I’ve just returned from the inaugural Bishop’s School of Prayer, hosted at Launde Abbey by Bishop Martyn Snow. I was dubbed ‘artist-in-residence’ and was responsible for creative input, visual prayer workshops and an artist’s overview of the four-day conference. It was an amazing experience, and I hope it happens again (though probably won’t be annual).

As a ‘corporate act of art’, I created a pair of praying hands and invited attendees to add their own prayers and intercessions. After a short will-they-won’t-they period, they came good and prayers were stuck on steadily over the time at the School. For more details on the making, read on below, but in the meantime here are some pics of the finished sculpture, which will be remaining at Launde Abbey.

The making of the hands

The hands are approximately 15 inches high and are formed from corrugated cardboard and papier mache pulp. The framework is based on a 3D model available on Thingiverse, sliced in Slicer for Fusion 360 (Autodesk) and sent to my new laser cutter (Glowforge) to create a 66 layer 3D puzzle.

After that, it was just a matter of pushing papier mache pulp into all the spaces and smoothing it off. Then followed quick coats of paint and varnish to get the plinth to resemble wood and the hands to resemble aged plaster.

It took four or five layers of pulp to sufficiently cover the cardboard, and the whole project took approximately 24 hours to make (and a back injury from leaning over it for too long at a stretch). But it was wholly worth it! Using 3D engraving techniques on the laser cutter, I engraved the prayer response common in Anglican liturgy.

With thanks to all the participants that took part in my art workshops and contributed to the artwork.