| Commissioned Mezuzot |
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?

