Shadow Boxes

I thought it would be fun to put together a little "history" of my shadow box building endeavors over the past several years.  The framings have given me a way to raise funds for conservation and museum work - through the sale of them via auctions - that I could not have otherwise contributed.  And, if we ever get to cross the border and build our camp, we also have a few for the walls as well.

Except where noted in the framing, I tied the flies.

I got into making shadow boxes in the first place simply as a way to donate a BIG batch of hairwing salmon flies to the Miramichi Salmon Association.   I detailed that process here:  https://theriverscourse.blogspot.com/2017/01/shadow-box-framing-start-to-finish.html.  These were the first shadow boxes I ever made.  They had pine frames, were sold at a Boston MSA dinner, and reside now in one of my best friends homes here in the states.  The framings (you can click on the pics for the enlarged versions):

Steelhead living legend Dave McNeese also donated flies for the same book that mine were in, and gave them to me to frame for the same MSA auction:

Rather than present things in some sort of chronological order (and because I'm too lazy to figure that order out), we'll just cruise through the little collection of my work as it comes along.

It's been important for me to get better acquainted with Microsoft Word, not only to name the flies in the frames, but to add maps and photos and such to them.  One that took quite a bit of work to figure out how to get both a map and fly names on the same sheet of 140# watercolor paper is this one:

That last photo details the way I've begun mounting larger flies.   Here's the same frame concept, done earlier for an MSA online auction, with modern flies and using the "bead" method of mounting the flies:

I recently found a source for legal, open-edition, prints of Ogden Pleissner's work, printed on canvas.  The giclee' printing method that the vendor uses allow them to print on a variety of materials, and they can do them one at a time....no runs of a thousand prints to store.  I purchased one (I hate paying retail, but what can you do?) and came up with the largest frame I've done to date.  The print is Pleissner's "Deep Pool."

One of the most enjoyable salmon fly-related events I've been invited to was the Atlantic Salmon Fly International gathering in Miramichi, NB,Canada back in July, 2018.  The organizers (volunteers all!) did a fine job of promoting the event and creating "take-aways" for the tyers.   Here's the poster they created for me, which I downloaded from their website and printed on a quality photo paper:

I always liked taking photos of flies dug into pieces of driftwood and the like while on the river.  It struck me that a frame with the flies in a piece of a beaver cutting would be cool, so I started collecting pieces of those cuttings along the Miramichi and smuggled 'em home.  Found one that I could cut in halves the long way on the band saw and came up with these:

I probably thought a little too much of myself when I created this framing in a limited edition of 10.  But they sold well, and made a few grand for the MSA and the Atlantic Salmon Museum.  I even gave one to the Atlantic Salmon Federation to sell, and I'm mad at them.  By the way, that's a photo of my wet fly box, which I took emulating a photo of Warren Duncan's box in Judith Dunham's The Atlantic Salmon Fly.   In fact, it was that single photo that got me into salmon fly tying.

Over the years, some good friends and FAR better fly tyers than I gifted me one of their classic salmon flies, which sat on top of a bookcase in plastic baseball card holders.  It took some thought (which always gives me a headache), but I came up with a way to feature them on our wall, and keep them safe for a couple generations at least.  I was able to cut the ovals with a gargantuan oval cutter given to me by fly tyer, author and stone polisher (I forget what people that work with stones and jewelry are called) Paul Rossman.  It takes two very strong people to move that thing!

Classic tyers Stephen Nye and Brian Cuming contributed multiple flies to my little collection; I came up with this way to preserve, protect and display them:

And yes, I spelled FredERicton wrong.  NOT taking that framing apart!!

One for the cave wall, and eventually the camp wall.  I've always liked Henry McDaniel's work, and when one came my was a thank you, I gratefully accepted it.  It is a fall scene on the Miramichi, so I framed it with some barn wood I boosted from my pal Vin Swazey's wood pile, and smuggled it home.  Don't know why (well, yes I do) Customs doesn't like to see wood like that and my beaver cuttings coming into the country.

Some artist friends and acquaintances have donated their work that I could put into a frame and raise funds for my favorite two groups.   My own sister, Kathy Rasimas, stepped right up and donated a watercolor of a salmon that was fun to sell (I was the auctioneer):

John Maticko did a painting of two salmon flies:

Val Kropiwnicki is an artist with brush, feathers and metal.  He gave us this painting of a camp on the Miramichi:

And Nate Carter, from all the way out in California, contributed this one (it was an early one for me; in retrospect, I wish I had used a light background for the flies):

My friend and fellow MSA board member Brad Burns asked his friend, tyer Bill Utley, to do up a set of Cains River Streamers for an online auction Brad was hosting.  He then asked me to frame them.  It was the largest frame I did as of that date, and was the very good reason I used to convince she who must be obeyed (that would be Bridget) that we needed a large format printer that could print on heavy, 140# watercolor paper.   It was a fun project, and made a LOT of money for MSA.  The photos of the framing are by another MSA board member, Ralph Vitale.   It takes a village!

A couple small ones, that I have made several sets of (these are those that we kept), that feature reproductions of William Schaldach's work:

I contributed some framings for this summer's MSA online auctions.  Happily, they raised some pretty good funds:

This one had a little Pleissner reproduction in it:

Finally, a framing that is popular in the silent auctions I've donated it to:

Some day, when I grow up, I'd like to be able to build shadow box fly frames as well as William Cushner did.   When I ran the American Museum of Fly Fishing, this was my favorite of all the artifacts (or, if you're one of those Canadian spellers, artefacts).   He framed it, and I boosted the photo from AMFF's website.  LOL, sue me.

I don't do this for a living, but if you've got a photo and a fly or something you'd like to see in a shadow box, let's talk.  It will help me buy more matboard and foamcore board and other supplies to keep on donating to Atlantic salmon conservation and the Museum.

Cheers,
Gary