Vintage 1940s Shadow box restoration

From 2009
I found this ad in the back of the April, 1947 issue of Good Housekeeping magazine. Back then, the box cost $4.95, postpaid.
My mother aquired hers sometime in the early or mid fifties, secondhand. I eventually inherited it, and decided to clean it up and restore it.
I noticed last night, that the door in my little room could be opened. There was no knob, and I couldn't see any sign of glue from one, but since the frame was coming unglued, I pried it off. I found a painted scene inside.
Although the scene looks pretty fresh in this photo, in real life it was terribly grungy. I took a chance and tried to wipe off some of the grime, but discovered it was painted in watercolor. I dried the sections I had wiped right away. I'll be painting a new scene.
You'll notice in the picture, that the door has a Z on it, to simulate the cross boards. The front of the door is plain, so I imagine it was meant to stay open. Maybe that's why the frame work structure next to the door confused me originally. I had guessed that it was meant to be bunkbeds, and once I took a close look, I could see that nothing had been glued to it. With the door open like that, it's obvious that they're bunkbeds. I'll have to make some bedding for them.

Here's a closeup of the fireplace, with a fire painted on the wooden boards.
The paint used on the chimney is an oil paint, and I found I could wash it with no trouble. The hanging pot is securely attached on a wire, and I won't try to remove it for cleaning. The red pot next to the fireplace is also firmly attached. One of the benches was partially loose, and when I cleaned the table, I found that the glue on the back leg washed off easily. I thought I'd try to pry off the bench, but discovered that it was nailed to a support, and wouldn't come out without a fight. I decided not to fight. Apparently several kinds of paint and glue were used on this scene. Some wash off, some don't.
You can see what the wood originally looked like, underneath the painted door panel.
The splotchiness is where it's still damp. I had to remove the old glue and bits of cardboard that were under the original scene. I decided to use vinegar, and although it loosened up the debris, I found that the lines that simulated the boards and nails were done in a paint that could wash off with a little scrubbing.
I think the only further cleaning I'll do will be the gentle kind.
Many of the original pieces are left. I can pretty much tell where they might have originally stood, because of the glue marks and residue on the table and shelves.
I have one extra lid. It doesn't fit the red pot by the stove properly, so I think I may be missing a pot.
I also found some extras that I and maybe my younger sister added to the scene. I think my mother had stashed away the shadowbox before my brother and youngest sister showed up.
The two gray barrels are plastic and say "powder". I remember having a western style playset, maybe they came from that. The other, black barrel, was originally red. the black paint washed off and made a huge mess when I started cleaning it last night. The green lid and bowl are plastic. The bowl is stamped made in Hong Kong. The comb is plastic, painted tan, and the wooden yellow ball fits the extra red lid, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't an original piece.
The metal "cauldron" looks like it was an ashtray.
. There's some paint on it, which I'd like to remove, but there are also some tiny spots of rust on the metal. I don't want to damage it. Even if I don't replace it in this scene, I may want to use it in another project. It's cute.

Half of the room is finished.
I had started by cleaning whatever parts of the wood I could with vinegar.
I discovered that it was covered with a stain, that started coming off together with the decades worth of dirt, so I had to decide what I could clean and what should be left pretty much alone.
The stain and painted lines that made up the boards on the back wall tended to wash off easily with a little scrubbing, as I learned while trying to remove the glue that was behind the picture in the doorway. While trying to clean off the glue that held the horseshoe, I inadvertantly removed much of the stain. I tinted the area a little before gluing the horseshow back on, and before I'm done I'll retint to even out the color better.

I kept hearing from people that the horseshoe above the cabin door should be hung with the ends up, or good luck will run out.
I just rehung it the way it was in the first place, because there was a shadow of glue left on the wall.

I knew there had to be conflicting folklore about horseshoe hanging, because so many horseshoes are pointed downwards, not upwards.

On the subject of hanging horseshoes:

In depends on where you're from how they're supposed to be hung.
It seems that the horseshoe was associated with good fortune, period.

