How we create a shadow box: Part 3

If you haven’t read the back story yet, we’re telling the story of Kim’s shadowbox. She wanted to create a family heirloom for her daughter by mounting all the most important things she had saved from her daughter’s childhood. If you want to catch up, here are part 1 and part 2.

So at the end of last month we covered how we’d used most of the employees’ skills here at McDonald Niklaus to create this work of art. It was time to see what Kim thought of it.
This is always an emotional step for us. We’ve spent hours over the course of several weeks listening to Kim’s story and her memories, then translating those into a mounted art piece. Showing the result of all that work to a client can be a real nail-bitter. Of course, we were proud of the work we had done, and we knew that the materials and workmanship were top notch, but would Kim see her story in the finished piece like we did?

We called Kim and let her know that her piece was ready. When she came in we walked her over to shadow box and held our breath. And Kim started crying. Of course, in normal life, someone crying is often a bad sign, but it’s something we see a lot. Kim loved it. Seeing all her daughter’s keepsakes laid out brought back a flood of emotions and memories. And, we have to admit that some of the staff may have shed a tear or two.

After all, this is why we do what we do. We know how valuable our memories are. These things we frame aren’t just pictures or knick knacks. They’re pieces of our history.

Now, since this was a Christmas present and Kim didn’t invite us over Christmas morning, we didn’t actually get to see her daughter’s reaction, but Kim assured us that everyone loved it and it’s received a place of honor in their home. And could we possibly ask for more than that?

Now, in this case, Kim took care of hanging the shadow box herself, which is great, but these can be a little tricky to get hung up properly. They can be bulky and heavy, so they might need specialized hanging hardware and a little extra care. Of course we stock everything you need to hang it yourself, but we also have an expert on staff who actually does in-home installations. So if you find the process of hanging a large shadow box to be a little intimidating, we’ve still got you covered.

Well, there you go. That’s the story from start to finish of how we do a shadow box. If you’ve got some important memories stuck in a box somewhere, just schedule an appointment and bring them by. There’s no obligation and, we pinky-promise, no hard sell. We can just help you get an idea of what you’d like to do and how we can help you make it happen.