Subject: Our Lady of Lint

Date: 24 Dec 1998 00:00:00 GMT

From: "König Preuße, GmbH" <bbombere@erols.com>

Organization: Lou Minotti & the Clamsauce Enema Band

Newsgroups: alt.foot.fat-free

Madonna Sculpture Made From Lint

By Lisa Singhania

Associated Press Writer

Thursday, December 24, 1998; 2:47 p.m. EST

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) -- The life-size Madonna sculpture

at the First Reformed Church of Grandville is a labor of love --

and a lot of dryer lint.

Artist Amy Greving used ``bags and bags'' of the wispy stuff

collected from fellow members of the 750-person congregation

to fashion her tribute to the real meaning of Christmas.

She spent more than three months of weekends and spare

time sculpting the Virgin and Child.

This was her first time working with dryer lint

Ms. Greving treated the fuzz with a solution to create

a papier-mache-like substance, wrapped it around a chicken wire

frame and applied metallic paint.

``From a distance, it looks like a metal sculpture, but when you

touch it has more of a papery feel,'' Ms. Greving says.

(And she says the sculpture is light enough to easily be

carried by two people.)

She turned to the congregation for help finding lint this summer

after her husband accidentally threw out two big sacks she had

saved from the family laundry. But she didn't tell people what

the lint was for.

``Frankly most people thought it was a joke at first,'' recalls

Associate Pastor James Karsten, who contributed a bag.

``Now that they see what lint can be turned into, we've had

to tell them to stop bringing it in.''

Greving used the hair and fuzz but had to pull out the bubble gum

wrappers in some of the contributions from the congregation.

``The finished product is incredible considering what she

started with,'' says Jenny Henderson, a congregant,

who didn't contribute any lint. ``I couldn't bring myself to

put the lint in a bag because it was so ugly. I feel kind of cheated

because I missed out.''

She may get another chance next year. Greving is planning

a Joseph sculpture.