Sudanese Man's Beaded Corset in Shadowbox Frame


A client of ours brought back, from Africa, a beautiful (and complex) beaded corset from The Sudan. Our framing team member, Julie, designed a beautiful shadowbox for it. Even with an experienced picture framer, it took a long time to sew it in place in the shadowbox frame, since it is a garment that consists of hundreds of strands of tiny, hand-made beads. Each strand had to be immobilized to make it hang properly in the frame and to hold its shape. Just the construction of the corset, by itself was amazing and a true work of art. Framing it to show off its construction was a great bit of design work on Julie's part.


The frame is an AMPF #2910 Olive Wood Cap (flat top frame) about 1 1/2" tall. The inside, vertical face of the frame and the backing to which the corset was sewn are Bainbridge 4427 "Chino" Textured fabric matting. The frame's glazing is a 22 x 40" panel of OP3 plexiglass, to cut down the weight and to prevent color fading.


Framing designed and executed by Julie Kotulak, CPF
Photos by Brian Flax, CPF
Images courtesy of our client, Amy B.
W/O #43807