Military Shadow Box - Example 17
Another very interesting military memorabilia project... My customer brought in a number of items belonging to her late father relating to his naval career in the Royal Canadian Navy. Along with a couple photos, she had his medal rack, Naval Service Certificate, Certificate of Discharge, Certificate of Service, “Lifetime Member of the WOS’ and SGTS’ MESS – CFB HALIFAX” card, and dog tags. Her father was one of the crew who survived the devastating explosion and subsequent fire on board HMCS Kootenay which took place on October 23, 1969; killing 9 crew members and injuring 53 others. In the shadow box, a certificate of appreciation from the RCN to the crew of HMCS Kootenay was displayed, along with a coin commemorating the explosion.
All of the military memorabilia were mounted in an archival, reversible manner... archival clear polyester film was used to encapsulate all of the certificates/mess card and used as a “spider mount” to attach the commemorative coin. The dog tags and chain were hand-stitched to the suede background and the pin at the back of the medal rack was used to hold it in place.
The two photos were fairly small with some damage, so some re-sizing and photo restoration needed to be done before displaying them in the shadow box.
A classic style mahogany moulding with a beaded detail from Larson-Juhl’s Brighton collection was chosen for the frame as well as a navy blue suede mat from Peterboro’s 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.
It is always a pleasure and honour to work on these types of shadow boxes and it is so rewarding to see how happy the customer is when they see the finished product!
