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What are some of the most fun, interesting, or ODD things that you have framed?

Odd things we've framed for customers:
- Antique collection of "flowers" braided from relatives' human hair.
- Dead lizard.
- Artwork painted in human blood.

Andrew
 
Odd things in frames

We made a shadow box that opens so the customer could take out their two toned wood boomerang, the odd part was the Koala Bear poop key chain that was also in there. Our Aussie friends & framers probably don't find that odd.
Reframed a lock of Abraham Lincoln's hair. It looked like it was Elvis Presley hair to me but I'm just a framer.
There was a foot of front porch column that was all these folks had left to remember their house in Maryland after the tornado hit. Didn't give me a "warm fuzzy" to look at.
A shadow box full of antique dentures, dental tools and elixir bottles was remarked to be more "icky" than odd.
 
C-Mag

Before I retired from my real job -- picture framing is my hobby business -- I worked for the Army. When one senior official retired, I was asked to frame a C-mag in a shaow box, or in this instance, a memory box for his retirement. A C-mag is a 100 round ammunition magazine. This one was for an M-16 rifle and came with several dummy rounds. I called the manufacturer to learn how I could attach it to the backing board without damaging it. They offered to frame it for me if I told them to whom it woould be presented. After declining the offer, they provided me with instructions on how I couild mount the C-mag without damaging it. I never saw the presentation, but was told that it went very well and that the recipient liked it.
 
A former employee told the story of a woman who came in sobbing, wanting the carcass of her dead kitten framed. The frame shop declined, but the woman just couldn't get it through her head how it would not be a good idea to frame a dead kitten....
 
Ellen You Win

Ellen, for years I've joked with customers "we'll frame anything that is dead." Your kitten story puts a new twist on that. Ick!!!!
 
The "most unique" (sic) item I've ever framed was a Beatles album cover signed by all four of the Beatles, PLUS their manager Brian Epstein, PLUS original drummer Pete Best. (I've described the circumstances around this on the Grumble.) As far as I know, this is the only object in existence signed by all of these people. (I can't even imagine what this might be worth on the collector market, but let's just say I turned the job around really quickly and got it back to the owner ASAP.)
:cool: Rick
 
Weird Stuff

I apologize for not having photos of "wierd" stuff the first time but I am a"socisl network" under achiever. I had to get my wife "the brains of the out fit" to show me how to get illustrated. I am excited to say the least. Here goes.


View attachment 123 This is the boomerang with the Koala poop I mentioned. You unlatch the front frame, lift up and play with your stuff.




View attachment 120 What is left of the porch column on a house in Maryland after the tornado hit.


View attachment 121 Antique dentures and dental tools. A must frame job for a formal dinng room.


View attachment 122 Didn't mention this one before because I just finished it. Hat, tie, collar stay, shirt, Eisenhower jacket, burial flag etc... for WWII Army Air Corps bomb tech. My first.
 
A photo and foot print of a still born baby.. and no... I am not going to post a photo of the job.


I warned all my team about it when it was getting framed so that when the client came to collect, no one would put their foot in their mouth by an inappropriate comment as they showed the finished job to the client. of course one staff member was on holiday when I told everyone.. guess who spoke to the client when they collected it!! Arkward!
 
I have framed a 7-foot airplane propeller, a group of refrigeration components for an air-conditioning system, a collection of antique dental tools, a set of four plaster casts from one child's broken arm, and womens' lingerie made from the silk (or was it nylon?) of an American parachute during WWII. But the strangest thing I ever framed was the hip-bone of an American Bison, which was picked up by a customer on vacation in the American desert southwest several years ago.

Framing is a fun business, eh?
 
The horrors of War

Just yesterday I framed two photographs of a man with a gun. One when he was a US soldier and now in his sixties with the same gun. Underneath was written:
Number of kills 103, possible kills 216. We are not talking about deer here. These were humans he shot dead during the Vietnam War when he was a sniper. Assistance from a Distance they called it poetically. It was either them or us and he was merely following orders.

My father's father served in the frontlines when the Germans attacked the Netherlands in the spring of 1940. He never talked to us how many Germans he shot dead, but he must have.
 
Odd jobs

:bump:
Let's keep this fun discussion going...

With so many members registering on Framer's Corner recently, there should be some interesting things that people have framed.

What items have you framed, during your career, that were the most unique or interesting?

Don't be shy! :)

Mike

PS: Don't forget you can also post a new thread, in the DESIGN FORUM, if you have a project that really stood out as special.
 
Gall stones attached with hot glue to a space cross stitch...they were "moon rocks" She gave it to her grandson! UGHHH!
The other one was the imbilical cord drop off with the hospital first photo.
 
Weirdest, would have to be a silver emblazoned human skull from Tibet. That thing was just creepy.

Coolest was a fragment from the Star Spangled Banner.

Most valuable was probably the Renoir oil, but the customer had never had it appraised. Her parents were art dealers in France at the turn of the last century. She told me that they purchased it from the artist. Others that would have come close were a pair of pastels by Pissaro and several original Lichtensteins that were give to my client as birthday presents from the artist. Roy was the best man at her parents wedding.

Largest was a movie poster that was 67x118 and the customer wanted a 6" wide moulding, because the moulding was so large, I had to make it from trim mouldings and then finish it. This also had to be assembled in the customers living room because the assembled frame would not go through any of the customers doors.

There is one thing for sure, if you frame long enough you are going to see some amazing things.
 
A bird's head many years ago. It was the decoration for a hat that belong to the mother of my customer.

I'm about to reframe something that was shipped to the customer and broke in shipment. It's a bunch of... bugs, scorpions, a lizard and a bat.

blllurgh *shudder*

I came in after my day off with a box on my work station. A yellow post-it note that said "Call me BEFORE opening this box"
 
This was one of the more difficult things I have ever framed. It was before Attach-EZ. The bear hide is laced on with rawhide laces and the feathers and bead art was my creation to give more interest to the claws. I also wood burned the stats. on the wooden plate and laced it on with rawhide as well. The backing cover is burlap.
 

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The oddest project of which I have a photograph, at least.

The client's father was retiring from his gynecology practice. Those are forceps. Framing someone's tools isn't all that odd, but while this project was laid out on the table it seems that no guy who ventured into my shop could resist asking about it. Ooh..what's that? So I'd tell them. Not one of them was glad he asked. My original design was a little more interesting, but exceeded the client's budget.
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