I had a wonderful commission for two mezuzahs or mezuzot, I want to be correct about it.  The first was for an update of a design I’d done a while back, the Keyhole, which I was excited to give another shot.  The second was a custom design.  I’m always really afraid of these types of commissions because I’m never sure if I can manifest what someone is looking for.

In this case the only requirement was that there needed to be a duck.  Yes, a duck.  I was stumped for a while about the angle, but then I thought of two things — my love of Cattails and how they could easily be shaped to look like the letter shin, and that there is a bit of Torah about birds and nests.

Deuteronomy 22:6 says that you can’t take the eggs from a nest a mother bird is on or near (mitzvah of shiluach ha-kan) in the wild.   It’s one of the positive commandments towards compassion, so I call this one “Model of Compassion.”  The cattails form a subtle letter Shin.  In my design the mother bird isn’t sitting on her nest, but she is carefully watching over it.

The second design is a keyhole based on an antique escutcheon I found on Ebay.  I’m so much happier with how this one turned out.  The first one was just too bulky.  I really slimmed down the design here, almost too small for the scroll, which you can see peaking out over the top.  I didn’t cut out the inside of the keyhole this time.  I felt with the small and delicate size it would be better served without that.  Okay, and I was on a deadline and afraid of screwing it up.

Both are pretty tiny, with the Compassion Mezuzah being just slightly larger at approximately 1.5″x4″ and the Keyhole at approximately 1.25″ x 3.25″.  I say approximately because I forgot to measure them before I shipped them off to their owner!  Both are also stitched on my favorite linen with silk floss.  The Keyhole is a pretty heavy satin stitch, which I used a laying tool to get a nice dimensional texture.

Oh, and yes, I know one of the pictures has the mezuzah posed the in the wrong direction.  Do you know which one?