For 70 years, Tru Vue® has been an innovator in the glazing industry. So for our anniversary display at the West Coast Art and Frame Expo in January, we asked custom framers to create pieces using some of the most breakthrough products from our history, celebrating the Tru Frameable Moments™ of those times.

 

 

For the new millennium, Michael Mixon chose to commemorate literature’s most iconic wizardry series using Optium Museum Acrylic®, which was introduced in 2001. Optium Museum Acrylic raised the bar for glazing, combining the best features of both glass and acrylic in one product.

 

 

The Moment

 

The story of a young man rising in the ranks of the world of wizardry was such as major sensation during the first decade of the millennium. The book and movie series appealed to a vast majority of the population and developed a huge fan base that was unmatched by anything else during that time.

 

 

But I chose this story not just for its popularity. These tales about the power of magic were a good fit for a product that revolutionized options in glazing by combining the powers of glass and acrylic. In fact, when I started this project I couldn’t help but think how the clarity of Optium Museum Acrylic makes the glazing invisible, kind of like the young wizard’s famous cloak.

 

The Design

 

The piece began with the promotional poster for the movie in the center, framed with Larson-Juhl Biltmore Tapestry Collection (#215171) and glazed with Museum Glass® to help keep it flat. It is mounted with screws through the matboard and an acid-free Coroplast® backing, chosen for its firmness.

 

 

Surrounding the poster on the top and sides are wands from the movie’s main characters and along the bottom are pins for the individual four houses flanked by a single pin representing all of the houses in the center. The wands have a steel center and are mounted using rare earth magnets. The pins are attached through the matboard.

 

 

The matboard is one of my favorites that have been discontinued for several years. It is black suede with a web-like textured pattern. I stocked up before it was sold out and use it for my most special projects.

 

 

I choose the outer moulding with design details inspired by other elements of the stories. Both the inner and outer pieces are from the Larson Juhl Sophia Collection. The inner piece (#400750) mimics the archways of the legendary wizardry school and the railway bridge featured in many of the posters for the movies. The outer moulding (#300750) has a feathered design, which resembles the pet owl in the story.

 

 

The Magic Touch

 

Another interesting design choice I made was to place the Optium Museum Acrylic between these two pieces of moulding. It gives it more of a finished look, and I avoided having to use spacers to lift the glazing above the interior frame. For those who pay close attention to detail, the corners match up precisely, which is one of my signature design features.

 

 

What is almost magical about working with Optium Museum Acrylic is that it cuts like butter. It is very easy to handle, which makes it a good choice for designs that use glazing in unusual ways.

 

 

This piece is the first thing customers see when they are at the design table in my shop. In fact, one customer was so impressed with this piece that he took my advice on using Optium Museum Acrylic for his project. It was a piece I wouldn’t normally have suggested acrylic for, but Optium Museum Acrylic was the best choice for it, and I had no reservations in recommending it.