If you’ve been to any graduations over the past few years, you might have noticed the recent trend of decorating graduation caps. Graduates of this decade are giving the occasion a personal touch by adding colorful and bejeweled designs that celebrate the achievement in an individualistic way.

 

 

At Tru Vue, part of the new employee initiation is to go through the process of having a piece custom framed. Nicole Kowalczyk, who joined Tru Vue few months ago as a marketing analyst, decided to commemorate her own Tru Framable Moment™ by having her graduation cap custom framed in a shadowbox.

 

 

For years custom framers have been asked to frame college and graduate school diplomas, but this recent trend has opened up new opportunities for commemorating graduations. The individualistic mortar boards of today’s graduates are an excellent choice for custom framing. More personal than a certificate, they are highly visual and susceptible to damage when not protected.

 

 

In fact, when deciding what to frame, Nicole noted how the graduation cap she so carefully decorated with rhinestone-like jewels and glittered lettering was suffering the effects of being simply left in her room gathering dust for the last few years.

 

 

Not only was Nicole new to Tru Vue, she hadn’t gone through the process of custom framing before and was excited to be able to learn more about what our customers’ clients experience at the design counter. After researching shops in her area, she decided on one whose work she liked from viewing finished projects on their website and Facebook page, noting they had had experience framing graduation caps.

 

 

“Because this was my first time bringing something in to be custom framed, I liked that the framer I was working with took charge and asked a lot of questions about what I wanted for the piece,” said Nicole. “It was great to have many different options, but he did a good job of keeping it manageable and not too overwhelming.”

 

 

Nicole chose white moulding from the Larson-Juhl Bauhaus Collection (852440) with the cap float-mounted on an iridescent silver mat board. A blue matboard complementing the color of her cap runs along the inside of the frame. They decided to remove the tassle for design aesthetic. The 15”x15”x2” piece is glazed with Museum Glass® for protection and clarity, which was especially important for an item with so many sparkling elements.

 

 

“As a first experience, I was very happy with the results,” she said. “The framer really captured the vision I had for the piece, and I can’t wait to hang this in my home.”