Seder 2024 - Creating the Table Covering In Mon-kiri
May 07, 2024
My Seder table covering for 2024 was all hand painted or cut from paper.
Inexpensive with impressive results.
After, my color theme chose me (shown in the previous post), I needed an idea for the table art, i.e., a decoration theme.
I wanted to do something along the lines of Japanese floral for spring like this beautiful Kimono given to me as a gift (close-up photo shown below) .... but I had limited time and budget. Getting ready for an out of the blue Earth Day CBS News interview, I had suddenly used up all my extra prep time.
That's when I remembered this book for mon-kiri *I have had this book for over 60 years. I used to do this Japanese paper cutting as a child. Copyright is 1959.
I have used this Japanese paper cutting guide for my art jewelry bracelet forms in the past (shown in the bracelet below.)
Using Japanese origami paper folding, you can cut out complex shapes very easily.
To create your table covering, start with plain paper to cover the table. I used plain white paper, but nicer paper could be a great addition.
I invited two friends to help out and share the fun. So consider inviting your family or children to participate in creating your table covering.
We laid out the cut out paper flowers and traced around the edges with pencil.
We mixed acrylic paint and started painting. I mix paint on paper plates to dispose of later.
As a final touch for the first few hours, artist, Martha Safra, painted a gold vine in iridescent acrylic paint. This added a lot to the continuity of the flower theme down the length of the table.
After this first session in table decoration, I cut additional flowers from origami paper, pieces of gift wrap and magazine paper. I used a matt knife, but ordinary scissors also work very well.
Since the paper is folded for mon-kiri, I ironed it flat after cutting.
Iron the paper face down with no steam, just a warm iron.
Place all the flowers on the table first to figure out your spacing and overall composition. Plan on the placement of your dinner plates so you don't waste too much time on a location that will be covered up with a plate.
A can of spray glue allows you to put glue on the flowers very quickly. Work fast. Spray glue outside on newspaper or junk mail, run inside with a sticky flower and place each flower one at a time.
For bigger flowers use your imagination. Once you know how to fold and cut paper as shown by the templates in the book, use your imagination. The templates in the book only work for small flowers.
I made my own napkin rings from tin cans.
Orange and turquoise napkins repeated my color theme on orange & turquoise plates.
Imagine! All the flowers were either hand painted, or created from origami paper, gift wrap and magazine images.
Stay within your color theme and it will always work.
Gold glasses and gold flatware really give some metallic sparkle for the theme.
An antique Czechoslovakian Orange Water pitcher was used to serve water. I've had this for years.
The orange ceramic water pitcher fits the theme for all my Seder plates.
I thought this was an amazing table for Seder 2024. Tell me what you think!
Points to remember.
Pick only two or three colors for a strong theme.
Complimentary colors will usually be a dynamic combination.
Choose colors appropriate for the season.
Repeat the colors with every addition to the table. Napkin, napkin rings, place cards, more dishes, keep on going.
Enjoy the process. You can work on the table covering over a couple of days.
Harriete
* This is an affiliate link. If you want this mon-kiri book buy it now. Seriously, they are very hard to find.
Previous Post about the Seder 2024 table.
A few of my previous seder tables below:
Seder 2023 ( public album on Facebook)
Seder 202 2 (public album on Facebook)
Seder 2017 (public album on Facebook)