Stenciling sort of

I recently showed at a POM L&S meeting the matzah cover I made.  Members asked questions about how I did the Hebrew lettering.  I will be demonstrating the technique on an upcoming L&S meeting so I better get my ducks in a row so I can show how I did it.  It may not be the best way of doing it, but it is the way that works for me.

In a recent L&S meeting about the Little Synagogue on the Prairie, there was a "mizrach" on the wall.  It was common in Jewish homes to have a sign or plaque on the wall called a mizrach which means east, the direction towards which prayers are said.

I went to Google and typed in "mizrach".   It sent me to Wikipedia.  All I really wanted was the Hebrew word מזרח

 

  

I highlighted מזרח and copied it into a new document in my word processing program.

 

  

I adjusted the font to "Aharoni" (you can chose whatever Hebrew font your word processor has but I chose Aharoni because the letters are thick).

I adjusted the letter size to 240 pt - this gave me all four letters on one row.  You could make them bigger, or smaller, depending on what you are making.

And I got this which I printed onto coloured paper - I will explain why further on.

  

OK.  So now we have the base for the template.  If you are planning to make a stencil, tape the paper to a window, tape a piece of freezer paper, non-shiny side facing you, onto the base and trace the letter outline with a pen or pencil onto the freezer paper.

 

Remove from window.  Cut out the inside of the letters.  Et voila, a stencil you can iron onto fabric to paint with fabric paint.

 

 

 

If you are planning to cut out fabric letters, cut out the letters, cutting around the black ink.

Now flip the letters over so all you see is the pink.

Trace the letters onto fusible - I used Steam a Seam Lite.  I am assuming you know how fusible works, if not ask someone who does know.

   

There are two steps to the fusing. 

 

You will need to peel off the paper on the unwritten side of the fusible and fuse it to the fabric from which the letters will be cut.  Fuse either

a) onto the wrong side of the fabric; or

b) onto something like batik which doesn't have a right or wrong side, or onto a silk where neither side is discernably right or wrong.

 

 I used batik because I wanted to use up my bits and pieces.

 

Cut the fusible to separate between the letters.  This is where you peel off the paper not written on Then iron the fusible onto the fabric. COVER WITH PARCHMENT PAPER BEFORE IRONING.  Sorry for shouting.

It is much easier to cut out if you don't cut the letters until they have been fused.

 

Once you have fused onto the fabric and cut out the letters, you will have this:

 

 

Now peel the fusible on the back of the letters, place the letters on the fabric where you want them and you will have the final lettering.  I fused onto a goldish synthetic fabric which I will eventually finish off with quilting, embroidery or something else.

 

 Alternative sources for lettering:

 Masterfont - used to have a place where you could try out the font.  I used to try out the words I wanted, then copy and paste into a word document.  Don't know if this will still work.

alefalefalef.co.il - a graphic designs site but they have free Hebrew fonts.