I have a bunch of vintage keys which had long been retired from their service of locking and unlocking who knows what treasures. So for their tireless years of service, I decided they needed a special place of honor.
I found that an 8″ x 8″ painters’ board flipped on its back made the perfect shadowbox. The shadowbox was painted a base color of robins egg blue, then I silver-leafed the entire board. After the silver-leaf process, I rubbed off some of the leafing on the edges of the frame so the blue color would be revealed – this step gives the frame a really cool worn/vintage look. Then I cut decorative paper and glued that within the opening of the shadowbox frame. Lastly, I glued the keys within the shadowbox. And……voila!
You can find all of the supplies mentioned above (with the exception of the keys) at your local arts & crafts store. Scour local flea markets or antique stores (or your drawers) and you’re sure to come across some vintage keys or other unique pieces that deserve to be ‘framed’. Happy crafting and happy weekend!
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Mark, lovely! Can’t wait to try. Thanks for sharing the technique!
This is great! I’m sad I didn’t see this post earlier. I’ve seen these keys at antique shows and wondered what I could do with them. This is what I should be doing them! 🙂
Thanks Dana! Remember all those keys we saw at the Kutztown Extravaganza!
Skeleton keys are beautiful, wish I could find one to try this…thanks for sharing!
Try local antique markets — they usually have them! Good luck and thanks for following my blog!