We're celebrating! 15 Years of creating clergy stoles!

What I've learned in 15 years of owning and operating Carrot Top Studio ...

15 - Have faith in an idea. The goal was to be in business for 3 years and look where we are now!

14 - Designing for the seasons of preparation is a favorite.

13 - Communication is key.

12 - Red stoles sell well. 

11 - Listening is key. You all have great ideas!

10 - I my taxman more than I did 15 years ago. And he shouldn't read anything into this ranking. 

9 - Hard work is worth it.

8 - Writing is our strongest suit but after 405 blog posts there has been improvement.

7 - Learning and curiosity for the sake of the business has led to studying the scriptures and reading many. That's a joy.

6 - Social media can be a good thing. Thanks for linking with Carrot Top Studio!

5 - it's not all about the money - I really love what I do.

4 - Making charitable donations because through your purchases has been a special delight.

3 - Good photographs are important for an online business (duh!?) Check out the website for our recent improvements!

2 - My family is a really supportive bunch.

1 - Your compassion, caring, and encouragement make you the best clients to work with! I am so very thankful.

THANK YOU, thank you! Cheers to what is ahead :) …. signing off to go eat that cake!

Why Clergy Stoles? Smells and Bells!

I usually start my day with a devotion from Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals by Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove. The May 4 guiding of song, scripture and prayer ended with some thoughts titled, “Smells and Bell.” Sharing parts of it here —

“We worship a God who came as a material Savior. So when we pray, we can use all of our senses. We see symbols of our faith. We hear words and songs. We smell the incense of our prayers rising to God. We touch and taste Christ in the sacramental life. Just as a whiff of apple pie can conjure up nostalgic memories of home, so our incense can help us pray. But, as Amos declare, if all we have is incense , without justice for the poor and fruit from our prayers we should snuff out the incense and shut up with our songs, because they are nauseating to God. If our material tools help us worship the eternal God and bear fruit for the kingdom, then we keep them. If our material tools lead to narcissism or to an obsession with having the right incense or the correct color of candle, then we need to let go of them. Disagreements in church history have led many Christians to feel like the physical world and the spiritual word are at odds, but it’s important to see them as complements , not opposites. After all, God breathed into the dirt to make humanity. The incarnation of Jesus is all about God taking on flesh and being born as a baby who cries, eats and poops. Jesus uses physical stuff like dirt and split to heal people, and God is always communicating — through rocks and fire (even through a donkey). Physical stuff can help us pray. In the celebration of communion, or the Eucharist, we eat bread and drink wind in remembrance of Jesus. The physical elements help us literally “re-member” Jesus as we are knit together into his body. We are what we eat. A lot of the most sacred and beautiful rituals of Christianity are mysterious. There is more going on than what we see, but what we see can hep us know God at work in the world. ...”

I’ll be the first to admit that clergy stoles like what we create and sell at Carrot Top Studio are not necessary for ministry. But likewise they aren’t unworthy in worship. We pray that the stoles can be used as great complements to help us “re-member” Jesus as we carry on in this business of worshipping and living it out.

Outside the Studio: Stations of the Cross art

I recently created art for an exhibit of the Stations of the Cross. The focus was to see the traditional station scripture through the lens of the criminal Jesus. What follows explains my process. The techniques and process were very similar to what happens when a stole is created.

I was assigned Station 12 with the scripture being —

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopus, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciples whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Dear woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. -John 19:25-27 (NIV)

After reading the scripture in many different translations I turned to books from my own library. These included Jan Richardson’s Garden of Hollow, Christopher Seitz’, Seven Lasting Words, and Listening to Golgotha by Peter Strong.

I also researched Christian symbols. I was drawn to the anchor cross, the pomegranate, and the thought of Mary as a vessel but in the end none of those ideas made the cut. That’s the way it goes sometimes!

