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Cardinal Frame & Art
1904 Ranch Rd 12
Suite 101
San Marcos, TX 78666
(512) 392-7699
Hours M-F 10:00-5:30
Sat: 10:00-1:00
Or by appointment

Member since 1974

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Shadowbox Frames

Another facet of our business is shadowbox framing. This is where creativity really shows up. We have been asked to frame a number of very unusual items in shadowboxes. For instance, a young woman wanted a turkey wishbone to be framed because her husband proposed to her at Thanksgiving dinner. A wheat farmer wanted a shadowbox for each of his sons with the 8 different types of wheat that he grew on his farms. That year was a bumper crop and the heads were very large and beautiful to him. We once framed a cow pattie for the owner of a feed lot who wanted it to look “fresh.”! That required about 15 coats of lacquer before the framing began. Fortunately, most people want to frame more traditional items—articles of clothing, ancestor’s belongings, baby dresses and rattles, dolls, or guns. Almost anything can be framed in a shadowbox!

Click the images below for a larger picture and to see how a shadowbox is created!

	The silvery part wrapping around the wedding invitation is called a "fillet" and it will accentuate the framed work once the moulding and glass are in place.
	Vicky with finished work
	Placement of the wedding band. This will be near the center of the shadowbox. A lot of thought goes into where the most appropriate location is for each item.
	And we're done!
	Vicky uses a tape measure to lay out the invitations and make sure things are aligned inside the shadow box
	Here is the entire assembly on the table we use to work with clients. To the right is the frame moulding we'll be using
	Vicky carefully cuts in for the ring's location
	Since the shadowbox is 3-dimensional, we want things to "project". Here one of the cards has a fold, so we'll allow part of it to stick up.
	Some of the original ribbonwork from the customer's parents' wedding is added.
	Here is the backing. We use only acid-free materials. The objective here is to attach the ring securely without any visible connectors. We've added a shim of black velvet matting (the normal material used in shadowboxes) to match the color
	Now the shim is taped in place using conservation (acid-free) tape. All tapes that we use are a high-quality, special type which can be removed without causing damage