Glass in shadowbox frame

[RozR]

Framing my first jersey (two came in on the same day!).. along with memorabilia... The frame I have on order... has a rabbet depth of 2 1/2" - which should be plenty for the items without touching surface... But this particular frame has black interior painted sides and then another rabbet area that is 1/4" wider than the internal rabbet wall.

I had designed this so that a school blanket will be the cover for the backer board of a/f foamcore with another piece on the very back inside this 1/4" rabbet.

Question is how do I keep the glass stable? Glass spacers? will they be strong enough. Or should I also line the sides to support the glass?

Seemed pretty straightforward - til I thought about the glass!

Thanx,

Roz

[Jack Cee]

I always line the sides with foam core and a mat board cover or fabric. I have fastened glass in place with the old style glazers points but have never really been happy with the results so therefore; liners.

Jack Cee

[fttom]

Roz, I always cover foamcore with what ever mat board that I'm lining the box with. Then, cut strips wide enough to line the sides, minus the thickness of the glass. Put the glass in place up against the lip, then put the mat board covered foamcore in place below it. Glue it in place. Oh, color the top edge of the foamcore matboard sandwich with a black marker so, if it shows, it will show a black shadow line. Then, when you get the backing and all the stuff in place, it will help hold this all in place, in addition to the glue. I've never had one come out yet. Let me know if this is not clear.

[ilinkah]

Thanks fttom and Rozmataz! Ready to jump into finishing 6 shadowboxes tomorrow and was pondering the same question.

[Jin Wicked]

At my shop we had a customer bring in a 'homemade' shadowbox -- basically this woman's father had taken this massive frame and built with plywood a box that went behind it, complete with backing, as all one piece. You could unscrew the back part to get stuff in it. The problem was that they attached the sides of the box in the centre of the very wide moulding so that it was impossible to use the foam core/matboard strips to hold the glass up like we usually do (like everyone else.)* There was a good two or three inches of frame backside before the actual frame lip. On that one, we finally had to use 1/8" clear plastic spacers under the lip, sealed with a bead of silicone adhesive, because points, nails and everything else we tried either chipped the glass or could be seen in the front. We actually put brads behind the spacer and clipped off the tips to give it a little extra support. It worked really, really well.

Well, except that the other framer actually did the work, and put the UV glass in the wrong way. The customer somehow scratched the coating getting it home, and she brought it back and he had to take all that stuff out and do it all over again. Poor guy. smile.gif The lady actually tried to argue with me over the phone saying they'd ordered non-glare glass on the thing, and paid for it, and that we gave them regular glass instead. (This thing was about six or seven inches deep.) I told her the only non-reflective glass we could use in there was the Museum stuff, and of course she piped down when I told her to change out to that stuff would be almost $200. (It was also pretty large.) I should actually have taken a photograph, because once it was finally done it looked pretty good. The inside had a christening gown, a little Bible, another frame with a photo in it, and some other stuff. Apparently they took the thing home and hung it with one of those picture lights mounted over it.

Totally off-topic, but it really freaks me out how some of these people make shrines to their kids to hang on the wall. Makes me glad I was never christened or baptised, and all my stuff's crammed in a cardboard box in top of one of my parent's closets. ;) :cool:

*Actually, my preferred method for shadowboxes I sell myself is to put a nice generous mat around whatever's going inside the box, and do my buildup under the matting to about 1/4" from the bevel, and then line that with the same matboard as the backing behind the objects. I find it much more stable than the foamcore and matboard strips alone because those have a nasty habit of letting the glass or especially acrylic pop out of the frame while I'm trying to get it put together. It also looks really sharp if you use the backing colour for the top mat and can sneak in an 1/8" or 1/4" of another colour or two as bottom mats. I have a picture of an old Indian tobacco bag that was done like this; I didn't design it but I did do the work on it. I'll post it whenever I fill up my little disposable camera I leave at the shop. YMMV. smile.gif

[Sherry Gray]

Scoringthe matboard to make a box, rather then lining the frame with foam core and mat board, saves immeasureable amounts of time. Kistler gives explicit directions about doing this in one of her books, and it works great.

[Leslie S.]

Sherry,
I tried this for the first time a few weeks back using my Wizard, and it took a little head scratching to figure it out, but we got it right on the second shot. We were using a pre-constructed barnwood frame with unusal innerds, and didn't have room for foambard strips (which is how we've been doing it. I was a little worried, though. Have you ever had one come back with the sides gapping at the corners or the sides sagging in or anything? What happens if the tape holding the corners lets loose? Is there a trick to this? We tried to fold and tape the corners on the top so that the top is supported on the edges by the sides, but don't know if this will work. How do you do it?

Leslie

[Sherry Gray]

Leslie, we use a wide, dark tape to tape the corners together. Never had one come back because the sides were sagging, but we always cut (on the Wizard, but they are fairly easy to do by hand)the box to fit snugly into the frame. But I have had my framer refit a couple of pieces with glass cut a little larger than normal, because the glass wants to rattle sometimes. Now we just make it a habit to cut the glass about 1/16 larger than we normally would and that takes care of it. I have about a dozen samples of shadow boxes hanging on our "Wall of Fame" and it really brings in the business. Really proud of the one I just finished that has my dad's WWII Navy shirt, his discharge papers, Navy ring, and a great pic of him wearing the uniform. Also have hanging: seashells, a walking stick, a pocket knife with shavings, arrowheads, a Nascar tee-shirt, quilting, a fan, baby bracelet etc., a baby dress, my grandmother's memorabilia, some State Games medals, a Christening dress. All these are my personal things so if I ever sell the shop, I'm in big trouble about where to hang them at my home. Please call or e-mail if you have more questions.

[CharlesL]

I mentioned this some months ago, but I'll say it again. Sherry's shop is to die for, and her 'wall of fame' looks fantastic!!
As the old farmers I grew up with used to say, "She knows what she's doin'."

[RozR]

Sherry - Do you know exactly which book of Vivian's that is in? I would like to order it.

Also, Leslie - your shadowboxes sound so wonderful.... I'd love to see them! Does the side board have enough strength to hold up glass and a double mat? would you also add another layer of board on the sides to insure that. Would you use Plexi on one this large? Thanks for your sharing!! Roz

[Sherry Gray]

Charles, thank you for the wonderful compliment. You and Janet will have to come back for another visit after Christmas when I move into my new location. Just down the street a little ways, but much more visible to the public.

If I haven't already packed up my book, I'll check today to see what the title is, and let you know tomorrow. But it was so worth it!

[JPete]

For ease of doing these jobs we prefer to use a 1" or 1 1/4" mat to hold the glass and the second rabbetfor the work, generally the sides will not show. If using a larger mat than spacers are needed to keep the mat firm and then inserted as one package just as any other frame would be.

When using foam and board on the sides 1/8 " AF works the best for the deepth with out any of it showing. Cut the board with a reverse bevel.

Just always sell using fabric mat boards as their only choice, archival prefered.

Don't forget to charge for the sides. You will be surprised how much mat that uses.

[Sherry Gray]

Rozmataz, the name of the book is Framing Collectibles in Shadox Box Frames, by Vivian Kistler. Has great step-by-step instructions and ideas.

[RozR]

Sherry, thanks so much - in this busy season.

I had a call - another jersey coming in later today for Christmas!!

Happy Happy!

Roz