Antique Dental Tools Shadowbox

A Chicago Loop dentist brought in a collection of 19th century dental instruments for Dana to shadowbox frame. They were very interesting, ivory-handled implements, some of which just gave me sympathy pains to look at. Perhaps to help his current patients appreciate the highly advanced nature of the tools he now uses, versus his colleagues of antiquity, he planned to put it up in his office for people to peruse while awaiting treatment.

The frame used was a Studio Moulding 242-125 Elan Collection in the Cherry finish. This is a 2" deep moulding with a flat, lightly sloping (inward) face to it. She created a drop-in shadowbox made out of Bainbridge 8447 Black Spruce green silk mat board. She sewed each implement down very securely and had our engraver create plates that labeled each item in the showcase per our client's instructions. Glass used was Tru-Vue AR anti-reflective glass to allow maximum clarity (always important in deep shadowbox frames, since the object are farther away from the glass than, say, a matted print).

Photos by kind permission of Dr. Douglas James, DDS

Framing design and execution by Dana Fisher, CPF