Arts in Worship: Crosses

I’ve had a few problems with my laser cutter over the last six weeks or so… One of the cables was causing intermittent faults. The presumption was that after four years of use, it was gradually fracturing. I managed to keep the machine limping on until I replaced the cable this week. As a result, I’ve had to feed projects into the machine through a slot so that the lid was barely lifted – an interesting exercise.

It would have been fine if I had not been asked to do several projects in those weeks. A small group craft session for church folk, the ‘Be Still’ evening and a large group craft session for my church’s retired men’s group. All of these needed kitting out with laser-cut items.

The projects

Here are the projects I designed and crafted for the small group and the men’s group. They feature crosses for the Easter season. Both are available as workshops at the Studio for groups of up to eight people. To book, just get in contact with me.

Easter crosses laser-cut from eucalyptus plywood
Easter cross made with wood stirrers
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Arts in Worship: Be Still

I was asked to run a craft table at a recent ‘Be Still’ community event at my church. The aim of the evening was to take the chance for attendees to have some ‘me’ time with massages, facials, mindfulness sessions as well as the craft table. I looked for all sorts of inspiration and didn’t really find any. I then stumbled on some photos of retro signage and decided to go with the theme. I created six different laser-cut wood signs, each with a typical self-affirming phrase often linked to mindfulness sessions. For each, I spent a long time finding a relevant Bible verse or passage to move it from self-centred to God-centred.

Be stil event affirmation signs

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Bible Journaling: Easter 2023

I was asked to prep some templates and samples on an Easter theme during my regular Bible Journaling session last month. I did so yesterday and today, and we will be using mixed media techniques on Monday to create one or more of these illustrations in your journaling Bible. I’ve tried to choose verses that might not be immediately the first you’d go to, and that show the sadness and joy of the event. I hope my colour palettes reflect those emotions too. As always, the templates are freely available to download via the shop link in the menu bar above. Here are my new journaled illustrations:

 

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Bible Journaling: Salvation

I’ve spent quite a lot of time prepping this week for my Bible Journaling Session at The Studio on 13th February. I start by choosing the theme, researching the verses, checking the page in the Bible that is free of illustrations, and finally begin designing the five templates. After that, I trace into the Bible and colour each with different media. Then it’s time to photograph each sample, edit the pics, create a suitable size for Instagram, write a blog post, add the file to my shop and then publicise on Instagram and Pinterest. I forget how long it takes! I think this release also marks at least my 100th Bible journaling illustration. Anyhoo, here are the five samples we’ll be emulating in Monday’s session, all on the theme of salvation:

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Bible Journaling: New Year 2023

My Bible journaling group is meeting on Monday evening and, as usual, I have created five new templates and associated samples for their inspiration. After 6 years of journaling, my Bible is now filling with illustrations and it’s getting increasingly difficult to find new appropriate verses where the page hasn’t already been used. This week, I persevered and identified space for five verses that are loosely applicable for starting new year 2023:

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Bible Journaling: Prayer

I’ve been asked by my Bible journaling session guests to teach them some coloured pencil techniques at our next class (10th October). Let me know if you’d like to attend and I’ll give you all the details. We’ll explore gradients, texture and shading to illustrate verses in our wide-margin Bibles on the theme of prayer:

A free downloadable PDF template for each of the verses is available from my shop, here.

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Bible Journaling: Joy

My latest series of Bible journaling illustrations are based on the theme of joy. I’ve used gilding on some of them and will be teaching the process at my next session on 12th September 2022 at The Studio.

The template file is downloadable for free from my shop.

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Bible Journaling: Peace

I’ve been working in my Bible this week, adding five more journaling illustrations. As I was looking for new verses to journal, a theme of ‘peace’ developed. As normal, there is a free download printable if you would like to trace and colour your own versions of the illustrations.

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Bible Journaling: Graffiti style

We’ve had a couple of Bible journaling sessions where we have worked off the page with different themes. For the next session, we’re working back in our journaling Bibles. Our theme will be ‘graffiti’ and the main technique that we’ll be using is creating gradients with our coloured pencils. As always, there will be a traceable printout for those that consider themselves a non-artist or you can do your own thing. The next session is on 14th February at 7:30 pm – contact me to book your place. The printable is also available as a free download from my online store. Here are my sample pics for your inspiration:

Bible Journaling: Kings

Five more Bible illustrations for your inspiration, this time from 1 & 2 Kings. These are books I am less familiar with, so finding and reflecting on the verses was very valuable.

There will be a chance to do your own versions of these at a Bible Journaling session at The Studio in the New Year, if you haven’t already done so using the free downloadable PDF featuring the designs (search for Bible Journaling 14 in my shop).