Modgepodge Martyrs

Saints-Portraits Box

$75

     This found it's way to me in the greatest condition - blank. The beautiful blue/gray color already donned it's primitive wooden encasing, adding instant inspiration.

     The pictures were found in a box lot that was purchased at a Katrina-flooded storage unit, which was, I'm convinced, the welcome mat of the gates of Hell. That was a long three hours of digging and arguing with a hoarder that didn't seem to want to get rid of the 500+ boxes that filled the unit.

    

     The box lot turned out to be wonderful; a shining beacon amongst the junk that filled the other boxes that I somehow convinced myself were worth a shit. Among the goods, I came across a stained, moth-eaten, 1940s booklet of the Saints and their meanings. It was in such bad shape, that I thought, "How can I at least preserve these marvelous pictures?". Modgepodge was the only answer at the time.

     As well as containing the booklet, there were numerous religious articles from the New Orleans Times Picayune called "Portraits". I had to do something with them, I just couldn't let them disintegrate!

    

     This box was mainly intended for displaying all of the religious statues that came out of the box lot. The first thing I did was cover the bottom inside with a piece of burlap. Next, I took some of the modgepodge and squeezed a tea bag over it, subsequently mixing and stirring until I had a yellow-ish color. This helped give the finish an antiqued look. (Or you could paint polyurethane over it and let it age quickly over time.) I cut out the pictures and modgepodged them all over the box, letting them arrange themselves naturally. Nothing to it. It felt good to preserve this paper ephemera somehow. I kind of feel like they were being saved just for this.