Shadow Boxes: "Cooky Book"

Shadowboxes are a great way to show off your precious items or to pay tribute to your favourite family memory. Framing your Grandmother’s cookbook and her favourite recipe will add a personal and unique touch to your kitchen area.

This recipe book is attached in a conservation manner with Mylar film. The film is cut into straps and wrapped around the back of the book and all pages. The adhesive only contacts the Mylar and is attached to the bottom mat.

The recipe is photocopied from the book, raised up with foam core to the height of the book and framed with acid free mat board to give it more definition.

The offset spatula is sewn down using fishing line at two anchor points. No adhesives are used.

The sides of the frame have also been lined with the same mat board that is used for the backing to give clean edges. 

Museum glass is the best option for shadow boxes as it provides the greatest reflection control with the most clarity. 

This particular piece is glazed with regular clear glass, which provides 48% UV light protection. If your items are very fragile or valuable, conservation glass would be recommended. Clear Conservation glass blocks 99% of UV, but has no reflection control. Non glare glass is not recommended for shadow boxes, as the farther the glass is placed from the objects, the foggier the contents will appear. The ideal glass for shadow boxes is Museum glass. Museum glass blocks 99% of UV light and is coated with an anti-reflective layer that allows less than 1% of light reflection and over 97% light transmission. This provides the optimum protection and viewing of the object. You can learn more about museum glass at www.tru-vue.com. 

This post by: Megan 

The Working Man

Have you heard the words of the working man? The humble man? The quiet man? No grandstanding for him, his politics are his own, his beliefs rock solid. No need for debate. 

Lethbridge High Level bridge

The sales call, the cold call, the margin call, these are for other men. Not in his wheel house, not on his wish list. No chrome spinners, no loud exhaust, the spot light holds no allure. In by 8 and home by 6, snow shoveled, hedges trimmed and everything in its place. 

Stark master circuit analyzer in glass display case

But still, he does play the game. As a living, breathing human being the need to be noticed is the nature of the beast. Head down, nose to the grindstone his hands speak for him. His legacy will not be some polished soliloquy, some candy coated breeze. What he does is who he is. 

Tools of the Trade. 

Metal, wood, leather and wires, transistors, chips and a million other things molded by his touch, bent to his will, these are his voice, the mirror that reflects what you might not have noticed before.  Quite literally the ghost in the machine.

This post by Scott. 

Oversize Canvas

Artwork that is painted or printed on canvas must be stretched around a wooden bar, known as Stretcher Bar.  Stretcher bar is available is various thicknesses and quality levels. It is always important to use a good quality bar, but the issue is of higher concern on larger size. Oversize pieces can become heavy and put a lot of strain on the bars. When artwork is very large, it is important that the stretcher bar is braced correctly…or THIS can happen!

We received this canvas from a customer who had recently moved to the city. Even though this canvas was of regular weight, the original braces were weak and when the artwork was transported, the braces broke apart.

It is important to note, that in this case, it was not just the braces that failed. The fragility of the wood used for the stretcher bar may have gone unnoticed by the original framer or artist. Even small knots or imperfections in the wood can be exacerbated by a change in temperature, especially in our dry climate! Using a strong, high quality stretcher bar is every bit as important as constructing and correctly placing solid braces.

We removed the canvas and a new stretcher bar was built with extra braces at key pressure points. We then re-stretched the canvas around this frame.

This second piece is the largest canvas that we have ever framed! It is also the heaviest, not just due to its size, but the material itself was thicker than normal. We built braces for it as described above and cut triangles from a strong board and attached them at each corner for added strength.

This beautiful canvas by local artist, Amy Dodic, provided a fun challenge for us. It was a team effort, requiring two people to stretch it and maneuver it around in our, suddenly, very small work area!

An additional factor for this canvas was the frame size. The standard length for framing material is 10ft - 12ft. Because the frame is cut at 45 degrees, wider frames require more length beyond the inside measurement. We made sure to select a frame available in a 12ft length and just barely made it!

Transportation was the final issue to address and we waved goodbye to this piece as it drove away in a horse trailer to its home at Fort Whoop Up National Historic Site, here in Lethbridge AB. 

This post by: Megan

NO! The end.

No! It makes a short story, doesn't it? 
No is the beginning of a relationship so short that it can be lost within the content of a tweet. No is the word that is never spoken in improv because there is nowhere to go from there. The same can be said in business. Why would you ever say no to a customer that is requesting something different!

Six frames attached together to make a single six foot by six foot wall hanging.

 Of course we can’t stretch time or circumvent the laws of physics. YET. We are looking in to it. However, we have ten years of experience, a closet full of power tools and a small library of books on the subject of framing. Books brimming with new ideas as well as strict guidelines on the care and handling of materials of all types. So we will find a way. We may even check out the internet to find the idea that will help an art piece sing its own unique tune. (All internet suggestions will be cross referenced with the, common sense / what were they thinking, sliding scale).

Whale Baleen in a black wood frame with acid free mats

In the end it is the project that stretches our imagination, tests our creativity and lurks in the back of our mind long past closing time that becomes our badge of honor. It is the building block for the next triumph, and how can you say no to that! 

The pitch was captured in ten frames across the top.
The memory captured will last a lifetime

This post by Scott