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There are numerous ways of presenting photographic images for display. The most common way is to add one or more mats and display them under glass in a frame. Another way is to print on canvas or metal and then hang the print as you would a painting. But there is another way that is less frequently used for this purpose and much more interesting. That is the use of shadowboxes. When done well a shadowbox can make a print look like it is projecting three dimensionally into the room. When I looked for some information on how to design and assemble a shadowbox with a print inside I found absolutely none, although I did see a couple of examples in an exhibit.  So I decided to figure it out from scratch and just do it.

List of Materials:

1. Shadowbox Framing Material, Documounts 16×20 Black Round DM124. You can use any shadowbox framing material, or even make your own.

2. Conservation Clear Glass, 16×20. The more you do to minimize reflections the better, but don’t use “Non-Glare” glass. The amount of separation between the glass and the print would cause too much distortion.

3. Wood Glue, the Elmer’s™ type for woodworking.

4. Scotch™ ATG 700 tape, 1/2 inch. You could substitute regular double-sided tape.

5. Black Foamboard, 3/16″, 30×40″, or other size.

6. Framer’s Tape II, a clear acid-free tape, used to seal the foamboard back to the shadowbox. You can use any other acid-free tape that is suitable.

7. Hanging hardware and wire. Documounts framing comes with flat hanging hardware that works well for shadowboxes. They are so deep that they tend to hang too far away from the wall if you use standard screw eyes. You can probably buy the flat hardware separately.

Tools needed:

1. Small paintbrush for glue, about 1/4 inch wide and fairly flat, with short, stiff bristles

2. Plastic hammer.

3. Mat Cutter (I use a C&H model)

4. Mat cutter blades. I use #1500 blades with a single bevel to cut the foamboard

5. Calipers. Digital calipers are nice, but use whatever you have

6. Razor blades, or mat cutter blades for trimming the paper after the angled edge cuts

7. Utility knife for cutting foamboard to size

8. Straight edge

9. Scotch™ ATG 700 tape dispenser

Shadowbox Framing Material

The shadowbox framing I use  (Right) is 1-1/8″ Wide, 2″ High, 1-11/16″ Deep, and is coated with a black plastic material. The outside edges are rounded, which gives the finished frame a nice modern look. Shadowbox framing material is available from many suppliers in different shapes and with different dimensions. The main thing is to pick one that is fairly deep to provide that 3-D look.

An example of a finished shadowbox frame is shown here (Above Left).  Several more are displayed in the Fine Art Store on our website, http://www.allindaphoto.com/Fine-Art-Store/Shadowbox-Images/11327655.  Note the way the print appears to be suspended in space, and to project out of the box. That is partially due to the fact that the edges of the board on which the print is mounted are cut back at a 45° angle, and that means only a thin edge is visible from the front or sides.

Starting here I’ll describe how I assembled the example shown above. It is sized at 16×20 inches, portrait format, but you could use a square format just as well, and the size can vary too.

Assembly of the Shadowbox Frame:

Assembling the Frame

Gather the 4 sections, set them top side down on a flat, smooth surface like a piece of matboard, and arrange them as they go together. Make sure to clean off any sawdust. Separate them into the 2 opposite sections and spread glue on the mating surfaces of each pair.

Insert the plastic wedges that are used to hold the sections together.  Make sure the top surfaces of the corners meet properly, then use a plastic hammer to carefully drive the wedges to the bottoms of the slots.  Be very careful not to hit the plastic coating with the hammer or it might chip.  Clean up any excess glue.  Assemble the two glued-up sections using the same procedure to complete the frame assembly.

Mounting the Print

The print can be made on any type of photo paper. I like to use Epson Luster, Red River Up Satin 2.0, or Epson Exhibition Fiber Paper.  I think lustre  type surfaces work better than matte  in shadowboxes because they pick up the light in the room better, and are also less reflective than pure glossy surfaces.  But do whatever you like best.  For a 16×20 shadowbox a print sized at 11-12 inches wide and about 17 inches tall works well.  After about 24 hours curing time you can mount the print on black foamboard. Cut the foamboard slightly larger than the print size.  Cut the surplus paper off the print to about 1/16 inch from each edge.  Spray the board and back of the print with acid-free photo safe adhesive.  After about 2 minutes you can place the print on the board, center it inside the board edges, and apply pressure.  Meanwhile start on the next step.

