Competition Entries

The military medals to the left were framed to commemorate the 20 year Navy career of Cdr. Sean P. Henseler, JAGC, who is retiring in 2009. The sword shown above was framed in a shadowbox, also for Cdr. Henseler. The sword has been used by members of his family since 1951, and will be presented to Cdr. Henseler's father, the sword's first owner.

Gimme a break!

We recently received a phone call from a customer, asking if we framed unusual items. Assuring the caller that we framed most anything, the customer said he would be in later that day. When he arrived, he carried a plastic bag containing what looked like pieces of a license plate frame. What it turned out to be was several screws and a surgical steel bar--which had just been recently removed from his 17-year-old son's leg!

Seems the son had been in an accident early in 2007, having crashed a snowmobile into a tree. He had broken his femur, and had the bar screwed into the bone, as is often done with severe breaks like this. After nearly a year and a half, the bar was finally removed, and he wanted to do something with the pieces to commemorate the "event."

We wanted to keep the project lighthearted, but still somewhat obvious as to what the objects were. We designed the bone shapes with our computerized mat cutter, and the screws and bar were mounted in the openings. The customer told us the brand and color of the snowmobile involved, so we found and printed the image included, and chose a frame with appropriate coloring. The mat colors chosen make the bone shapes look like an X-ray, with the placement of the screws seeming to indicate the "point of impact."

The piece was a big hit when it was picked up. It was a lot of fun for us to design and put together, and we hope the son appreciates the light-hearted humor the design has.