A keepsake that will be lasting reminder of an important event in life: how many times do we get to carry a real Olympic torch?
Clearly for this young man the chance to carry the torch was a true highlight he will always remember and cherish. For a x-mas present his parents elected to have the actual torch and all the goodies that came with it mounted into a deep, shadow box picture frame.
This included a portrait of the torch carrier, a pair of the specialty mittens and a hat worn by the torch carriers only . The lighter articles were sewn to a piece of archival mat board, this way they would stay unharmed and could be taken out if needed. The torch itself was quite cumbersome: bulky and heavy. We decided to wire it down to the backing board so it would stay well anchored. The idea was to protect the torch so that it would last in it's authentic shape, sooty and all! This piece needed some heavy duty backing and therefore we ended up adding a piece of Masonite to support the structure of the frame.
The colour selection , not surprisingly, was very Canadian, sporting the patriotic red and white of the Canadian flag. A deep red suede mat board as a backing added a touch of glamour.
For the frame itself we chose a simple double stacked shadowbox moulding from Omega Canada. It gave the piece a nice, contemporary feel with a thin line of silver for the added sparkle. The whole piece was then finished of with a piece of museum glass to reduce glare and protect the items from UV-damage.
I feel deeply embarrassed about the quality of these photos. This project was completed a couple days before x-mas and at that time of the year a frame shop is always like a true Santa's workshop with a million things on the go. These pictures got taken by visitor just before this frame got picked up so we didn't get a chance to redo them. We almost had no pictures at all!Oh well.
Another interesting thing about this project is this:
This a was the last big undertaking that we three worked on together.
In the end of the January the ownership of our company changed hands and Heidi (on the left) became the new owner. We worked for ten years together as a solid team and that era had now come to and end.
So, in way -we were truly passing the torch over to her!
Five months into my "retirement" and I am busier than ever! As you can see it has taken me this long to get this entry posted. Heidi is DOING GREAT and really enjoying her new challenges as a young business owner. She is "carrying the torch" high and it is burning mighty bright!She has really taken her creativity to a new level!
I will be following her specialty projects and blogging away about the most interesting ones.
Just have patience with me, it is all in the works!
I remain
your frame dame in retirement ☺,
Outi
