The Altar Boy

(Above:  The Altar Boy. Found vintage photo altered with a metallic and gold painted 2-ply paper halo, beads, and buttons.  Hand-stitched.  Framed:  23" x 20".  Click on any image to enlarge.)

I knew exactly what I was going to do when I first saw this photo at the Pickens County flea market.  There was no doubt.  It was going home with me, and for two dollars it was mine.

(Above:  The stash of found objects and other items purchased last Wednesday at the Pickens County flea market.) 

I got all sorts of other items that morning ... including an amazing quantity of toy car wheels, two folding rulers, and four unique Swingline photo discs (whatever they are! LOL!)  I scored two large jars in which I'll store buttons. We even bought a set of crystal stems still in their original box.  Still ... it was the photo of the altar boy that captured my heart.

Later that afternoon, I cut a piece of 2-ply gold metallic mat board for the halo, but it was too shiny and new looking.  Gold metallic paint was mottled onto the shiny surface.  Same color but no reflection.  A nice texture.  Then, in my dry mount, I fused the photo onto a piece of deep brown linen.  A piece of black recycled felt was stapled to a stretcher bar and then the brown linen with the photo was stapled on top of the felt.  Slowly, I beaded the perimeter and the halo.

 

(Above:  Altar Boy in progress.)

For some unknown reason, I remembered a frame we had.  For years, this frame held a mirror and was available at Mouse House on Park Street, our frame shop.  We had well over one hundred framed mirrors (no exaggeration!)  Before moving, we had a big sale.  Many sold.  Dozens were then moved to our new home/church and I hung the upstairs bathroom entirely with mirrors.  Still, there were about seventeen left.  Steve and I took them to a local consignment shop.  More sold, but when our allotted time on consignment ended, we took the rest back to the church.  (The owner did offer to buy them, but at ten dollars each, we passed.  I'm glad we did.)   I lay the piece under the frame ... perfect ... as if the frame had been built for the picture.  I almost stopped here.

 

(Above:  Stitching buttons while watching football.)

The piece could have been finished at this point.  If it had been a framing order, it would have been done.  After all, it sure looked great.  It would have made an ideal presentation of a beloved family ancestor on an elaborate wall of sentimental photos.  The over-the-top frame and beading would certainly have indicated an important relative ... and I could verbally make a case for it as "art" ... but not a case I'd fully believe myself.  

 

(Above:  Detail of The Altar Boy.)

In my heart, I would know that it was really just a creative framing order.  After all, is a fancy French mat "art" or just a skill for beautification, a way to embellish something and make a transition from an interior room into the world of the image?  I've been adding French matting, fancy fillet, marbleized strips of paper, painted bevels, and all sorts of other "tricks of the framing trade" for decades.  Other people say that this is "an art".  Maybe it is.  Maybe it isn't  For me, there's a difference ... especially since my vision back at the flea market was to surround the photo with a field of buttons.  I looked at the piece from Wednesday afternoon until Saturday's first college football kickoff.  Then, I went with my gut.  I'm glad I did!