Those who know me are well aware of my obsession with travel. I never travelled at all as a child or teenager, so as soon as I graduated from college, I began making up for lost time! We try to make it a top priority to travel at least twice a year to somewhere new and exciting. I do make travel scrapbooks, but I thought it would be interesting to begin incorporating some of our travel ephemera into our home décor.
Now on each trip, besides taking photographs, Nate and I make sure to collect coins, business cards from favorite restaurants and shops, and brochures with neat photography or type treatments to use as found material.
I’ve scanned a couple of my own shadow boxes and hope they’ll serve as inspiration to you, too!
Here’s a loose how-to:
1. Purchase a shadowbox, at least 1” deep, from a craft or home décor store. I’ve found mine at IKEA and A.C. Moore, but they’re everywhere, and inexpensive (usually less than $10.00 for something 8” X 8”
2. Cut a piece of cardboard or illustration board to fit the inside edges of the shadowbox’s backing. Adhere a piece of decorative or colored paper to form the background of your shadowbox collage. You can even make a shelf (to hold lightweight 3-d items).
3.To make a shelf, use a utility knife to cut balsa wood the length you’d like shelf to be and slightly less deep than the box (so it won’t touch the glass). Brush edges that will touch box with wood glue, and position in box. Let dry. You can then cover the shelf with a decorative paper as well, or paint in a contrasting color.
4. Collage your two-dimensional items and photographs to your background, being sure to use archival, acid-free glue. Finally arrange the 3-d items, either on a shelf or inside bottom of the shadowbox frame. Let dry overnight.
5. Place background and backing board inside shadowbox frame, slide glass back in, and hang.
I’m working on my third shadowbox right now, so when that’s done, I’ll have a grouping for the living room. Eventually, I think it would be neat to have a whole wall display in a unified color and varying sizes and shapes. I’m 29 now- so I figure I have at least 46 more years of travel ahead of me, at 2 trips every year- that’s 92 more shadowboxes! Forget the wall- it looks like I’ll need to devote a whole room to the project
