Opinions Wanted Need Ideas: Technical & Design - Swiss Army Knife

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cvm

cvm

SPFG, Supreme Picture Framing God
Joined
Feb 19, 2008
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Boulogne, FL
I'm going to give my Swiss Army Knife some sort of shadow box treatment; I think it'll make a cool display piece for the store.

Would anyone care to offer some design and technical ideas for securing the knife into the frame?

It's called the "Giant Knife" and is about 9" long and weighs around 2 lbs. I'm probably going to display it with all the tools and blades splayed all the way flat, although fanning the tools and blades would look really cool too.

It comes in a nice box, but I don't want to incorporate the box into the design.

Here it is flat:

4a8e495d-d1bb-4eb5-bd34-56fdac177225_zps1ln5sbtt.jpg


Here it is 'fanned':

9b0b6642-0bd2-47c0-9aa0-c7e2f57471ec_zpsscpapvv5.jpg


Obviously there are no cost limitations and I'd really like to hear your ideas if anyone's got the time.

Thanks!
 
Jim Miller makes great museum glass display cases. I'd like to see a tabletop upright case with the knife held splayed out and at a slant. Maybe on plexi rods of differing heights.
 
Maybe do a mat background that looks like the Swiss flag. Mounting should be easy by stitching with thin wire in strategic spots.
Frame Maybe LJ CR2 stacked with the red LJ Komodo. Or: I like to use LJ 393405 Metro shadowbox cap for knife displays because it looks like a knife blade:
Dagger.jpg

:cool: Rick
 
True, but if this is going to be displayed in his shop, he would probably want to use a design that he could provide himself if requested.
I suppose he could order something similar for a customer and then just add a markup.
:cool: Rick
 
Good ideas!

I want it to hang on the wall, and I want the design to be something we could replicate, in-house for a customer.

LJ CR2 is a great idea; but maybe the 2" profile capped with a gloss red if we can find one to fit. In this case, a museum glass shadowbox is also a good idea - the sides of the knife would be nicely visible and the shallow rabbet of the 2" CR2 wouldn't matter.

I like the Swiss flag background idea, but it might look overdone if we do a silver/red frame combo.

Rick:
That's a really cool knife - looks like a modern interpretation of an Aztec sacrificial knife.
 
I agree that a Swiss flag background might be a bit much, but it would be nice to get it in there some how. What I'm thinking is mounting the knife (fanned) on a darker colored mat so the shiny is set off, and cut 4 small openings - one in each corner - with a Swiss flag in each. Note that the official Swiss flag is a square, not a rectangle, though you could consider trying to lay out the design so the frame was a 1:2 or 2:3 ratio and make the flags likewise.
 
technically there are several items (awl, drivers) on the back which would help mount the knife by going through the matboard and could be secured with tight fitting o rings or rubber bands

on second thought... you could McGyver it out of whatever is laying about using nothing but the tools in your knife
 
I know this doesn't help you but I think it would be cool if somehow the knife could be animated. Having the blades/tools fold and unfold by means of a hidden motor, etc.
 
jferrari said:
I know this doesn't help you but I think it would be cool if somehow the knife could be animated. Having the blades/tools fold and unfold by means of a hidden motor, etc.
Click to expand...

And I thought that I was the only one who always wants to put motors and LED lights with remote controls in shadowboxes! :D
What about mirror sides on the inside of the shadowbox?
 
The standard display where Swiss Army Knives are sold is a giant sized (2 foot or so long) animated one. A lot harder to do on a production model...

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The backing mat could be a collage of the knife with different tools highlighted. Having them all open at once while interesting does "lose" some of the smaller ones. So a series of photos might add to the over all look. Still think that having it elevated or held off from the backing would be a great look. Might look into a display box or a big bubble glass that the knife could be lifted toward.
 
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