Hamsa: Embroidered, Painted, Cemented

Moroccan style is becoming more popular. And along with it, people are more and more captivated by hamsa. Hamsa are shaped like a hand, and you often see them in Morocco and the Middle East. They hang on doors where they are used to block negative energy and evil from entering a home.

While it’s common to see brass and silver hamsa, they can be made from lots of materials.

Here is hamsa wall art I created for Paint+Pattern blogzine. It’s made with stencils, paint and scrapbook paper. I was inspired by the clay and blue colors seen in Marrakech as well as the Moroccan patterns. So I pulled those together with a gold hamsa painted with stencils to look like filigree. Visit my post at Paint+Pattern to see how to make it:

Stenciled Hamsa Wall Art

A collection of hamsa at El Fenn riad in Marrakech. They seem to be concrete or ceramic. This makes me want to pour a bunch of concrete pieces in a meaningful shape and install a collection on a wall:

Hamsa at El Fenn

Some of the prettiest filigree hamsa pendants can be found at eBay seller liel99 from Egypt:

Filigree Khamsa

Hamsa are also known as khamsa and Hand of Fatima, in case you want to search for more of them.

They can be embroidered, such as this sample in Chikkankari embroidery from India via Asya Store:

Embroidered Hamsa

I love the elegance of this next one, available in a few colors. It is handcrafted wall art  from Sumon.com, and they suggest it makes a wonderful housewarming gift. Because it’s intended to protect a home, that is a good gift:

Hamsa Wall Art from Sumon.com

This one is really interesting. I haven’t yet tracked the original source (all links lead to Pinterest and Pinterest is not a source!). Maybe someone uploaded it to Pinterest and it hasn’t been featured anywhere else online. It appears to be antique with coral and turquoise stones:

Hamsa

This mosaic from Muchnik Arts is different and stunning:

Hamsa from Muchnik Arts

You can find hamsa in even more forms, like drawn with calligraphy, beaded, and made with polymer clay and mosaic tiles.

 





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