noorart: A Bath's Tale {Ma2sat Mamsa7a}

21 Bridal Shower Favours for Dalia/
Turkish Bath Theme {Ramallah}
Deadline, 11th November 2010

I'll start by saying that this, by far, had been my favourite project to work on!

On the 8th of November, I received the following email from Doha:

'It is my best friend's bridal shower! I need favors! The details:
Theme: Turkish Bath
Favorite Color/Color Set: gold/beige/brown
Date needed: this Thursday, 11/11/10
Quantity: 20 pcs (number to be compensated)
Venue: Ramallah! I know! It's a shock!the favors I need must be light, can be packaged in my suitcase, and most importantly can make it through to Ramallah without breaking up on my way! I know this is too much to ask! But I thought "let's give it a shot"! Call me!'

I cannot deny that I panicked when I first read this... It was the first time Doha contacts me and she seemed very eager to get something special done for her best friend... I didn't want to turn her down.

Think fast!! I seriously needed to think fast... and big! I brainstormed a few ideas in my head but needed more information to better direct my thoughts...

So I called Doha that morning and got more details on what the bridal shower will be like (a Turkish Bridal Bath in Ramallah - Palestine), what the bride is like (Dalia, the bride, is very known for her unique phrases) and what Doha's expectations where (very high!!).

The favours needed to obviously compliment the bridal shower theme: Turkish Bath. So I decided to use a few elements such as the loofah, and soap bars (ghar soap: handcrafted soap and scented vegetable soap); these all had to be in neutral earthy colours, reflecting the bride's preferred colour palette... In the meantime, Doha sent across the top Dalia phrases to include on the favours' tags!

After getting the supplies, I had to figure out the best way to combine those elements without having them look too tacky. I sliced my loofah loaf and filled those up with ghar soap bars and scented vegetable soap bars (bearing in mind that the final pieces had to be very light!).

Next, I wrapped the loofah with twine ropes and added wooden beads at the end of the ropes. I then added two tags: a generic tag written in Palestinian slang that included Dalia's name and bridal shower date; the other smaller tag came in 4 different phrases/words that Dalia was famous for (Doha's favourite happens to be "ma2sat mamsa7a", which also works perfectly with the bath theme)! Lastly, I secured the tags with mini-wooden clothespins and added bronze-coloured crystals for a final touch.