Collection:  The Five Scrolls

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• Needlework by Ilana Limoni

• Illustration originated from a picture found here

• Text from the Complete Hebrew Bible found here

• Completed in 2017

• It took less than one year to make

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Materials and technique:

• Petit Point Canvas made from cotton with an 18 mesh mono weave (i.e., 324 stitches per square inch)

• Threads are silk, cotton, wool and metallic fibers, plus different kinds of beads are embedded

• Technique is a variety of stitches

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Size:

• H: 89¼” (226.7 cm)   W: 37½” (95.3 cm)  (unframed)

 

Process in general:

The first phase of creating a scroll panel entailed Ilana free form stitching in petit point the Hebrew text onto the canvas, referencing a graph of the Hebrew alphabet she created.  Chapters and verses start at the margin, with a new chapter also signified by a larger first letter.  Ilana wanted to fit all the text on one panel, so only the top had sufficient space for artwork.  Since her longtime artist was no longer available, Ilana asked her daughter Tami to recreate an illustration found online.  In the second phase, Ilana stitched the artwork and then she covered the remainder of the canvas with a background.  Additionally, Ilana designed the border.

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Other comments: 

Since all the text needed to fit onto one canvas, there was barely enough room for Ilana to include her signature initials. 

Ruth was not framed because there was no longer any place for Ilana to hang another large needlepoint.

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