quick turnaround work project. yesterday afternoon, we were told we needed to make a small stack of postcards to go in a time capsule for a grand opening of a military hospital we designed (Ft Bliss). i thought, “postcards by themselves? that seems lame, we need a box.”
found a nice piece of walnut i had, engraved one of the original site drawings on it (along with our logo and the project name) and created a sleeve box. had to fit into a box that was 4" on the smallest dimension, so it’s 3.8" x 5.75" x .375". two sheets of walnut and a u-shaped sandwich filler. sanded edges and a couple of coats of watney’s walnut oil et viola. might have been able to do some nicer edge rounding if i wasn’t rushing through it, but i’m happy with it.
Did you separate the postcards with some kind of archival paper between the postcards and the wood as well? Over time in uncontrolled (although sealed) climate I would expect the postcards to potentially stick themselves together and possibly for the wood finish to migrate through the wood and into the postcards as well. Especially newly finished & uncured, getting vaporization of the finish as it cures. The archival paper separators (or even something as simple as baking parchment paper) would keep everything from potentially welding itself together.
that’s a good point. i’ll have to look for something. since they’re leaving in an hour or so, i will be limited. i’m not worried about the wood finish, i didn’t finish the insides (figured the oil on the cards would be an issue), but sticking together could be. my only worry is do i have enough space to put a spacer in between and still fit the cards in the sleeve.
Maybe just wrap the cards in Kraft paper. Kraft paper is acid free, and it would act as a buffer between the wood and the postcards. Wood is naturally acidic so will eventually yellow the cards.
