My Ancestor Wall

My ancestors are hanging on my living room wall. I collect antique picture frames and then I take a photo of an ancestor, have it enlarged and insert it into the frame. Then it gets a place of honour on my wall.

My main Ancestor Wall

There are a few things you might want to do if you are going to have an Ancestor Wall. First you need to choose a photo that is in focus. It doesn't matter how small the photo is, it's the sharpness of the image that counts.

You should choose a photo that suits your frame. You don't want a family group photo in a tiny frame. Likewise you don't want Great grandma's head and shoulders photo in a large one.

After you choose your frame and your photo you need to pick a suitable mat. That's a personal choice but you should think about colour - you want the mat to go with the frame and the photo, you don't want it to clash. You should also think about the size of the mat, the bit you're going to see around the photograph. If you make it too large, it will overpower the photo. If it's too small it won't look balanced.

I had a frame chosen for a family photo of my dad and his siblings and parents in 1916. But none of the mats we looked at seemed just right. The frame was an unusual dull beige-gold. So we chose a cream mat and my husband stained it in blotches with a used tea bag. It looks great - very antique looking and it ties in the frame colour with the photo.

We love our living room. We have a cathedral ceiling so there is a lot of wall space to fill! All three walls are hung with ancestor photos and antique art. We even have an oil painting that my husband's grandmother painted but didn't like. So she nailed it to the wall of her barn! We rescued it, cleaned it, chose a frame to suit it and now it hangs in a place of honour. You can see it in my photo above - it's the bright oil painting with orange flowers hanging top left of the photo.

So be creative and pick what you like, not what someone else tells you is good. After all you are the one who has to live with your Ancestor Wall, so it has to please you. Our Ancestor Wall would not suit everyone. The way we choose to hang our pictures would not suit everyone. But it pleases us and that's what's important. Every morning when  I go through the living room to get to the kitchen I feel a warm glow as I pass the photo of my father, my grandmother and other relatives. The pictures bring me peace and pleasure.

Displaying Family Heirlooms - Making Sure the Handwriting is on the Wall

My husband's great grandmother's younger brother Bill Sandercock was killed in August 1917 during WW1, while standing beside his brother Cecil. Cecil sent a postcard to his parents about Bill's death. Bill was only 20. Sadly, one year later in August 1918 Cecil Sandercock was also killed in France. He too was just 20 years old. Two months before his death, Cecil sent a postcard to his sister (my husband's ancestor).

Their sister Myrtle kept all the postcards Cecil sent, as well as his military medals and Death Plaque. She also had photographs of her brothers and her father (who also enlisted in WW1) in their military uniforms. All of these family treasures were passed on in the family - first to my husband's grandfather, then his father and then my husband. I'm sure some items went missing, for no one knows where Bill's medals or Death plaque are. So we decided we needed to organize all the heirlooms and display them as a group.

This would prevent any more from being lost in future years, and would ensure that future generations know what items belong to what individual - and the meaning behind each one.

After laying out each item, we realized we had too many for one display. So we decided to keep the postcard separate from the rest. The postcard also had an extra small decorated card that went with it so we had two paper items to frame. The original postcard was beautifully decorated on the front with raised ornamentation of embroidered cloth.

The main colours in the embroidery were purple, green and pink with a bit of yellow. Embroidered in purple was the phrase "To my dear Sister" The embroidered flowers were surrounded by a beige frame with embossed lines.

We chose a beige mat and gold frame with black flecks. Then we chose a forest green mat to use as a double mat, which gives a very nice effect of three colours - beige, green and white - when it is bevel cut and placed around the objects. We wanted to show off the feminine beautifully decorated postcard but also bring in some more neutral colours that would also enhance the postcard. Thus the gold flecked with black for the frame and the choice of forest green for the second mat.

But Cecil's hand-written note was on the back. Here was a dilemma - how to frame a postcard when we want to see both front and back?

The solution was actually simple - we used clear glass instead of the usual cardstock mat. Thus the beige frame surrounds both the postcard and the small decorative paper that came with it. For the postacrd, the double mat of forest green was placed under the beige and clear glass under that. For the small decorative paper, the forest green mat is not cut away but is placed under the entire piece.

The result is very effective, we can turn the frame over and read the postcard at any time and whatever wall we hang it on shows through the clear glass mat. And Myrtle's favourite brother will always be remembered.

See our second display of Cecil's War medals, death plaque and military photo.

Displaying Family Heirlooms - Making Sure Keepsakes Aren't Lost

Most of us have them. A sentimental keepsake of a beloved family member. The gold pocket watch given to Grandpa on his 21st birthday. The medals given to a father in the Military. A postcard from Aunt Matilda to Uncle Harry during WW1.

Our treasured mementoes can be anything, from jewellery to letters to medals to the bullet supposedly removed from great great grandpa's leg in the Civil War. But where are they? Chances are they are kicking around in the bottom of a drawer somewhere. Or in a trunk in the attic.

Isn't it time to do something with them? To ensure they are not lost to future generations? To display them in a way that you can enjoy them every day? Have you thought about what happens when you, the keeper of that family treasure, are gone? Does anyone else know who the treasure belonged to? Do they know the story behind it? Chances are you are the only person who has that knowledge. So now is the time to preserve and display that heirloom for posterity.

My father died when I was 13. I was given his WW2 Service Medals, his cap badge and a photo of him in his officer's uniform. The photo went into a photo album. The Service Medals and cap badge went into my jewellery box. For years they were buried amongst rings and bracelets. Occassionally I took them out and looked at them.

One day I realized that no one but me knew that the medals and cap badge were his. No one but me knew his rank in the Army, and the only reason I knew was that I had sent for his military records from Library & Archives Canada. So I decided to take his photo, cap badge and medals and create a grouping which I could have framed. Then I could hang the framed memorabilia on my wall and enjoy it every day. Framing them together would keep the mementoes from being lost or separated.

The first thing I did was to take the three items and figure out how I wanted them arranged. Next came the decision regarding the picture frame and the mat. Because this was my father and his military memorabilia, I wanted a frame that was somewhat masculine and dark coloured. It's important to choose your frame and mat to suit the objects you are displaying so take your time when making this decision.

Because I was having medals and a cap badge mounted, I decided to have a shadow box effect, with the objects recessed. So I kept the cut-out around those objects simple.

I decided that adding my father's name was important to this specific display. So I had a local store engrave in silver his name and military rank on a dark plaque. This was put bottom center of the arrangement.

For my dad's photo I wanted more definition, so I had the framing shop add a second smaller frame which mirrored the larger frame around the entire grouping. Size is important, so be sure you don't choose a frame that is too wide or too narrow. Everything needs to be in balance to create a nice composition for your heirlooms display.

In this grouping I opted for a dark, semi-masculine frame with details, an off-white (ivory) mat and a light grey for the inside mat used under the medals, cap badge and name plaque.

When my display was framed and returned to me I was thrilled. I wrote out the details about my father on paper and fastened it to the back of the framed piece. Then I hung it on my wall where I see it every day. Yes the medals are slowly tarnishing with time. But that is unimportant to the idea behind keeping all the treaures together.

My son knows this will be passed on to him to be the next keeper of this family heirloom. Hopefully he will pass it on to his son and so on, so that future descendants will always have this memento of my father.

Please note: It was difficult to take a good photo of this display as the glass caused reflections. Thus some of my photos which I have uploaded here for illustrative purposes may not show the detail I hoped they would. Also I blacked out in a graphic program parts of my father's name plate, so it looks a little off center in the illustrative photo I took.