How do you solve a problem like Explorer?

So, I've had this lump of wood over a year now without doing much with it. When I first got it as a pile of bits I roughly stuck it together and played it a little but the paint job done by the previous owner is nasty as hell. It's reacted badly with the paint underneath and is still sticky to this day.

I don't really need another black explorer and I bought this speculatively as a project so to just clean it up and put it together would be a bit pointless. My problem is that I don't have any idea what to do with it.

Obviously the badly done Pusheadesque scribbles have to go, but then I'm back at the aforementioned black explorer.

I was thinking that I could perhaps go for a full sheet of treadplate over the front as that's a common look for \m/ explorers.

Or convert it to a 'Holy Explorer', which was Gibson's mad explorer full of holes.

I've also been talking to a friend who paints leather jackets as a sideline and has been thinking he wanted to paint a guitar for a while. My problem is that I simply can't think of anything I'd want painted on it. It's also fitted with a scratchplate and an explorer without one would be better for painting.

What to do?