Finishing a Finished Piece, or Punk Is "Framed"

So the "Hell" piece, along with The Joker, are going to London for the Stitch and Craft Show! Nice, right? Well that led to some questions about how I plan to finish it. When last we posted, "Hell" was done, but not finished.

It's still not. But only because I am being completely anal about it and just have not finished the finishing! But I did finish the finishing on the previously finished "Punks Not Dead" piece.

I plan on all the pieces in the series, at least initially, to be finished with a duct tape "frame". For this piece it is red. For "Hell" I just got back from the store and got black duct tape. But why? For "Hell" alone I have some great ideas on a frame from making one out of chain-link fence to Windy's brilliant idea of spray-painting a fence onto a traditional frame.

It's all about the time and place these pieces represent. Before I found the amazing Julie Jackson and her life-changing book, I was a broken and beaten shell of a man. Completely destroyed and physically handicapped from a failed relationship, I was broke, unemployed and sleeping on my nephew's floor in my sister's house. I was a alcohol, drug and depression-ridden mess. The more things change the more they stay the same, right? Of course, I am far from depressed these days.

Anyway, these were the days I was so broke I would recycle cans to pay for thread. I would pay for the thread to hide the fact I was stealing aida cloth to work on. Or hoops. Or whatever else I needed that cost more then thirty-five cents. It is important for me to say that I am in no way glorifying my actions, nor am I in any way trying to justify them. It's simply a statement of fact of where I was at that time. Please do not steal from your local craft store...unless you absolutely have to. And don't do drugs...unless they're good.

These pieces are supposed to remind me of those times. Of making things I thought only I would get and hanging them up with duct tape because I didn't know what else to do with them. I will most likely get the mounting boards for them and I hope to add chains or chains of safety pins for the hanging hardware. I really think that this throwback to my roots truly represents what I wanted to catch with these pieces. Of course if you think it is just lazy posturing: FUCK YOU!.

See, punk's not dead at all!!!