DIY: Roadtrip Shadow Box

Last night I was feeling ambitious and wanted to get stuff done.  I saw that my picnic table needed to be stained and my car needed to be cleaned but I wanted to do something more fun.  Plus with visitors coming this weekend it would be a great time for people to admire my craftiness if I were to complete the shadow box.

Beginning Shadow Box

I found an old TV cardboard box in the basement and was able to cut out a giant piece (41x22) that was going to be the backing to my shadow box.  I used a few nails in the corners but mostly I used wood glue to try to get the cardboard to stick to the box.  Then after letting that dry for a while I brought the whole thing inside and started planning on how I would fill it.

I had 45 pictures, 3 postcards, and then a bunch of nick-knacks that were going to be used to fill up the shelf space. 

After a quick trip to Walgreens to pick up some double sided tape and stumbling across a glue stick I began arranging pictures.  I am very glad that I found that glue stick for three reasons: it was quicker and easier than tape and also using a glue stick makes you feel like you are 3rd Grade again.  Mrs. Wizenski would be proud!

I first worked on the background and quickly realized that with all the pictures there was no need or room for a map to be the background. So that immediately cut out part of the process which was already coming along rapidly.  I worked my way from 1 rectangle to the next, placing pictures, moving them, rearranging them, replacing them, trimming some corners until I had them just right.  I decided that there would be no order, rhyme, or reason to the pictures that way the nick-knack souvenirs could be randomly put in where they fit best as well.

I ended up using 44 pictures, 12 magnets, 4 stickers, 3 coins, 3 figurines, 2 ornaments, 2 key chains, 2 patches, 2 pins, 1 postcard, 1 rock, and 1 cork.

The RoadTrip Shadow Box

Top Left

Bottom Left

Bottom Right

Top Middle

Top Right

 

DIY Idea: Shadow Box

As we traversed the Western US, Megan and I knew that we were going to gather souvenirs along the way.  We also obviously were going to be taking about 100 pictures a day for a month (and that isn't really exaggerating.)  We needed to come up with a way to display our trip in a way that would be creative, interesting, and unique.

In a combination of ideas we came up with the shadow box idea.  We could do pictures in the background, put souvenirs on the shelf or tacked up on the backing and this would be a wonderful display of our massive trip.  Then the idea hit me that instead of going to Hobby Lobby to buy a massive shadow box for $100 we could try to make one ourselves.  I remembered seeing on Instructables.com a shadow box that was made from an old pallet or skid.  This way the entire project from getting the lumber, to making the box, to filling the box would be completely personal and 100% unique.

The Skid

I got a skid and began construction or really destruction.  In order to get the wood I pretty much had to destroy the skid.  But I had to be delicate with it because the slats of wood would crack when being pried away from the nails.  I split more than a few but started to improve as the destruction went along and by the last slat I had enough long pieces to make the top and bottom and I could use the good ends of the cracked pieces to make the sides.
 

All together I had 3 long pieces, 2 medium pieces, and 5 short pieces that were useable.  The long pieces were about 35 inches long, medium pieces about 20 inches and short pieces about 10 inches long.  I didn't have a blueprint for my shadow box but I knew I wanted to break up the large box by making smaller rectangles and by doing so adding support to the structure.

I tried out a few displayed and decided, not surprisingly that I liked the aesthetics of a symmetrical design but I didn't want 4 or 6 equal rectangles.  Using some wood glue and finishing nails I constructed the main structure and then with some measuring, remeasuring, cutting and nailing I put together the inside shelf and supports. 

Shadow Box

In total, the project took about 2 hours split pretty evenly between destruction and construction.  Now I am left with an empty shadow box and my ideas are starting to flow with how to fill it with our trip's memories. 

I am thinking that a map of the US or the states we traveled through glued on to a piece of hard cardboard would do well as backing.  Then we can trace our route through all the states.  We can add pictures throughout the entire shadow box to complete the background.  As for the shelves, we tried to buy smaller souvenirs on our trip in the thought that:
1. we were going to get a lot of souvenirs and if they were big it would tough to display them.
2. We didn't have a ton of space in the car for a collection of big souvenirs.
3. Big stuff costs more and we didn't want to spend all of our money on souvenirs.

For the most part, we have small nick-knack type souvenirs that will display perfectly in the shadow box. We bought key chains, magnets, pins, small replica statues, and the occasional coin or medallion.  We also tried to pick up a rock or a pebble from each place we hiked or stayed or stopped at.  Obviously this worked better in wilderness places and not as much in LA but if there is room in the shadow box to display the rocks with a small location tag the shelves will be filled with those as well.