Medal Alignment

Shayla

WOW Framer
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Washington State
Framing for customer who wants simple shadowbox. She's verified that this is the proper placement order, and is bringing in his wings to go at the top. (Which will extend up to where the frame sits.) Here's my question. When items in the same lateral row are different heights, how do you line them up? hen they're all round (i.e. center row), I'd make either the tops or bottoms of the medallions even with each other and let the ribbon/bar height vary. Is that how it's done, or do you keep the top bars even and vary the medallions? That seems to me like it would look uneven.

k g medals cropped resized.JPG
 
I have most often lined up the tops.
If they have the extra bar, that goes above.
Usually the medallions roughly line up anyway.
I do like the way lining the medallions up looks.
The bottom right of your design looks odd.

Brian
 
I framed a handful of medals for a fella last year and he liked the medals in alignment, two ribbons were slightly longer than the other three.
I've also done a couple with the tops lined up.
Personally, I prefer to line up the medallions.


I did another big military memorabilia project several years ago.
Mostly patches, but also several other odd-shaped items.
I found the most pleasing design was to try to line up most of the items on the same row/column as close to centered as possible.
The smaller pins and such then placed in a somewhat even alignment within the larger pattern.
32x40 finished size:

SB LR_LI.jpg


But I don't think that approach will work for your project.
 
I have done a number of medal award boxes over the years.
A number of them for the Commemorative Air Force and for a client I've been doing framing for about 10 years.
He owns an aviation company in Phoenix and he collects WWII medals, aviation leather jackets, hats and other military stuff that we frame.

In the 10 years that I've been framing for him, he has never come to the shop to pick out materials or pick up his framing.
We pick it up from him at his company and design it, frame it and then deliver it back to him and it's done.

I have also done a medal box for a decorated nurse from the Vietnam war who actually went AWOL for a time to find her husband who was a soldier fighting at that time.
She was decorated and featured in the newspaper at the time and I have the newspaper with a picture of her and the framed medals that I did behind her on the front page.
 
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I made this a few years ago and have updated it since this picture with a smaller laser, longer arm and the battery is on the base.

I use an old light arm and base replaced the light with the laser. after you get it setup and square it's great to layout multiple floated items like in the picture it shows one of hundreds we have done for Cobb County Police Dept. Picture shows my little jig (taped to the table) that holds the white suede float mat.

before this I would use strings to help align the metals

2020-02-11_092048.jpg
 
I have most often lined up the tops.
If they have the extra bar, that goes above.
Usually the medallions roughly line up anyway.
I do like the way lining the medallions up looks.
The bottom right of your design looks odd.

Brian

Agreed about the right bottom corner looking odd. I told her we'd probably put those on a raised piece of decoratively shaped mat, to help add balance. Or at least the very bottom right one. Her dad was a colonel, who passed away in November at the age of ninety-nine.
 
I made this a few years ago and have updated it since this picture with a smaller laser, longer arm and the battery is on the base.

I use an old light arm and base replaced the light with the laser. after you get it setup and square it's great to layout multiple floated items like in the picture it shows one of hundreds we have done for Cobb County Police Dept. Picture shows my little jig (taped to the table) that holds the white suede float mat.

before this I would use strings to help align the metals

2020-02-11_092048.jpg
Genious! I'm going to build one of these 👍
 
I'm surprised that no one has recommended to ask the customer.
 
I'm surprised that no one has recommended to ask the customer.

Good point, Ted. It should be noted that asking for input here doesn't preclude so doing.
 
And then the customer will say:
"What do you recommend? You're the professional".
 
The tops should line up just as they would be when worn on the uniform (even tho the ribbons and medals aren't worn together). I feel for you tho… it's gonna create some awkward spaces which would drive the graphic designer in me absolutely crazy!

Just a thought… maybe suggest an alternate layout putting all of the ribbons (bars) together and all of the medals together so that they are separated just as they would be worn on different types of uniforms? You might be able to create more balance if you do groupings of the ribbons, medals, and pins.
 
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