What Would Jesus Craft? Q&A with Author, Illustrator and Craftsman Ross MacDonald

The Eye-See-You-In-Hell Mirror, Time-To-Obey-The-Lord Clock, and War-On-Christmas Action Figures (pictured above) are just a few of my favorite offerings in Ross MacDonald’s hilarious, irreverent, and impressive new how-to book What Would Jesus Craft? MacDonald has been honing his skills for years: His illustrations have appeared everywhere from The New York Times to Rolling Stone, and he’s done prop design work for shows like Boardwalk Empire and Parks and Recreation, and for movies including Silver Linings Playbook and Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming The Hateful Eight, to name a few. He also created the haunting artwork for The Christian Nightmares Tribulation Band. I caught up with him recently to find out more about his latest book.

What inspired you to write/create WWJC?

My agent, Holly McGhee, suggested the idea of doing a book of Jesus themed crafts. She knows I’ve always liked making stuff. I once told her that I had made my own gas mask when I was a kid, for long car trips with my chain-smoking parents, and she never forgot that. I had previously talked about doing a book called What Would Jesus Do? where I’d put Jesus in all these complex scenarios where he’d have to choose between two horrible options, and I’d also talked about doing a craft book for kids. Somehow the two things got mixed together into this book. Once I heard Holly’s idea, I remembered a lot of things like the Sunday school crafts from my childhood, Christian kitsch that I’d seen or collected over the years, homemade shrines I’d seen in people’s front yards, and I was off and running.

How long did it take you make all the crafts for the book and did you have any divine revelations during the process?

It took about three months to do all the crafts and photograph the steps of making them. Sadly, no divine revelations. The closest I came was discovering some great craft supplies that I hadn’t known about previously. I do remember swearing a lot while making some of the trickier crafts—maybe that scared off any divine revelations that were circling for a landing.

Which of the crafts do you think would have come in most handy for JC back in the day?

The Lord Board sandals. Those biblical-era sandals probably wore out pretty quickly, so being able to make your own would be a plus.

You “borrowed” several items from your Auntie to make these crafts. Would Jesus have done that?

The book is written in first person, but the narrator is a fictional character. I imagined him as a middle-aged perpetual bachelor shut-in who lived with his elderly Auntie Diamint. He thinks of himself as a good Christian, but he does and says some things that call that into question. For one thing, he constantly steals his Auntie’s precious things and uses them for craft projects, then justifies it by telling himself that he’s putting them to better use than she ever would.

Do you feel moved by the Spirit to create a follow up to WWJC?

I’m working on a sequel called What Would Jesus Craft for Kids and Teens? It’s written in the voice of that same guy, someone who has no real knowledge of what kids and teens actually do and like, so there are all kinds of wildly inappropriate crafts. It’s not really for kids or teens at all, naturally. Once I got started on this book it was hard to stop—there are just so many great crafts out there that can be combined with a Jesus theme to create something truly breathtaking.

Last but not least: Do you have any Christian nightmares?

President Ben Carson. I wake up screaming every night.

For more information about What Would Jesus Craft? click here.