It’s called a Box Frame.  And it’s usually a type of frame used to display medals, seashells and other precious sentimental things.  You can type it into ebay, google or even explorer.

A Box Frame usually looks like this (it can be different colours or sizes but note the depth)

See the shadow it casts? That’s because the depth of the frame. The glass front panel is about an inch away from the backing – hence the name ‘box’ frame because technically it’s a box with one side made of glass. And you can fit rocks and all sorts in it.

Oh and how to stick it to the inside of the glass so that it looks float-y; Well you can use the very tip of a needle to dot a tiny micro-dot onto it and only stick key bits to the glass. Usually two microdots will be enough (but it takes precision and a bit of skill).

It’s important to be precise because you’ve used paper not card to make your papercutting and super-glue (like most adhesives) darkens the paper (not a problem if you’ve used black paper but annoying if you’ve used white/shimmery silver) but it’s not actually very obvious at all when it dries (and if you’ve been careful). It’s very absorbent and paper is fantastically porous so you won’t have a ‘wet’ bit stuck to the glass if you’ve used a needle point microdot.

Extra Note: Try using Hammered Paper – it’s more porous than normal paper (because of the way it’s been treated) and hides super glue flawlessly.

If the design goes over the mount then you can be less precise because you can attach your papercut to the mount and hide where its joined.  Some paper cutters have a ‘frame’ as part of their design.

If you’re not confident then adhesive spray (but I personally don’t like that because usually its ‘repositionable’ tacky, useless on black and therefore I don’t reckon it will last long (little over a year) and it can go tacky. In fact don’t use it. If you’re paper cutting is good enough to frame, then you are good enough to microdot it or design it to hide a little behind the mount. Oh and if you’re wondering how to attached a mount onto a Box Frame, then the trick is that usually a mount is thick, thick card – you can attach it to the frame using the thick side (not the front or the back – the edge which can be 2mm thick)

There is also another way called “Static electricity” which can hold an image suspended within two sheets of polyester film (if you want to get technical). This is called Encapsulation (I don’t honestly know much about this method but felt it was worth mentioning).

I also like adding extra layers using other bits of glass – you can get quite complicated (although that makes the frame definitely key to the design – I’ve never seen it used for that often by other folks though. Usually only a single cut paper-cut is stuck to the inside of the main front glass panel).

I don’t use box frames everytime (just for special cuts) because of 1. The back of some of them can be a big unsightly ply board block:-

(which can be fidgety to hang on a wall and I don’t like my frames to stick out from the wall that far).

In fact this bothers me so much that I try and go out of my way to get frames custom-made locally, a lovely gentleman two towns along, that hides the backing better (sometimes completely) or I trade in a little depth to keep it all crisp and neat (but still 3D-ish).

And -2. Sometimes the shadow doesn’t actually work with the design. They can quite heavy handed shadows or a little claustrophobic to the ‘feel’ of the design.  I tend to only use box frames for larger, more complex designs that I feel NEED a box frame to be its best.

Although this week (and what sparked this post)- I developed a new type of frame that’s half and half (and stunning) I can’t tell you the secret – Its magic. (Infuriating, isn’t it?)  😛