In some places, they say hang it upwards, so luck won't run out. In others, If it's upwards, the devil will find himself a seat above your door. In an old English tradition, bad luck could be aquired, but good luck could be taken away, so never hang your horseshoes upwards or bad luck will fill it up and enter your home.

Folklore says if you find a horseshoe, take it home with you for luck. On the other hand, if you find a horseshoe, throw it over your shoulder for luck.

There's lots more horseshoe folklore out on the internet, I won't repeat it all. It's pretty much like that old nursery rhyme:
See a penny, pick it up,
All the day you'll have good luck.
See a penny, let it lay,
Or bad luck will follow you all the day.

By the way, when I checked to see if I remembered the rhyme correctly I found there are variations on the rhyme too. Picking up pennies could be good or bad, depending on cisrcumstances.


This side is finished. The original glue turned out to be water soluble, but since scrubbing also removed the stain, I recided to just wet the glue, then scrape it off with a knife blade. Two or three wettings and scrapings were usually enough to remove most of the glue. Some of the glue I left alone, rather than run the risk of damaging the surface.
I could tell from glue residue, that some of the original pieces were missing. Of the items that had been added in my childhood, I chose to keep the 2 plastic barrels, the comb, and the black barrel, which I repainted olive green.
Also, rather than set the accessories in place with a liquid glue, I decided to use glue dots. By the way, although the plastic barrels on the top shelf look almost white in the picture, in real life they're a darker gray and blend in better. They were another reason for using glue dots. If at some point, I decided I wanted to swap them for wooden accessories, the glue dots should be easier to remove.
I had mentioned I had a leftover lid, and no pot to put it on. I found that it fit the top of the bowl nicely. I put some white poster putty in the bowl, the lid on top and squeezed tight til the lid was firmly in place.
I still had some space to fill, so I turned to some unpainted wooden pieces I had purchased at a craft shop.

They're on the second shelf. The original pieces were painted with oil paints. For a while I wondered if I should get out my oil paints and freshen them up a bit, but I decided against it. Instead I selected some acrylic colors that would blend with the other pieces. To age the fresh paint I used my oil pastel crayons. I rubbed my finger on the brown crayon, then rubbed some of the color onto the freshly painted bowl, and then did the same thing with the black crayon. Most people don't happen to have oil pastels in the house, but a piece of charcoal, or some ashes should work the same way. Try rubbing your finger on the charcoal briquet, or charcoal drawing stick, then on the thing you want to age.
After being aged, the item needs to be sprayed with a protective covering, or the dirt and age could come off. I sprayed mine with Krylon matte finish. I've found over the years, that though the product dulls down a shiny photograph, which is what it was originally meant for, it leaves a very soft sheen when sprayed on wooden painted items. This sheen matched the old plates, etc, perfectly,
I nested a small red bowl within the ochre bowl with a glue dot. Next to the bowls stands a bottle I painted olive green.
Finally, I thought I needed a little something else. I remembered that the ad for the other room had a broom, so I made one and stuck it in the corner.

I decided to repaint my own version of the original scene that was in the doorway.
Originally I couldn't decided if the white and purple thing in the original scene was a mountain hanging in mid air or a poorly painted cloud, but as I was relaxing and watching TV the other night, I saw a snow covered mountain, with a foggy valley below it. That's when I knew it was supposed to be a mountain.
I painted in a forest below the mountain.


The final additions to the cabin are the bedding on the bunkbeds and the restoration of the door.
To make the bedding, I cut some small squares from the sleeve of one of my old shirts, and some foam to make mattresses. A while ago I bought some spray adhesive, and I finally got to try it out. I sprayed it on the fabric, then folded it over the mattress. I also happened to have some no stitch fabric glue I'd never used before. I put dabs of the glue on the top and bottom ends of the folded fabric and stuck them to the underside of the mattress to make a little foam package.
For the pillows, I used a little cotton canvas cloth which I folded over a few times. Then I hem stitched the edges. If I had glued them, they'd have probably laid pretty flat, and I wanted them to puff just the tiniest bit.