For some years now, I have had a practice of making crucifixes during Lent.
This practice has become a time of renewal over whatever has interfered with my faith-walk over the past year. It is a time of strong meditation.
I use paper-mache. It forces humility because it is messy and you have to clean up the floury paste everywhere when you do it!
Paper-mache is basically paper soaked in a creamy solution of flour and water. Some people use white glue in the mix as well as other ingredients, but just flour and water is enough. Shredded newspaper is best because the woody texture of the newspaper holds up well, compared to the mushy texture of most typewriter-paper.
First i make two tubes of rolled cereal-box cardboard, then use masking tape to make a cross, tying a loop of string around it for hanging..
Then shred a newspaper into inch-wide strips (or narrower. shredding machine is ok for very harrow strips). Dip it into the flour mixture and spread it over the cross, winding one layer horizontally and another layer vertically, letting dry between layers, trying not to cover the string loop. You probably would want to make two or three crosses at a time, one layer at a time, since they may take over night to dry thoroughly if you live in a humid place.
After a few layers, finishing with a vertical layer, you may notice the wood-like "grain" suggested by the paper. Paint the dry cross with any kind of brown poster paint or tempera paint. These cheaper paints give a better texture than acrylics. Or you can use brown strips of paper for the final layer and don't paint it. At this point it may look almost finished and so you can decide if you want to leave it as a simple cross or if you want to make a figure of Christ and the "INRI" sign to make it an authentic Crucifix.
To make a finished simple cross, you can just coat it a few times with elmer's glue which gives a nice finish but is not waterproof or you can get any kind of varnish or other decorative finish.
While doing this, have something on TV like the "Stations of the Cross" or listen to some other Lenten material, beginning and ending your time at this activity with a moment of prayer.
You'll be blessed!
I'll post about making the Christ figure later. Just in general, it is done on a wire figure made from florist wire that you can get almost anywhere.
This practice has become a time of renewal over whatever has interfered with my faith-walk over the past year. It is a time of strong meditation.
I use paper-mache. It forces humility because it is messy and you have to clean up the floury paste everywhere when you do it!
Paper-mache is basically paper soaked in a creamy solution of flour and water. Some people use white glue in the mix as well as other ingredients, but just flour and water is enough. Shredded newspaper is best because the woody texture of the newspaper holds up well, compared to the mushy texture of most typewriter-paper.
First i make two tubes of rolled cereal-box cardboard, then use masking tape to make a cross, tying a loop of string around it for hanging..
Then shred a newspaper into inch-wide strips (or narrower. shredding machine is ok for very harrow strips). Dip it into the flour mixture and spread it over the cross, winding one layer horizontally and another layer vertically, letting dry between layers, trying not to cover the string loop. You probably would want to make two or three crosses at a time, one layer at a time, since they may take over night to dry thoroughly if you live in a humid place.
After a few layers, finishing with a vertical layer, you may notice the wood-like "grain" suggested by the paper. Paint the dry cross with any kind of brown poster paint or tempera paint. These cheaper paints give a better texture than acrylics. Or you can use brown strips of paper for the final layer and don't paint it. At this point it may look almost finished and so you can decide if you want to leave it as a simple cross or if you want to make a figure of Christ and the "INRI" sign to make it an authentic Crucifix.
To make a finished simple cross, you can just coat it a few times with elmer's glue which gives a nice finish but is not waterproof or you can get any kind of varnish or other decorative finish.
While doing this, have something on TV like the "Stations of the Cross" or listen to some other Lenten material, beginning and ending your time at this activity with a moment of prayer.
You'll be blessed!
I'll post about making the Christ figure later. Just in general, it is done on a wire figure made from florist wire that you can get almost anywhere.
