuzah fall off an inside doorway, a case I'd never cared much for, so I decided to rehang it with a new case. I cut out a back, made holes in it for nailing (not that I do - I use Fun-Tak or its equivalent - so I'm not sure why I did this), then started working on the front. I cut out a circle, and lots of petals, and assembled a flower, which I molded over an aluminum foil form, to make sure it didn't collapse while baking. The front is short enough that the mezuzah klaf (parchment) shin (Hebrew letter, not a body part) is easily visible, so I didn't have to figure out how to work a shin into the flower design.
I had a lot of clay left over when I finished that, so I made another case, this one with a solid front, a shin and some polka dots on it. Yet more clay (I'd thought they were small enough pieces when I got the kit, really). I made a couple of beads, and finally I'd used it all up.
The directions had me baking the pieces for half an hour at 265 F. I had no way to know if they were done, but took them out; I didn't want them to get lightly browned or whatever. I was surprised to find that the large pieces of plain color developed patterns, internal freckles of the same color. Cool. I also learned that forming beads on bits of foil is not the best; despite the warnings against using flammable items, toothpicks would likely have done better. Next time... (though I'd like different (or just more) colors to play with).
I hung both cases yesterday, the klafs fitting easily, the bright colors not quite fitting with the other colors around the house, but pleasing me anyway.