Well this was a fun and challenging project. I was inspired to do a Guitar Shadowbox, by another framing friend, Chris. So this project is dedicated to my internet buddy, Chris.
I found a guitar that I really liked, signed by four major Great American Country Music Stars,
Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Alan Jackson and Tracy Lawrence. Little did I realize that having four autographs on one music instrument was going to create such a design challenge. After a little "brainstorming" and searching for more items too include in the display, I hit upon the final design concept.
The key in this case, was not the guitar but finding four 45 records by each artist. Once I had the records, I found the photos to add to the story line for each Country Star. Everything was now in place, at least, in my head. Now came translating those design ideas to the real world.
One of the challenges to be overcome in this project, was how to mount the guitar, securely, yet that didn’t damage it and was completely reversible. The answer was to make custom formed rods to hold the guitar. After deciding on location and shape of the rods, they needed to be padded with heat shrink tube so as not to abrade against the guitar. They were also color matched to the locations on the guitar to become almost un-noticeable.
I found the "Great American Country" logo and decided to add that in as a design element, and although we have a "state of the art" computerized mat cutting machine, the cut file still had to be designed. The mat openings for the photo strips merging into the 45 records as well as the "name" of each Artist, were then next, plotted out. A fun little detail, was cutting the little adaptors that held the 45's onto the record player. ( Remember them? )
Considering the depth of this acoustic guitar, a custom made "back box extender" had to be made. That was constructed out of 3/4" birch plywood and then painted with a textured finish to resemble a guitar case and to coordinate with the face frame, by Larson Juhl. Finally a 1/4" plywood back was attached to keep everything square and secure and allowing me to add heavy duty hanging hardware.
I'm proud to say that on Oct. 27, 2008 that this piece won 1st. Prize in the PPFA Open Framing Competition in our local chapter. I had fun creating this piece, I hope you enjoyed reading about how it was done. So as you can see, we are up to almost any challenge.
What do you want to frame?
Stop into Frame Shop Art Gallery & Gifts, to see this award winning shadowbox on display.Once you try us, we are sure to become your framer for LIFE,we are the Toledo areas
Local Independent Framing Expert.
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