Has anybody made their own display cases?

[avigo]

I want to start making some custom display cases and shadow boxes.

Does anybody have experience with this?

 

I want to keep it as simple and cheap as possible but archival quality.

I'm thinking uv plexiglass and plywood but really just curious if you guys have any pointers or if there are any good tutorials out there.

Thanks!

[Tonomachi]

To save money I go to places like Goodwill and sometimes the Salvation Army. They have all different sizes of frames to choose from at very reasonable prices. You can buy whole frames for less than half it would cost just for the Plexiglas. With Goodwill depending on the color of the price tag it is half price if not sold within a one week period. So when I enter Goodwill I inquire about which color sales tags are half price and hunt through there frames and if I find one that suits my needs I will buy it to be used at a later date. I look for a natural wood frame that has a little width or debt and of course Plexiglas but most of the times I settle for glass but sometimes you get lucky. I then visit the hardware store and buy lengths of wood trim to make an inner frame which will fit inside of the Goodwill frame. I use plywood for the backing that I screw onto the back of my inner frame that I had just put together with lengths of wood trim. To make the inner frame I have this miter box where I use a small hand saw to cut the ends at a 45 degree angle. I use these very inexpensive clamps or jigs that you can buy at the hardware store that will hold the 45 degree cut ends together which I glue and then drill tiny holes for finishing nails. I let them dry overnight and then screw on the back piece made of plywood. I then visit the art store and have them cut me an inner panel of art board which is a sandwich of Styrofoam and paper. I glue this or sometime press fit it inside of the inner frame so I can use small pins to display patches which I can move around as i see fit since the small pins don't leave that much of a hole in the paper. The only problem with doing it this way is that you have a wall full of different size and color shadowboxes.