In the early 70's my mother-in-law found some ornate frames that looked like carved and gilded wood, but were actually made of some kind of styrofoam. She decided to use one as a shadowbox for a lighted figurine of an old-fashioned couple on a loveseat. My husband, her son, made the box for her.
She papered it with flocked contact paper, used white fake fur as carpet and velvet for a curtain and skirted table. She made a lamp from beads, using a clear straw as a chimney, and made a chandelier by bashing a plastic wedding goblet that she painted with amber glass paint and trimmed with jewelry chain and findings. She was way before her time!
Really pretty figurines that could serve as nightlights were quite popular at that time. Of course, I wanted a shadowbox, too, so she made a shadowbox for me, also, using a figure I had purchased. She was curtsyingm as if she had just finished some kind of performance. Ultimately, my mother-in-law bought more frames, my husband made more boxes, and she made shadowboxes for her daughter, her three sisters and a sister-in-law, and my mother.
In those days, there wasn't much available for the miniatures crafter, at least in El Paso. By the time she made the last one we had become expert at searching through old buttons and jewelry boxes and scouring the town for little doo-dads to use in the shadowboxes. (This was also about the time I was trying to make things for my daughter's dollhouse, too.)
Since they didn't have a cover, by the early 90's the shadowboxes were the worse for wear, damaged by exposure to desert dryness and dust, and lamps had come apart because the glue had dried out, etc. Because I had become quite active as a miniaturist in the years since she made them, she asked me if I would redo hers, making her some new tables and plants, etc. Ultimately, then, I also redid mine, the one she had made for my mother and the one belonging to her remaining one sister, our aunt.
Somewhere we have pictures of at least some of the original shadowboxes; I hope I can run across the photos one of these days and will post them when I do.
The figurine is original, but I re-did the rest of it. That is a mirror hanging from the green ribbon on the left; I'm not sure what it is reflecting.
I made the fern, the wall lamps, and the flower arrangement and devised the hanging ribbons. The clock was some kind of jewelry finding; I muted its bright gold with a stain. I also made the curtain, and since the frame is rather tall for scale, added a piece of dark molding to help bring the ceiling down somewhat.
This shadowbox now hangs on the wall in our guest bedroom, and every time I look at it I think of my dear mother-in-law, who has since passed on. My mother passed away a year ago, and her shadowbox is sitting in my workroom now, waiting for me to refurbish it for my daughter.
When Alice Zinn came through after
the CIMTA show in Las Vegas and saw the shadowbox
in the guest room, she got all excited and started
rummaging through all the little goodies she had
picked up in her shopping on the way to El Paso. "Here!" she said, "Look at this!" It
was a tiny plastic woman almost identical to my figurine.
Then I got excited, too. "Hey,
guess what! I've already done a miniature of one
of these shadowboxes, and I have another little wooden
shadow box made by Jack Chasteen. I've been intending
to duplicate mine. This little figure will be perfect
to go in it!"
Above is the miniature of the refurbished shadowbox that hangs in my husband's aunt's entryway. I made it to go in their 55th Anniversary dome scene (see 55th Anniverary Dome ). It measures about two inches square.
Well, unfortunately as often happens with me, after Alice left I got excited about something else and forgot all about the tiny woman and the tiny shadowbox I was going to duplicate for myself. Alice reminded me recently that I have to get that done.
The original piano in my shadowbox was a music box, a special gift from my mother-in-law. "It seems appropriate," she said, as she gave me the music box, "for
this piano to be in it, because the lady is taking
a bow. She must've just played this tune."
When you wind it up, it plays:
Beautiful Dreamer, wake unto me,
Starlight and dewdrops are waiting for thee;
Sounds of the rude world heard in the day,
Lulled by the moonlight have all passed away...
When my husband was a little
boy he saw a movie about a giant gorilla (not King
Kong) and never forgot it. Over the years, every
time he heard a certain song he would say, "That's
Mighty Joe Young's favorite song."
And that's what the music box in my shadowbox plays: Beautiful Dreamer, Mighty Joe Young's favorite song.
