Shadowboxes And Romance

As I mentioned, I am a professional framer. One of my favorite things is when a customer comes in with a unique, 3 dimensional object or two, and wants to have it framed. Not only do I love the challenge, but also the stories that are often behind the items. Here are a few of my favorites from the "romance" category.

An older gentleman brought in a small box with two wedding bands and two necklaces. He said they belonged to his wife, and seeing that he wanted both wedding bands in there, I rightly assumed that she had passed away. I started working with him on the design, and when I looked inside the top of the box, I saw a small note. I asked him if he'd like to include that in the shadowbox as well.
He didn't know what I was talking about.
He'd never seen the note before. He took it out and with eyes welled up with tears, he read it for the very first time.

We made the note the center point of everything in the shadowbox, and now the note that was hidden away is something he can view everyday.

First Christmas Tree (part of it anyway)

This was super fun to do. This customer came in with this twig from his and his wife's first ever Christmas tree. He wanted to have it framed in honor of their first Christmas and give it to her as a Christmas gift. I sprayed the twig with a sealant to protect it from falling apart later. I then stitched it down to a Christmas red and black mottled mat. I used a rustic barnwood frame to house the mat and twig, put glass over it, and stacked a bigger frame of the same style on top to give it the depth and dimension it needed. I added a custom plaque to the outside.
It was ready to go mid November, but the customer didn't come in to get it. I'd called him a few times and finally just a few days before Christmas, I had to give him a dose of reality.
I called and left him a message that his gift had all of the women at work swooning over his romantic idea for a gift. I told him that if he didn't get in and pick it up before Christmas, not only did he risk losing what could turn out to be a husband of the year award from his wife, but also the adoration of all the women at work who had him pegged as the next best thing to Shakespeare's Romeo.
He showed up just a few hours later.
He stopped in a year later to let me know how much she loved it.

Wine Bottles Shadowbox

Nothing terribly romantic about this one, but it was quite a challenge. The customer gave it to his friends for a wedding gift. The stipulation was that the bottles had to remain sealed with the wine still intact.
I had to build a deep box to house the bottles. I lined the box with a blue/silver mat board with a lighter blue silver mat board in the back framed out by a gold braid fillet. The nameplate is attached to the lighter colored mat board behind the bottles. I knew that there were going to be difficulties hiding the attachment methods, so we used a silver and dark blue silk scarf that was used in the wedding to hide the schematics. I attached it in the top right corner, draped it down and around to the left to hide all of the various supports and topped it off with a little cork in the front for effect. Museum glass is used-which is the best and it has no reflection and looks like there is no glass at all. It was time consuming, but fun and challenging!

I used the same method framing this as I did the Christmas twig. However, the story is quite different.

The customer came in last week to have it framed for his wife who was currently undergoing treatment in the hospital.
She was diagnosed with cancer and after the diagnosis; they took a trip to the beach. She had mentioned to her husband that in all of the years she had ever looked for seashells, she had never found a scallop.

He told me that he prayed and ask God for a small gift-he wanted his wife to finally find a scallop. He didn’t tell his wife about this prayer, and later that day when they went for a walk at the shore, she turned to him and said she hoped today would be the day she found a scallop. He said they literally took two steps, and right there in front of them was a beautiful little scallop.
You see? God even cares about the small things.
He came and picked it up today because tomorrow she gets out of the hospital and he wants to surprise her. I think she is going to love it. But I am sure that he will be loved even more.

So that's it folks for the romance department. I could post more, but the sentiments are getting to me.