Medal Shadowbox

[Shayla]

Studio moulding with LJ fillet. Black suede backing. 19 1/4 x 22 1/2".



This man died in November at almost 100. A colonel, whose daughter said he was a wonderful man.
WWII, in Europe and Africa. Korea. Vietnam. French Legion of Honor. Purple Heart. The one at lower right is for clearance to work with the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

At one o'clock Saturday morning, I laid the frame over the top and suddenly saw a misplacement. The French Legion Of Honor (red ribbon) in the bottom row was 5/8" too far to the right. No way to fix it before the memorial service, so I just kept working. When I sent a photo, offering either a large discount or re-doing it later at no charge, they said it was just fine, and they're happy. That was a big surprise.

 

[Shayla]

Looking at an earlier photo, I can see the placement error, but hindsight is 20-20.

Thread guides did save my bacon in this project, though, so thanks to the Grumbler who mentioned them. I also found myself appreciating Jim Miller and his help. I was doing the mylar spider mount on the French Legion of Honor, thinking, 'Thank you, thank you....' (And it should be noted that the spider mount hadn't yet been done in this photo).

 

[Ylva]

It came out really nice!

 

[Nikodeumus]

Looking at an earlier photo, I can see the placement error, but hindsight is 20-20.

Thread guides did save my bacon in this project, though, so thanks to the Grumbler who mentioned them. I also found myself appreciating Jim Miller and his help. I was doing the mylar spider mount on the French Legion of Honor, thinking, 'Thank you, thank you....' (And it should be noted that the spider mount hadn't yet been done in this photo).

View attachment 33121

Thread guides. What a great idea!

 

[Shayla]

Thread guides. What a great idea!

Right?

I'd seen it somewhere in the past and forgotten. A framer mentioned it a couple of weeks ago, with perfect timing, and it worked great. I held the ends of the threads to the back of the mat with painters tape, which made repositioning easy. It's important to re-check thread placement when doing each attachment, as the thread can move. Also, if using a measuring tape to check, pick a designated one. With tang slop variance, size results can vary between devices. I labeled one and used it the whole time. At first, I thought I needed to burn an inch, but then realized that if I used the same measure the whole time, the measurements would match. (This might seem obvious, but I usually don't use a tape measure from the end for any precise measuring.)

Threads also worked well, because as the work progressed, I was able to keep some while removing others. There were a few light thread shape markes on the suede, but they came off easily.

 

[Nikodeumus]

Right?

I'd seen it somewhere in the past and forgotten. A framer mentioned it a couple of weeks ago, with perfect timing, and it worked great. I held the ends of the threads to the back of the mat with painters tape, which made repositioning easy. It's important to re-check thread placement when doing each attachment, as the thread can move. Also, if using a measuring tape to check, pick a designated one. With tang slop variance, size results can vary between devices. I labeled one and used it the whole time. At first, I thought I needed to burn an inch, but then realized that if I used the same measure the whole time, the measurements would match. (This might seem obvious, but I usually don't use a tape measure from the end for any precise measuring.)

Threads also worked well, because as the work progressed, I was able to keep some while removing others. There were a few light thread shape markes on the suede, but they came off easily.

I just made a quick Word file for myself to remember this technique, with a diagram and the text of this post. I keep a folder of Tips and Tricks I pick up from all the clever Grumblers. Thanks !

 

[Larry Peterson]

I just made a quick Word file for myself to remember this technique, with a diagram and the text of this post. I keep a folder of Tips and Tricks I pick up from all the clever Grumblers. Thanks !

That is one way but having notes in a lot of different Word files may not be for everyone. If you have Office, One Note might be a better solution.

You can have many open tabs, each containing something or other. I have a OneNote folder in my DropBox folder so everything is synced all over the place (2 computers, 1 phone and 3 tablets).

 

[Shayla]

Hey, I just remembered how to find it! He also said he'd eventually replaced threads with a laser, so I just searched that word.
It was snafu, writing in post #5 of my earlier thread: https://thegrumble.com/index.php?threads/medal-alignment.84203/#post-1089135

 

[Dirk]

Gosh ... you'd think Nielsen would offer a metal shadowbox.
Sorry - couldn't resist the pun.

 

[Shayla]

Gosh ... you'd think Nielsen would offer a metal shadowbox.
Sorry - couldn't resist the pun.

They tried, but the metal was too heavy. And sometimes Ozzy didn't sign the autographs in time.

P.S. I told him they do have one. Being a punster, he's still proud of this.

 

[snafu]

Thread guides did save my bacon in this project, though, so thanks to the Grumbler who mentioned them.

You're welcome

 

[Shayla]

You're welcome

I hope you also saw post #8, where I figured out the name of our angel.

Thank you so much for that earlier post. Had two really late nights last week, working on this, and the thread guides were a great help.

 

[Nikodeumus]

I used the thread guide technique for a medal shadowbox I just completed!
Thanks to snafu, this trick is very useful.



These photos aren't the greatest but they illustrate the process fairly well.

 

[snafu]

Your welcome