Other

Well I must say that I’m glad it’s over!  The Holidays really are brutal.  The number of orders that come to me multiply threefold in November and December…and it’s very difficult to keep a regular schedule intact. But we are coming back around to some bit of normalcy even though I’m still plowing through orders that came in  early December.

With the new year, we are gaining (and retaining) some friends and affiliations that should be acknowledged for what they do to help me make a GREAT product…yes  I can take only partial credit… There are a few local businesses that without, I couldn’t function. I’ll list them here and provide a link to their sites…I think it’s only appropriate.

Engravings

Amanda, Kade, and Mandy at Awards of Excellence provide Color filled Laser Engraving. Meticulous and spot on Every Time!

Will at Laser Wolf Engraving provides Laser Engraving on glass and wood. Will and I go back a long way and he is the man!

Robert at KSG Kistlers for Rotary Engraving and Sublimations

Hardware

Greive Hardware for plate glass, hinges and whatever needs I might come up with.  There a corner store that has EVERYTHING!

Deck the Walls supplies me with custom cut UV and Museum Grade glass for your shadow boxes and flag cases. They also make some really great shadow boxes themselves!

Flags

Dan at Big Guns Patches provides all sizes of flags plus carries all varieties of Patches, Medals, Ribbons and Pins.  Dan is a disabled Vietnam Vet, and I’m proud to be associated with him!

Website

Dan and Chris at OurBizSpace have been a huge asset during last years site reconstruction ans also great with ongoing support with SEO services.

Below is a recent post from the Shadowboxguru Facebook page (www.facebook.com/shadowboxguru).  I don’t want to beat the subject of Cherry Hardwood into the ground, but the message bears repeating every so often as most visitors to this website are new and unique visitors. I do have statements regarding the hardwoods that I typically use smattered about this website, but I know this is a very visually oriented website, and words are often passed up because the pictures tell the story.

Cherry Hardwood is Photosensitive…it reacts to ultraviolet light, as most wood do, but Cherry takes it a very noticeable level. Cherry develops a patina with age, exposure to light and oxygen. The Cherry Hardwood that I use is “Fresh”, in that it hasn’t been long out of the kiln, and hasn’t had much time for any patina to develop.  Any change that has happened to the color of the wood has been minor, and will most likely be sanded out during the production of your shadow box or flag case. Your box will be on the light side when you receive it.

“So, I’m sometimes put on the spot by folks wanting their cherry boxes to be darker. My reaction is always the same…give it a little time and it’ll darken.
The amount of time this change takes depends on conditions, but it happens…Really!
To illustrate, early this afternoon, I laid a fern leaf on a scrap of Cherry wood, and set it in the sun…
I will clear coat my pieces with lacquer… almost never will I apply stain to nice hardwoods…Cherry is a wood species, not a wood color.”

The photo(s) posted here is quite real.  The leaf sat on our experimental piece of cherry sat in the summer sun for 1 afternoon…about 7 hours…

I do not recommend that you do this to your shadow box or flag case as the conditions are quite harsh for the box liners.  I did this though, to demonstrate that the Cherry Hardwood does infact change, and the change can be rapid. Enjoy this process happening.