'Lamed' is for Lisa

An idea has been brewing in my mind for a while and I recently had some time to create it. I wanted to combine my love for papercutting with some Hebrew. I decided to cut out initials and started with the letter Lamed, the twelfth letter of the Hebrew alphabet (pronounced Lah-med). The letter has the sound of "l" as in "Lisa". It seemed like a good place to begin.

Lamed in gematria (a mystical tradition that assigns a numerological value to Hebrew letters) represents the number 30. As an abbreviation, it can stand for litre. Also, a sign on a car with a Lamed on it means that the driver is a student of driving (the Lamed stands for lomed, learner). When the Lamed is the first letter of the word it can be a prefix, indicating several different meanings: the infinitive "to," or toward or belonging to.

Finally, the Lamed is the tallest letter in the Hebrew Alphabet. The letter can look quite different in cursive Hebrew, Rashi script or with a serif. I drew a sans-serif letter and filled it with flowers, leaves  and one of my signature little birds.
My letters will be available unframed. They measure 12x17cm and fit perfectly into the mount of an IKEA 18x24cm RIBBA frame. Do let me know which initial you would like me to make next.

* This post has been shared on Amaze Me Monday, Inspiration Monday, Busy Monday, Monday Morning Blog Club, The Good. The Random. The Fun., Make it Pretty Monday, Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) and The Creative Circle.