Q&A with BoxBoy Demented Decoupage

1). You have so many fun and quirky designs it blows my mind! Do you have a favorite design or motif you enjoy creating the most?

Yes ... the scary clowns. I am terrified of clowns for some reason ... and this has been an acquired adult phobia. No clown has ever done me wrong and I am not too wimpy to refrain from watching a scary clown movie (the indie, Dead Clowns, immediately comes to mind). So many people share this phobia, so I don't feel too silly. My favorite boxes, thus, are "Can't Sleep ... Clowns Will Eat Me" and "I Like You ... I'll Kill You Last." So creepy, so wrong, but so funny. And people still ask why the decoupage is demented!

2). You are very well-known crafter in the DC/NOVA area! What has surprised you most about having your own craft business?

That people even recognize/remember me in the first place. About 10 years ago after I first moved here, I did a show in Northwest DC and one of my customers remembered me from my Atlanta, Georgia show days. I was flabbergasted (yet still humbled). The nice lady even purchased a huge mirror I had done. I don't travel a lot, but I have had several people remember me from my shows in Pennsylvania and occasionally I get the "Hey, BoxBoy!" when out and about. I love it. It makes me feel important because I have no ego to bruise ... besides, nobody can remember that my name is Paul. I love being called BoxBoy. Believe me, I've been called a lot worse!

3). What three words describe your art?

Kooky. Fun. Creative. (KFC) ... A few of my passions are anagrams, punnery and word play. I just think these things up on the spot. This was no exception.

4). So, I know you love custom orders. What's the most unique (read: weird!) custom order someone has commissioned?

Oh, easy, easy answer! My very favorite customer in the entire world lives in Southern California, and she started her BoxBoy collection with Joan Crawford/Mommie Dearest and "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane" boxes. The former boxes, of course,include tiny wire hangers. She has purchased/ordered so many bizarre things from me that it staggers the mind. Her first request was a depiction of Linda Blair's Regan from The Exorcist, and a website viewer recently related how freaked out they were when they stumbled across it. Touche for BoxBoy!

I finally broke down and "did" FaceBook, and reconnected with my favorite customer. Recent orders have been a Richard Ramirez/Cocoa Puffs framed piece from my "Cereal Killers" line, a Jesus as a Raptor image with a scary John Lennon head and a Rev. Jim Jones with Kool-Aid package framed piece. However, the tour de force was a Scott Peterson "shrine" box that included a "lacy" doily on the inside adorned with fishhooks. Now that's truly sick and I can't tell you how much it warmed my heart to make it for her. She was absolutely thrilled and I told her it is such a comfort to know that there are like-minded demented people in the world.

5). BoxBoy is everywhere! Where can we find your demented decoupage outside the Ballston Arts & Crafts Market?

My main gig is the Flea Market at Eastern Market on SUNDAYS on the Hine School playground side -- every week (weather permitting) from April through Christmas. I am also participating in the inaugural season of the Alexandria Art Market in the Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria on the first Saturday of each month through November. My big upcoming fall shows include Arts on Foot in DC (pending), Adams Morgan Day, Art on the Avenue, Takoma Park Day, Clarendon Day and the Downtown DC Holiday Market (pending). All my events are listed on the website.

Bonus question: So, ninja pandas or a yeti. Who would win?

Good heavens, man ... yeti hands down. Pandas are herbivores; yeti eat meat. I recently saw the very, very bad third Brendan Fraser Mummy movie that featured yetis. They kicked some major butt. Besides, the yeti (aka abominable snowman) in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was just about to feast on all sorts of human, elf and Bambi flesh before he had his teeth yanked by misfit nitwit Hermie the "eclectic" elf. Read between the lines here ... that poofy hair, puh-leeze!