Purple Heart and the box it came in needs to be framed

[photohead]

Hi,
I'm new to this forum and new to picture framing. A customer wants me to construct a shadowbox with his father's WWII purple heart, the box, division patch, pin and a little plaque. The purple heart will be displayed outside the box. Anyone have any suggestion on how to secure the box.

 

[PaulSF]

What do you mean by "secure the box"?

 

[Val]

Not sure what you mean "outside the box", but we talked about this not long ago:

http://thegrumble.com/showthread.php?t=22959&highlight=Purple+Heart-+again

Hope this helps...

 

[photohead]

Sorry I was not clear. I'm not sure how to attatch the box to the mat. I do not want to glue the box to the back.

 

[Baer Charlton]

A two or three inch wide band of Mylar would be fine. Pass through two slits in the mat just hiding behind the edge of the box and glue to the back of the mat. Then gently close the box over the strip and your done.

I totally understand why you want to keep the box with the medal. Then new ones aren't worth the passage from China, but the old ones sometimes were wrapped with the same cloth as the ribbon. Moree? Plus it is part of the historical archive.

 

[BILL WARD]

might ask if they intend to acquire the medal 'bar' and make design allowance now for that eventuality

 

[Jim Miller]

Melinex 516 is the clear polyester film material Baer is talking about. The entire family of Mylar products was retired five years ago, including Mylar-D.

Melinex 516 could also be used to support the medal itself, and maybe the plaque, too. Cut straps of clear film and pass them through the matboard, attaching them to its back with 3M #889 double sided tape. Do not attempt to do this with ATG; it would soon fail.

For the medal, I suggest making a tracing of its shape on a scrap of matboard, taping a piece of clear film to it, and trimming it out with an X-Acto knife. Include four 1/8" wide straps protruding out from its perimeter at strategic support points. Make the straps at least 2" long. If that's unclear, think of the little fold-over tabs on paper doll clothes. When you slot the mount board, place the slots slightly inside the medal's perimeter, so they are hidden by the medal when the mount is finished.

You can find more on this method in the archives, and it will be covered in detail in the shadowbox workshop at WCAF.

The patch probably should be sewn to the mat.