Design of Shadow Box Frame

Series Summary

So your photos are not attracting enough attention from party guests, such masterpieces of tone and composition trapped flat and lifeless against the living room wall? You may have a prize winner of an image, but it doesn’t get any more play in that bland frame than the Nagel print or Ansel Adams calendar on either side of it. What you need is a way to create an aura of excitement and anticipation for your work of art, a gimmick to make your photo command the admiration of your viewing public.

From across the room, the walls of a shadow box could conceal many things. People will walk over to the box to satisfy their curiosity, sure that such a deluxe display must contain real star quality within. Imagine your photo as Willie Nelson and the shadow box as his custom tour bus. Even if your photo is only the bass player, fans still go a bit crazy when he gets off of the bus…

In this series of free videos, our carpentry expert Jon Olsen takes you step-by-step through the construction of your own shadow box. He demonstrates how to chose materials, cut the base and walls, then stain the frame to match your furniture. Not only will the finished box add prestige to your photo, it will protect the image as well, shielding your creation from direct light and the anxious reach of rowdy fans.

Video Transcript

"Hi, this is Jon on behalf of Expert Village. In this video clip we'll be formulating a design. I came across this magazine that has these shadow box picture frames for sale and I really like them. However, they don't sale their picture frames in the color that I want, what I want to do is match a dark walnut table. Now I want to be able to put in a 8x10 picture. So if I take a look here at their measurements for their 8x10 it is 10 1/4 wide by 2 3/4 deep by 12 1/4 high. I'm going to utilize these measurements to give me a basic overview of what my picture frame is going to look like. I went ahead and drew up the picture frame and applied their measurements. Now, I actually want frame to be a little bit deeper, so mine is going to be 3 inches. In addition the width of mine since I'm going to be using a little bit different material is going to need to be 9 1/2 inches and the height is going to have to be 11 1/2 inches. Now my measurements are almost the exactly same as their measurements are. Again, since I'm using a different material I need to adjust those a little bit."