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

The coloured crosses are cut from 3mm eucalyptus plywood and backed with MDF. Because of the ‘distressed’ edges, each of the segments is NOT identical. This caused some difficulties in the group painting process! The eucalyptus has a nice wide grain which shows through the pain. However, cutting it on the laser seems to release gum and block fans very quickly! The colour scheme is up to the crafter, using acrylic paint dabbed on with a baby wipe. There is the option of adding dimension with doming glaze and a little sparkle with spritzed holographic glitter. Each cross is 24cm/9½” tall. The first group took about 1½ hours to make their crosses.

The spring/Easter cross is made from wood stirrers glued and braced together before painting with thinned brown acrylic paint. I didn’t nick the stirrers from the nearest Ikea – I had made a bulk order some time ago from Creativ Company and was pleased to find a use for them! Microbrushes make for easier painting of flowers and leaves. Laser-cut items include trimming the horizontal planks, engraving the flowers and cutting the base as well as the whiteboard lettering and banner. I cut the flowers and base from 3mm poplar plywood. I hope that the workshop will be about 45 mins to an hour – I’ll find out at the beginning of April. It’ll be my biggest group to date with an estimated 22 attending!