Shadowboxes: Are They a Money Maker or Money Pit?

I have a love/hate relationship with shadowboxes; it seems like no matter what I charge, it’s never enough.

If the construction wasn’t tricky enough, like most framers, I loathe pricing shadowboxes. I worry I’m not making enough profit. These complex jobs take up valuable shop time, interrupt my production flow, and cost me money. It’s difficult to estimate the labor involved; during assembly, I’m kind of making it up as I go along. I often go into the project thinking that one type of mounting technique will work, and then in practice it doesn’t. Now I have to start from scratch, wasting time and materials, money and sanity. So how can we make these challenging projects profitable?

One of the most important and costly lessons I’ve learned when pricing out shadowboxes, or any other large, complex project: ask your customer questions…a lot of questions. I had a sweet lady ask me to frame a military bomber jacket from the 1950’s as a surprise gift for her daughter. This was a winter jacket, and very thick; I cautioned her that this would require a large, deep frame. In addition to an extender, I had to order a special raised acrylic box for glazing to accommodate the depth of the piece. It was going to stick out about 6” from the wall. She was determined to move forward. It turned out beautifully, but securing a heavy leather coat to a backing board without poking holes in it was a real challenge. (wire, magnets, invisible thread, elf magic, and Velcro) It took about four hours and my hands felt like hamburger afterwards.

My customer (the mom) shed happy tears when she came in to pay the remainder of the deposit, and said gleefully, “My daughter is going to love this!” Spoiler alert… She didn’t. It was one of the most awkward and cringy interactions I had in in my 30-year framing career. When I delivered the finished piece to the daughter’s tiny condo, she loved the frame job, and obviously her grandfather’s jacket was meaningful, but her face fell when she asked: “Where the ___ blankety blank am I going to hang this? I love my mom, but she never thinks things through.” I was deflated after working so hard on this piece, but I learned an important lesson. In retrospect, I should have taken out a piece of oversized mat, put it against the wall, and shown the customer how huge the piece would be. A lot of people don’t have a good enough imagination to visualize sizes. I got paid for the job of course, but next time a mom wants to frame giant artwork as a surprise gift for her adult child, I’ll ask a few more questions.

The Complete Guide to Shadowboxes

by Jim Miller

Softcover • 80 pages • $34.95

Our friend Jim Miller, a pioneer in the framing industry literally wrote the book on shadowboxes, (available on the PPFA website, click here for the link) which gives great tips on mounting items and how to plan shadowbox assembly. It can be a good training guide for yourself or some of your less experienced framers. Once they know the process, they can accurately think through the assembly steps and materials that cost extra time and money.

Here are a few ideas on how to price out a shadowbox, as well as some of the other tricky things we are asked to frame:

• Stop. Take a breath, and make a plan. It’s difficult to focus and really think a job through from start to finish when a customer is standing in front of you tapping their foot impatiently. You’re doing your future self a favor by asking the right questions of your client, and thinking about the steps, materials and labor required to assemble the piece.

• Talk to your client. Ask them where they plan on hanging the piece? Are they installing it themselves? Do they have the right tools? Heavy shadowboxes may need to be hung on a stud. What kind of natural and artificial light is in the room?

• Have a shadowbox worksheet available at the front counter for your less experienced framers or design team. This will ensure they ask the right questions, cover the bases, and correctly price out the job.

• Take photos of every component that will be included in the shadowbox, and take a photo of the layout. Attach pictures to the Work Order so you will have it as a reference.

• Use the Notes feature in the Work Order to ensure clear communication between designer and the workshop.

• In your Work Order Options tab, there is a checkbox to include outside dimensions on an invoice. When you finish your Work Order, give your customer the outside dimensions. Make sure they will have adequate space to hang the piece, and that there are sufficient supports in their wall to handle the weight. You can also use the fit to Outside Dimensions tab in the Work Order if they require the art to fit in a specific space. If there is any doubt, tell them you won’t start on the project until you get confirmation from them that the artwork will fit. An in-home consult might be advisable, but be sure you charge for your time. My policy: If I measure it, you’re not liable and I’ll fix my mistake at no charge. If you measure it, you’re on your own, and will have to pay for additional labor for me to fix your booboo.

Here are some ideas to include on the shadowbox worksheet questionnaire.

Logistics

• Where is this going to be hung? If it’s in a hallway, consider the depth and size, you don’t want to bump into the shadowbox every time you walk around a corner.

• Does the customer have room to hang this? When you finish the Work Order, give them the outside measurements and depth of the piece, so they can go home, measure and make sure it will fit.

• Will the finished piece fit in their vehicle, or do you need to arrange/charge for delivery or installation?

• Does it fit in their door? I remember reading a horror story online of a framer who did a giant shadow box for a commercial client, who swore they had measured the door correctly, (they didn’t) and the framer had to take the entire piece apart and reassemble it inside the space. What. A. Nightmare.

The Frame

• Is the lip of the frame substantial enough to support the pressure and weight?

• A fillet can be a nice way to compliment an otherwise bland shadowbox frame.

• If the box is large, do you need extra support bars?

• Is the rabbet depth sufficient, or do you need to add an extender?

• If the box is deep, will it cast unappealing shadows on the items mounted within? If so, would raising and float mounting those objects be a better option?

Mounting, Mat Board and Substrate

• If the items are heavy, do you need to use a thicker ply mat or gator board? You should consider charging an extra mounting/labor fee for each object in the shadowbox.

• Are you lining the sides? Do you need an extra sheet of mat? Are you charging for the labor involved cutting the mats to line the walls of the shadowbox?

• Are you covering the mat with fabric? Is the fabric wide enough? Are you charging for the time it will take to make fabric-wrapped liners?

• Consider charging a bit of extra labor for suede mats. The texture can add interest to a shadow box, but we all know they take extra effort to clean; especially darker colors. (Black suede mats look amazing, but they are the devil.)

• Are you charging for mounting materials? Mighty mount acrylic specialty holders, wire, and magnets, can get expensive.

• Is there going to be a mat touching the glass? Do you need to charge for spacers?

• Do any of the objects require a “sink mount?” For instance, when mounting an expensive bowl, we cut a circular hole in the mat, about 1/8” smaller than the diameter of the object, then built up foam core around the bowl to support it. It’s not hard to do, but it does take some time, and a lot of foam core.

FrameReady helps simplify pricing and assembly for shadowboxes. The main thing that seems to bite us back is labor. You may want to consider adding a Price Code item in "Fitting" specifically for shadowboxes that includes higher profit margins and minimum charges to cover extra time. Some framers also use the “Other” section at the bottom of the Work Order to price things independently. Depending on the difficulty of mounting certain items, you can add on an extra charge to cover the valuable time you will spend making this piece look amazing. Every shadowbox is unique, and two separate projects that are a similar size may require more or less labor and time to assemble.

Be prepared for some pushback on the price. Your customer’s head may explode when you tell them how much the shadow box will cost. Stand firm. Value your work. You can suggest less expensive materials if you’re trying to be accommodating to their budget, but don’t discount your labor. Shadowboxes are the most difficult and challenging things we do as framers. If you carefully think the project through, tick all of the boxes and make sure you adequately charge for your time and materials, you may achieve a miracle and actually make a nice profit on the piece… and still experience the satisfaction when your customer does the happy cry as you unveil their treasures preserved in a beautiful frame.

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"Mind Your Business", by Sheila McCumby, July, 2023