Just a dyke chilling

Pocket Golems, 2019 - present

each golem is a one-of-a-kind, hand-sculpted figurine based on the Jewish legend of the golem (גולם), a mythic monster made of clay or stone and given life in order to act as a protector. ranging in size from approximately 1-2" tall, these golems (the Hebrew plural is “glamim”) are made of polymer clay mixed with wood ash to replicate stone. they were created to be portable, personal guardians: a reminder of our connections to the mystical side of Judaism and to the stories of our past, or a symbol of Jewish resilience and resistance in a difficult present. each golem holds a blank scroll that can be customized by the owner with any of the following: the name of something or someone you want to protect, a quotation from scripture, an intention for your future, a secret, or a wish.

The Winter Maw, 2026

a totally handmade, fully-functional marionette created for the annual "Winter Exquisite" gallery show (this year's chosen medium was puppetry) at the Forbes Library in Northampton, MA - if you're local, you can visit anytime between the 7th & the end of the month!

In Jewish folklore, a Dybbuk is the soul of a dead person that cannot move on.

The name itself comes from the Hebrew word for "to cling," as it latches onto the soul of a living person. A soul might become a Dybbuk for many reasons: grievous sins committed in life, a crucial task left undone, or even improper burial rites that left it unmoored. Trapped between worlds, it invades a host, who then might speak in languages they've never known or reveal secrets of the past. But is this a malicious takeover, or a desperate cry from a soul lost in its own pain? This duality is exactly what I wanted to explore.

My first illustration, the woman and the cracked mirror, captures this conflict. The cracked glass is her fractured self, but the reflection is the core of the horror. It’s the face of a stranger, the ultimate theft of identity. Yet, that stranger is revealing the Dybbuk’s own grief and turning a moment of terror into one of forced, tragic empathy.

This is the duality that fascinates me. The Dybbuk story is simultaneously a chilling tale of a spiritual invader and a heartbreaking story of a lost soul. The terror, perhaps, is that both are true at once. It’s a nightmare where two beings become victims, trapped together in a horrifying union.

What do you think? Is the Dybbuk a predator or a prisoner? A monster or a tragedy?

Jewish Water Demon 🌒

Drinking from natural bodies of water at night can trigger a terrifying danger linked to sudden blindness, caused by a demon called שברירי, Shavrirei.

The Talmud gives a very serious warning against this, but if you absolutely must drink, these are the instructions to do so as safely as possible:

If someone is with you, you are told to speak out loud and name yourself as you ask for water.

If you are alone, the text provides a protective incantation that shrinks the demon’s name step by step:

שברירי ברירי רירי ירי רי

The demon can be weakened by shrinking it into nothingness through sound.

This Shavrirei warning appears as part of a larger Talmudic “danger instructions” cluster, where the rabbis preserve very practical sounding steps alongside demon language, which is part of what makes it feel like a real folk manual embedded inside a legal text.

The remedy matches the fear so perfectly. The danger is invisibility and confusion in the dark, and the response is to force clarity into the moment by speaking out loud, stating who you are, and then doing something that feels like verbal exorcism by dismantling the name itself until it is too small to hold power.

Shabbat Shalom.

1 hr long leisurely breakfast

A bowl of oatmeal

My future and turning 30

Finishing things

Time

Wow. I am so sorry for leaving y’all hanging for months, that was definitely not the plan. My brain wasn’t in a good place for stitching and then I was in the hospital for a little bit so my health stuff took precedent.

Anyway. I’m back now, finally bringing the completed seven species piece. Tomorrow we’ll be starting something new.

This pattern is not mine, I purchased it from SewMarieStudio on Etsy.