Orleans church models cr?che after its members

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Brother Joel Sweet of the Community of Jesus modeled his face, hands and feet for this shepherd in the religious group's Christmas display.Cape Cod Times/Ron Schloerb

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ORLEANS ? Shepherds herd their sheep through a field, some excitedly pointing at the Star of Bethlehem, while Mary and Joseph kneel over the manger.

The Nativity scene is a common sight around Christmas, usually with miniature figurines depicting the birth of Jesus, the shepherds and the coming of the Magi. Most aren't true to scale or modeled after real people.

Cr?che unveiling

The Community of Jesus, 5 Bay View Drive, Orleans, will unveil its new cr?che at Advent teas followed by services of lessons and carols this weekend. The cr?che will be up through Epiphany on Jan. 6. Tea and services are at the following times:

• Tea 3-4 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Tickets: $18
• Service of lessons and carols: 4:30 p.m. Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Free.

The Community of Jesus at Rock Harbor in Orleans has taken its cr?che one step further, creating a life-size scene with Mary, Joseph and the shepherds life cast from members of the church.

The cr?che will be officially unveiled at the community's Advent teas and services of lessons and carols this weekend.

In January, Brother Joel Sweet and Brother Phillip MacNeill came up with the idea for the cr?che, as the community's old one was starting to fall apart.

Rare display

As life-cast cr?ches are rare, the entire project was a learning process for everyone involved. Sweet said one of the only other examples he could find was at The Vatican, so there weren't many people to ask, "Hey, how do we do this?"

It quickly became clear that they would need more help, so the brothers and other volunteers from the religious community all joined in. There was a niche for everyone, both the artistic and non-artistic, be it welding, sculpting, painting or draping fabric. There was also some help from beyond the church.

"We had a hand from above help us in acquiring the materials," Sweet said.

More than $2,000 of alginate, a seaweed-based molding compound, was donated to the church from an art house that received it and couldn't use it because of the smell.

"We are located right on the harbor, so the smell isn't a problem," Sweet said with a laugh. Perhaps the most interesting donor was a store called Dapper Cadaver, a Los Angeles prop company that gave the community glass eyeballs.

The 10 figures created so far each took 150 hours to make and were made in a workshop in Brewster owned by the church.

They started out as a steel stick figure. Then, sculptors placed Styrofoam over the armatures and carved it to resemble the human form, which was then covered with a layer of a hard, resinous material.

The feet, hands and face were all life-cast ? three-dimensional replicas made in a precise process.

Alginate is placed on the model's face for about 15 minutes as it hardens.

"We had to have people sit very still throughout the process with holes under their nostrils so they could breath. Next time, we will use nose straws," Sweet said.

"Alginate is also very heavy," he explained. "You can't try to hold a facial expression with it on. We told people to spend their 15 minutes thinking of what they want their expression to be, then make it at the last minute. People who tried to hold an expression the whole time ended up with face masks that drooped and looked like the ghost of Jacob Marley."

Characteristics added

Kate Shannon, publicist for the church, said, "We used the mold of their face shape as a starting point and added characteristics to it."

Each cast created a different foundation for the artists to work with; some were smiling and showing their teeth, while others looked serious.

"We could have never sculpted expressions like this," Sweet said.

Once assembled, the figures were airbrushed with three layers of paint, were given the eyeballs and dressed in clothes made out of burlap, dipped in resin and shaped . The finished results are realistic lifesize figures, so accurate that the contours of muscles beneath the skin, wrinkles and veins are visible.

"Shepherds were the easiest thing for us to learn how to cast and get our 'sea-legs,' so to speak; next year we hope to have baby Jesus cast, along with the Magi, and eventually more animals," Sweet said.

"Once it was set up, people were really impressed and happy seeing the end result of all their hard work," he said. "There's so much more we can do. The sky is the limit."

Source: http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121207/NEWS/212070321/-1/rss02

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