The
details of my box are a little hard to see, but you get the idea, I'm
sure. (Some of these photos, however, are scattered throughout Harry's
Web pages.)
If you'd like to make your own memory box,
here's how I did this one. I bought the glass-covered box from Hobby Lobby (which has a wonderful
selection of all kinds of frames). It came with a masonite backing board
and my immediate problem was how to affix the pictures to this surface.
I couldn't figure out how to affix photos to a fabric-covered
background, so after thinking about it for a week, I decided to cover
the board with blue construction paper (which matches my bedroom's
colors where the box is displayed). Then I lined the sides of the box with
some of Harry's drum music.
After
spending many hours selecting photos, then scanning and resizing several
to fit available space, I planned the layout and gradually began to
affix them to the backing, leaving spaces for the 3-D objects I wanted
to include. I used my old gold photo corners (hard to find now, but they
are available on the Web) because I couldn't figure out any other way to
affix the photos without damaging them. (I couldn't use a decoupage
method because this would have reacted with the inkjet-printed picture.) A friend cautioned that these pictures will fade, but
if/when they do, I can simply remove the picture board from the frame,
print new photos, insert them into the glued-down photo corners, and it
will be as good as new.
The
3-D objects in the picture include Harry's rings and pins, the buttons he used to use
on his white vest, a drum key, a pair of cufflinks, his favorite "ruby"
watch, a tie clip I had specially made for him, a wooden souvenir button from Silver
Dollar City, the crocheted cross his mother made for him as a boy,
and one of his white ties. (The white vest he wore when he was with the
Chicago Symphony is neatly folded in a plastic folder on
the back of the box.)
As
for affixing the objects, I couldn't glue them
directly to paper, so I first affixed them to fabric-covered pieces of
Styrofoam (using invisible thread), and then glued the Styrofoam
"holder" to the board.
A
project like this will take many hours of planning and actual work, but
it will give years of pleasure to its creator.
For other nostalgic memory boxes Barbara has created,
click HERE.
