My name is Orly, I'm living in the Galilee in Israel, happily
married with three lovely
kids.
Since I know my husband, I remember his father talking
about his father and the old perforation machine for embroidery designs.
Late at night, after a hard day at work,
his father was working with the machine preparing designs for
embroidery.
The designs were printed on canvas and sold to embroider women.
.
Samuel (my husband grandfather), his mother and grandmother emigrated to
Israel from Poland before World War II.
In Poland they had a small haberdashery store with the perforation machine.
They sold sewing products and embroidery clothes.
In Israel they have settled in Haifa, at the late thirties of
last century and opened a
small haberdashery store trying to keep the
family tradition.
The old perforation machine has six wheels that make the needle
move up and
down and enable the operator to perforate the paper
according to the drawn
designs.
After we have the perforated paper ready we put it on
the canvas
Then we spread over the paper a special blue ointment.
The blue ointment penetrates through the holes to the canvas.
Now it's ready for embroidery!
After finishing the embroidery, it's time to wash the canvas.
The color prints washed out and the embroidered canvas is completed.
About a month ago I read in ETSY about a young
woman producing
printed canvas for embroidery. I was fascinated, everything was
lovely.
I liked the designs, the materials and the look of her shop.
It reminded me something old, something I already knew...
It reminded me the family perforation machine of grandfather Samuel.
Somehow, my heart started
dancing, I felt joy and a lot of ideas emerged.
I called Zvika my father-in-law and
asked him if the machine is still there ?
(Because at the time, he considerd to
donate it to the museum of old crafts).
And yes!
It is still with us! not only the machine but also hundreds of designs on
perforated transparent papers.
we also found the recipe of the famous blue ointment Zvika wrote down
before
Samuel passed away.
I told Zvika about my idea to renew the store of his grandmother,
using the old machine and the traditional printing technique that already
disappeared from the world.
I wanted to revive the nostalgic designs and to create new designs of myself.
Zvika was excited,
Since then, he started working...
He has restored the machine keeping the old lovely look.
I'm so excited…
I feel really lucky!
Excited to be the one for this magical mission.
I am filled with the joy of creation,
I reorganized my studio,
Learning about fabrics, embroidery threads and stitches.
I already have a lot of ideas to develope.
I have a feeling that the horizon is bright
and I'm excited!
Orly.