I had a few days in the depths of a Michigan winter to spend on the beach. Times can surrounded by nature allow ideas to percolate. This combined with reading Becoming Gertrude by Janice Peterson revealed thoughts about the word BEHOLD that is found in many translations of this scripture. This book about friendship emphasized the thought of caring being equal to choosing to see someone. This was in line with the thinking about this scripture in conjunction with the criminal justice system today. I was soon seeing imagery that would become details in my art. The Spirit seemed to be at work.

The last bit of research was to be inspired by other artists. I looked at the above. Clockwise—

• Sorrowful Mother, James Tissot
• Crucifixion With A Dominican Friar, Hermann Schadeberg
• Pieta, Michelangelo
• A Mother’s Lament, Jan Richardson
• Jesus Meets His Mother, Jen Norton
  
  
  
  Next up was sketching, sketching and more sketching. It’s a process!
  
  
  
  
  
  Fabrics were auditioned.
  
  
  
  Some unsophisticated tools were used. (grin)
  
  
  
  
  
  But we didn’t neglect the fancier tools!
  
  
  
  
  
  Embellishments were added.
  
  
  
  And bit by bit the finished work came into being!
  
  Above is the completed work and what follows is part of the artist’s statement to connect you to my thoughts on the symbolism…
  Contemplating John 19:25-27 through the lens of a criminal Jesus allowed me to consider sorrow, God’s love, the word ‘behold’ and who family is. I wrestled with the following questions: 
  • When have I been overwhelmed with sorrow and brokenness? If my son was accused of a wrong doing how would I react?
  • Who is around me that Jesus wants me to stop and look at as family?
  • Do I allow Jesus to reframe how I see others that have been or are criminals?
  The symbolic aspect of my art may at times be obvious but it is also open to allowing the viewer to relate their own faith, background and life experience. The details of these three panels include the subtle colors and texture that remind us of Lent; the patterning represents Mary (roses) and John (fish nets); and tears of sorrow are represented in the torn fabric. Notice the mirrored squares. My intention was for them to symbolize God’s reflected love but ironically when I sewed them on they also became prison windows. The middle panel represents the need to ‘behold’ or to pay attention. Lastly, find the triangles that represent those that stood at the cross. The triangles turn into flying geese formations which epitomize the reality of how these creatures take care of each other as a group or ‘family’ as they migrate.
  Lastly — a bit of a P.S. — In 2009 I created a full set of stations art. They now reside in a church in Adelaide, South Australia. Here is the post about the piece from 2009 that corresponds with the one that has just been created.
  

Clergy and Wedding Officiants: A new stole design!

Do you have an idea for a stole but can’t find in any store or eCommerce site? Tell us about it! It could be that we could take it on as a one of a kind commission. But we often find what one client needs that is reason to offer it to others also. Such was the case when I client asked if we could create a wedding stole for her pastor husband who often preached about the four loves from the Greek translation of the word. This was a great idea! I mean …. geez that sermon message makes so much sense it was even in my wedding service way back in 1986!

We got to work! This is a detail of the completed stole. Below is the hope, faith and love symbol that is on the stole chest. See the stole in full here. The good news for our client with the good idea is that because she agreed to let us create a limited edition and offer the stole on the website it saved her the cost of a one of a kind commission! That’s a win for all :)

The Carrot Top Studio Library

Libraries and books have always been special to me. I’m sure it goes back to my parents many hours reading to me when I was very young. They were both readers and valued the knowledge and escape that books could provide. AS I got older the weekly trips to our local library were always a highlight especially when the summer reading program had us going in a full speed ahead in a reading frenzy. So, I’m still a reader today and also have grown to love research. I investigate not just on the internet but from the old way of using books! When we set up our new home in Detroit five years ago we gathered the books that had been in different corners of our former home and created a room that we call “the library.” It’s full of cook books, travel tomes, children’s books, and inspirational business books. Last but not least are the faith based and art books that I turn to time and time again. Through the quiet and calm of this space my mind and creativity are mentally stimulated. The books not only enrich my life but also help inform what I create at Carrot Top Studio.