This Shadowbox Will Blow You Away!

Many orders that come through the doors at Fab Frames are shadowboxes because customers wish to preserve a small piece of history. This specific shadowbox belongs to a customer who brought an antique fan into the store after it was restored by Wiebold Studio!

The fan was brought to Wiebold with broken supports, or staves, that maintain the structure for the fan’s fabric. The supports are likely made of celluloid, an early form of plastic. Because celluloid is an extremely volatile substance, only specific materials can be used to repair breaks: Otherwise, more damage could ensue.

Fan laying on plain back-mat

Once Wiebold completed their marvelous repairs, the customer brought their fan in to one of our stores to be preserved in a beautiful shadowbox. The first step of any order at Fab Frames is to pick the perfect frame and mat. After a couple of options were laid out, the customer chose a silver frame with black accents to pick up on the darker tones of the fan’s image. Because the fan was going into a shadowbox, two separate mat colors were chosen: one for the fan to be mounted on, and one to border the top of the frame. The backing mat is a light periwinkle/grey color to illuminate the back of the dark fan, while the top mat is a richer purple to highlight the brighter hues of the artwork.

Fan being measured with a test mat before final mounting

Because the fan is a 3D object, it needs to be bolstered to the back mat by more than mere adhesive. We have a couple different ways to attach objects to the frame’s backing: thread, fishing line, plastic tags, etc. It depends on the object that is being framed and how it is being presented in the frame. We always bolster the pieces in the most covert way possible that is relatively hidden so the piece appears floating. Once the piece has been placed on the back-mat, the rest of the frame can be assembled!

The final design for this beautifully restored fan

Because the fan was mounted, we could finally combine the glass, top mat, and piece into the frame for its final look! After everything was placed together, without any crumbs, the fan was complete and ready for the customer to pick it up! Shadowboxes like these are one of our many talents here at Fab Frames. It is a wonderful way to preserve items and memorabilia with style and panache. If you have something you’d like framed, or shadowboxed, bring it on in to any one of our four locations!