Inspiration

Let's start with a confession. I'm not gifted in scripture memorization! But I am more successful in remembering scripture if I've learned it through a hymn. God's Word even calls us to do this...Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. (Colossians 3:16). Thanksgiving for this! I think what helps me is that the words actually impress a visual in my brain. Maybe this is like the flashcards my children make to help them learn their SAT vocabulary and terminology for plant biology? At ages 15 and 19 they are finally realizing there is a better connection when different learning strategies are employed to work towards one goal. And, this is what our horn always toots at Carrot Top Studio...people often need a visual to connect with the spoken Word to help the lesson sink deeper within our soul.

This past Sunday, in the church I attend, we sang one of my favorite hymns, God, You Spin the Whirling Planets. This hymn that speaks to the creation story in Genesis 1:26-27 conjures up wonderful visual images in my mind. In fact last summer Carrot Top Studio even created a stole inspired by the text as seen to the left and on our website here. If you're not familiar with this contemporary hymn written by Jane Huber you can here a rendition here. 

What hymns bring visual images to your mind? We're looking forward to the season of Ordinary Time after Easter when we can explore stitching for the themes of Christianity that are not focused on major celebration days and seasons. As always we'll look forward to hearing from you...maybe you know a hymn that will inspire a stole!

How to Display a Stole

The studio recently received this email:

I found your facebook and blog site through a search.  I am trying to find ideas for a friend who wants to display her stole in her home. 

I am not a fabric artist (I am a painter and poet), but a couple of years ago, my friend commissioned me to create a stole for her ordination.   Now she is interested in displaying it on a wall in her home as fabric art, but also wants it easily accessible to wear when she needs to.  Have you ever been involved in hanging a stole on a wall?  And do you have any ideas for her in terms of what to use?  


My answer was:
If I were displaying a stole in a home or an office I would use a similar method but dress it up a bit. I’d use a decorative curtain rod with finials that was suspended from the wall by decorative wall brackets. Kimonos are often displayed as art in this same manner. So the front long skinny pieces of the stole would drape over the rod. The back tip would hang over the rod and the inside of the back tip would face the viewer. You could use a rod the same color as the wall so it melted away visually or use one that stood out boldly and let it become part of the fiber art. This method of draping a stole over a rod would be especially lovely if the stole were reversible.


The artist replied with the good idea of adding a bit of felt to the top of the hanging rod would allow the stole not to slide off. And actually for the photo in this post the stole is rather light weight so it is being held in place by two straight pins holding the layers together from the back side.


Jane (that sent the email) is an artist who's work is bold and lively yet fresh and the addition of her poetry is lovely. See here work here. Don't miss the wonderful stole she writes about under the "other artwork" category and the commission tab has a lovely opportunity from this artist to have one of a kind works of art for special occasions and people created.

The Presentation

Presentation at the Temple

If you follow the lectionary then you know that one of the texts for this week is about Jesus's presentation at the Temple by Mary and Joseph as told in Luke 22-40.




This charming tempera and gold leaf on parchment depicts that story. It is dated 1030-1040 and is part of the Getty Museum collection. The art history notes from the Getty include this description: In this miniature, a series of large arches frames the figures of Joseph carrying the doves for sacrifice on the left, the Virgin holding the month-old but adult-bodied Jesus in the center, and the priest Simeon on the right. The architecture places the scene in the Temple in Jerusalem, but the altar and chalice refer to the Christian sacrament of the Eucharist. Jesus' placement above the altar further alludes to the Eucharist because during that rite Jesus' body and blood are understood to be present in the bread and wine that are consecrated on the altar. 


I marvel at new life during presentation ceremonies and at infant baptisms (which are not interchangeable but often occur at the same time in the little one's new life so I'm lumping them together here). I'm supposing that I'm drawn to all this because I find babies irresistible and that there is also a lot of symbolism involved...and that fits right in there with our work at Carrot Top Studio! Among these Christian symbols we can count water, a shell, the color white and the family coming together with the church that stands around them. Along these lines I recently read about a pastor that after doing an infant presentation sent the child's parents home with a letter to be opened by the child when he turned 12. The letter told the child how he'd been prayed for by his parents and church family and that he was a gift from God. It continued to encourage the child to trust in God as he traveled on his journey in life. Simeon told Mary and Joseph what their child was to become. The pastor I have told you about urges children at this coming of age time that they too can follow God's plan. 


The symbols and colors we use and the way we mark an event or milestone in our faith are quite varied. As God has instructed us, "There is a time for every season...." and as we pass through these seasons (such as welcoming new life) may take the time to give them the attention they deserve. It is because of these children that the church will have a future.


Carrot Top Studio offers several stoles for Baptism you may find them here and the line of stoles that might connect visually with children can be seen here.