Military memorabilia shadow boxes are a wonderful way to pay tribute to a deceased family member, as was the case with this shadow box. My customer contacted me after his father passed away. He had a few items that he wanted to put in a shadow box... a Canadian flag that was given to his mother from the Legion at his father’s funeral, a photo of his father while serving with the Carleton and York Regiment, a poppy, and his father’s beret with a cap badge.

Although the shadow box may look fairly simple, the construction was quite complex. There were two separate openings, each with different depths... one for the Canadian flag (with a depth of 3/4") and the other for the rest of the items (with a depth of 1 3/8").
The Canadian flag was displayed in such a way so that the top part of the maple leaf would be visible. That portion of the flag was wrapped around a triangular form and the rest of the flag was hidden in the back of the shadow box.
The Canadian flag was displayed in such a way so that the top part of the maple leaf would be visible. That portion of the flag was wrapped around a triangular form and the rest of the flag was hidden in the back of the shadow box.
Since his father lived in Cape Breton, my customer wanted to incorporate the Cape Breton Tartan into the shadow box design. It was decided to use the tartan as the background behind the photo, poppy, and beret. Getting the small tartan pattern as straight and centred as possible was quite the challenge! Due to the angle that I took the photo of the finished shadow box, the tartan pattern doesn’t appear to be centred vertically, but in fact it was centred quite well if you look at it straight on.
Since his father lived in Cape Breton, my customer wanted to incorporate the Cape Breton Tartan into the shadow box design. It was decided to use the tartan as the background behind the photo, poppy, and beret. Getting the small tartan pattern as straight and centred as possible was quite the challenge! Due to the angle that I took the photo of the finished shadow box, the tartan pattern doesn’t appear to be centred vertically, but in fact it was centred quite well if you look at it straight on.
The photo required some minor restoration, as well as reducing the size and converting it to black and white. It was displayed in its own ‘mini-frame’ and floated above the tartan background. The beret was fairly thick (~ 1”) and was hand-stitched in place.

A classic black shadow box moulding from Larson-Juhl Custom Frames' Confetti collection was chosen for the frame as well as a black suede mat from Peterboro Matboards' Designer Suede collection. Tru Vue's conservation clear glass was chosen for its 99% UV protection to help keep this family heirloom shadow box looking great for many years.