Shawshank 500 Yards

"I have to remind myself that some birds aren’t meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up does rejoice.

Still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they’re gone.

I guess I just miss my friend.”

The prison yard fence is made from plastic and wood, while the “razor wire” is actually the spiral from a notebook.

To make the burrito, I glued a Chi-Chi’s tortilla around a paper towel roll.

I wanted the “pipe” to be raised so Andy would have some loft as he emerged into the watery poo outside Shawshank. To achieve this, I glued two popsicle sticks together around the tip of a dowel rod, then drilled a dowel-sized hole into a wooden base beneath a “false bottom” made of cardstock.

Inside the paper towel tube, I glued the popsicle sticks against the inner wall and painted the interior brown. Once the glue cured, I poked the dowel rod through the cardstock and into the wood—and voilà! Floating burrito!

The beans? They’re real beans!

And if you look closely, Andy has the warden’s books tied to his leg inside a small plastic bag.

Note about paper: 11x14, 16x16 and 18x24 is the outside mat size and size frame you need. If you order any larger size in paper, there is no mat included and the size listed is for the paper.