Art Dreidel

Art Dreidel
Design by Susan Berkowitz

Although Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, is really a relatively minor religious holiday, it has assumed more importance in our country, coming so close to Christmas. The story of Hanukkah is the story of the weak conquering the strong, over 2000 years ago, when the Macabees defeated King Antiochus' army, which was trying to make the Jews give up their religion.

Dreidel was actually once a German gambling game. The rules are very easy. The letters written on the the 4-sided top are nun (nothing, gimel (all), heh (half), and shin (add 2 things to the pot). All together they mean "a great miracle happened here." (This refers to the fact that when the fighting was over and the Temple was cleaned, the Jews wanted to light the menorah. There was only enough oil to last one night. However, by a miracle, the oil burned for 8 days. Hanukkah is celebrated to commemorate the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem and the miracle of 8 days.)

Each player starts with 10 or 12 pennies, m&m's, pebbles, etc. (We also like to use the foil covered chocolate coins sold at Hanukkah time.) Each player puts one in the center "pot" and takes a turn at spinning the dreidel. The face-up letter determines what he wins (or loses). When the pot is empty, each player adds one more. If there is an odd number in the pot, a person who has hehwins half plus one. The game ends when one person wins everything.

Materials:

1 oz. each pearl and blue pearl Premo! Sculpey polymer clay
Translucent Liquid Sculpey (TLS)
6" blue Artistic wire 20 gauge
Glass tube bead, 1" long
Round metal watercolor tray
Circle Cutter - 1.5" diameter
Pasta machine or Acrylic roller/brayer
Sculpey blade or Excel/X-acto knife
400 grit wet-dry sandpaper (small piece)
Pin vise with very small drill bit
Cyanoacrylate glue
Round nose pliers and wire cutters
Sharpie marker or Gold leafing pen

Directions:

Condition clay. Roll pearl clay into a sheet on the thickest setting on the pasta machine.
Cut 2 circles out of the pearl clay and set them into 2 round wells on the metal watercolor tray. Press them firmly into the wells, making sure they fit evenly into the bottoms. Bake for 15 minutes at 275 degrees F in a calibrated oven using an external oven thermometer.

Make a small ball (no more than ½" diameter) of blue pearl clay. Press it gently against your work surface, then turn 90 degrees and repeat. Set on end and repeat, forming a cube.
Pinch the top of the cube front to back and side to side, forming a pyramid shape. Bake for 20 minutes.

When the circles are cool, they will pop out of the watercolor tray. Place the edges face down on 400 grit wet-dry sandpaper and sand them flat and smooth.
Use the pin vise to drill a small hole in the center of each circle. Drill a small hole in the base of the blue pyramid, being careful not to drill all the way through the point. (This will be the spinning point of the dreidel.)
Roll a small piece of the pearl and blue pearl clays into thin snakes. Twist together.

Squeeze or paint a small amount of TLS around the edge of one of the circles, then fit the two circles together.
Wrap the seam with the blue/pearl twisted trim. Bake again for 20 minutes. This is the dreidel body.

Glue one end of the wire into the base of the blue pyramid. Let set.
Run the other end of the wire through the 2 holes in the dreidel body, pulling the blue point as close as possible. (You can add a dot of glue to keep the two clay pieces securely together.)
Put the glass tube bead onto the wire. Form a loop in the end of the wire with round-nose pliers, as close to the top of the bead as possible, making a tight fit. Trim excess wire.

Draw the letters onto the dreidel body, above each of the 4 sides of the point, using a Sharpie marker or Krylon Gold leafing pen.