Welcome to our May Framer's Corner, where we explore a special shadowbox designed by one of our expert framers, isabel hamilton.
Our employee, Isabel Hamilton, comes to us from Vergennes, Vermont where she grew up in her parents' antique shop, Stoneblock Antiques, creating a lifelong attraction to antiques and curiosities. 

When our customer Randy Howland brought in his father’s heirloom straight razors from the 1920s she knew she was instantly inspired to frame these items to not only preserve them, but to enhance the aged ambience of the razors.

Each razor is its own work of art, with a mother of pearl motif and intricate details and engravings on each handle. Enscripted on the holding clasp of the leather case for each razor is a detailed etching of each day of the week. Each razor fits perfectly in a slot of an encased antiqued leather carrying case.

The razors’ leather case was in rough shape, and Isabel had to trim off a lot of detritus so that the razors and the gold lettering of the case could really shine. She also took time to polish both the leather and the razors (but not too much, she didn’t want them to look brand new!)
For the design of the shadowbox, Isabel chose an autumn frost silken fabric mat that helped to accentuate the fabric of the leather case. Choosing a black with bronze edging shadowbox frame was a perfect fit due to the aged texture. Isabel wanted to keep the design simple, allowing the viewer’s eye to take focus on the antiquities being framed..

This piece proved to be very technical as she put it together. First, she sewed the case down to the fabric mat. Then, she sewed each razor down at 4 points so that they could not slide around, no matter which way the shadowbox was turned. This proved to be a challenge as she was sewing with metal wire and going through layers of fabric, leather, and matboard. Finally, she sewed the final razor down below the case. She opened the blade to showcase both the contents of the above case, and to highlight the little copper ducks affixed to the back of the handle.

Isabel knew throughout the process that this would be a really neat piece, and she was very happy with the end result. She felt that the design is strong and lets these interesting objects speak for themselves. And to complete this whole experience, Randy was thrilled with how this piece turned out!
More Framer's Corners are to come!