Preparing the Frame

Clean the glass and carefully lower into the frame with the correct surface orientation until it rests on the lip inside the frame. Note that Conservation Clear glass should have the side with the sticker facing toward the print. The outside surface has slight ripples due to the coating. To hold the glass in place it will be necessary to cut strips of black foamboard the correct width and attach them to the sides of the frame.

To determine the correct width of the strips to cut, measure the distance from the glass surface to the back edge of the frame and subtract the thickness of the foamboard. Cut enough foamboard to completely line the sides of the shadowbox with the strips. Measure the length of the long legs on the inside of the box and cut the strips to fit. Fasten as shown with two short (2 inch) lines of ATG tape near the corners and at two points in the center.  Then measure the distance on the shorter sides and cut another pair of strips. Fasten as before.

Cutting the Foamboard Edges of the Mounted Print

To cut the edges at a 45° angle so that the correct visual effect can be obtained, you need to determine how far inside of the print edge to start the cut. First, extend the blade of your mat cutter far enough out to pass through the foamboard. Then make a test cut on a scrap piece of foamboard as shown here. With the calipers, measure the distance from the start of the cut to the end of the cut, keeping the calipers parallel with the scrap strip of foamboard as shown.

Next, transfer the measurement to the back of the support board, with the print facing down, marking with a pencil the lines where the angled cut will start. You want the emerging edge of the blade to cut the paper just inside the edge of the print.

Depending on how you placed the print on the board you may have to make one line that corresponds to where the edge of the print is located, and then use the calipers to mark where to draw the second line where you will start the cut.

It may be useful to take measurements from the print side and transfer them to the back, then connect to establish the line that marks the location of the print edge. Cutting through the paper about 1/8 inch from the actual edge will result is a straighter cut edge on the print.

Setup for mat cutter before starting cut

After cutting the first board edge

Trimming edge of paper

After cutting all four edges it usually works well to trim the paper at the edges. This is done by laying a stainless steel straightedge on the back side of the mount board, and aligning it just inside the edge of the actual print. I use a very sharp razor or mat cutter blade, hand-holding the blade, and cutting from the bottom side, with the print face down on a smooth surface like a piece of scrap matboard.

Final Assembly of the Shadowbox

At this point all the elements are ready for final assembly.

Adding foamcore standoffs

Cut a piece of black foamboard to fit snugly inside the back of the shadowbox so that it is flush with the back. This will be inserted on top of the edges of the foamboard edging that holds the glass in place. For the 16×20 frame it is about 16-1/8 inch by 20-1/8 inch. Place that piece of foamboard  on a flat surface.

Make the standoffs next. Take some pieces of scrap foamboard, either black or white, and cut them to between 1-1/2 and 2 inches square, or even slightly larger.  You need 16 of these squares.  Lay them on a sheet of cardboard separated somewhat and spray them with photo safe adhesive. Then stack them in four stacks, but leave the top surface with no adhesive on it. Place the stacks so they are about 2 to 2-1/2 inches from the edges, as shown in the photo. If your shadowbox is larger than 16×20 you may want to add a couple more standoffs for better stability of the print.

To attach the board with the print mounted on it to the standoffs, lay three strips of ATG tape across each of the standoffs, and lightly center the board containing the print. When you have accurately centered the two boards, apply pressure on the print at the locations corresponding to the standoffs to complete the attachment.

A this point simply place the board assembly into the shadowbox, carefully removing any dust first, and checking for smudges on the interior surface of the glass. Before taping the board assembly in place, turn the box over and inspect again for dust and smudges. Then apply Framer’s Tape to the back to seal the assembly.

Final assembly, sealed with Framer's Tape

I hope you will enjoy this elegant photographic presentation. It looks like a lot of work, but it took much longer to write about it than to completely assemble one shadowbox with print!

Don’t forget to check out the examples of shadowbox-mounted prints on the Allinda Photography website,

http://www.allindaphoto.com/Fine-Art-Store/Shadowbox-Images/11327655