The Framers Forum

I am looking to develop my skills - Also I have had a set of 12 signed golf balls from the Scottish Open circa 2015 kicking about too long. I thought making something to display them would be a good thing to show off to customers. Does anyone know of a good guide for this sort of frame? What do you do about making the sides look smart?

There's a book by James Miller - The Complete Guide to Shadowboxes and Framing Objects, published by PFM. Lion stock it for £39.95, or it maybe available second-hand.

My twopence worth

Use something like Rose & Hollis A45
Use AR 70 glass, as reflections are more pronounced with a shadow box.
Then use foam core spacers for the sides, 5mm if you want black or white, or use 3mm foam core glued to mountboard of your choice so you can match the background.
Cut the 4 spacers accurately to the depth you require (48mm max in frame A45 to take account of glass/backing). But don't try to mitre the ends. Cut the top and bottom spacers to fit the frame with normal tolerance. Use ATG and PVA glue to fix them in position with the glass in place. Then cut the spacers for the sides - cut these 1mm longer than the space available. Using a short metal ruler to push the spacer, use a 'pin-wheel' movement to ease the side spacers in - the foam core on the top and bottom spacers will contract by the extra 1mm, and you will have a perfect tight corner on the spacers. These need to be glued as well. I use ATG for immediate grab, and PVA to hold it when the ATG eventually fails.

Thanks very much, that is very helpful. I have had a look at the book and I think I can get a PDF version for $24.

Jim Millers book is brilliant
I took one of his seminars at WCAF show Jan 2019, and bought 2 copies
Gave them to framer friends in Germany and Vietnam

Maybe a bit of terminology confusion above but there are two methods of doing glass spacers, pinwheeling and Stonehenge.

Both have pros and cons - Stonehenge, well it worked for Stonehenge! Sides need to be cut pretty anally accurately

Pinwheel - measurements can be eyeballed really, only one end of each spacer butts against another, more possibility of failure - but if done right you’d be very unlucky - and the sides on the Stonehenge method have no support anyway, just the top and bottom.

Arrows on pinwheel method show play in corners

To make the sides look smart …..

Deep rebated mouldings limit your design choices - if you can make a separate box you can use any moulding you like to finish it with.

Many framers make a box from flat stock and simply frame that. It needs to be concealed from the front though and that is usually done with a mount. The sides can be painted etc but many just tape around them
I hate this method, it looks awful, I call it the “cuckoo clock method”

With pocket hole screws or something, you could fix that box flush to the outside of the frame, or better still, mitre a flat frame moulding on its side and sit a capping frame in its rebate. The box frame does not have to be flat either, as long as it stays still when you cut it.

John have you ever fixed the capping frame direct to a flat piece of wood without the rebate, bringing the site edge of the box frame right down rather with what must be a 5mm ish edge showing?

A few times - as I said above, it can be done with pocket hole screws etc.

One “etc” is to glue and clamp and when dry hammer a few brads in at as steep an angle as poss, spacers will cover either method.
It’s just a slight pain lining things up though, but if it’s a hand finished job it can all be sanded or even planed prior.