This and the following two images show you the project you will make in this workshop: a triptych folder featuring an image held archivally.

The interior central panel carries a removable frame cut from magnetic sheeting. The window opening in the frame slightly overlaps a 4 x 6-inch well in the board below.

No adhesive is involved in holding the image—you can change it whenever you like simply by pulling away the magnetic frame.

Here you see the magnetic frame pulled away, and the image removed from the well in the back board.

To give you an idea of the usefulness of what you will learn…here is a box Daniel made when he collaborated with Timothy C. Ely on Investigations—The Four Elements: Water. The top of the box is held in place by magnets. The next image shows you the magnetic flaps pealed away.

Magnetic strip and sheeting are composite materials consisting of magnetic particles in a matrix of plastic. When making your triptych, you will use magnets that are sufficiently strong to be effective even when they are wrapped in lightweight paper or fabric. This allows you to embed the magnets in a structure and maximize the effectiveness of their invisible force.

Magnets played a key role in Daniel’s invention of this leather-covered drop-wall box for the project Crossings.

Flaps (containing magnets) of the drop-wall box are pealed back to reveal the book.

Here you see the drop-wall box and book side-by-side. The drop-wall box opens completely flat for an elegant presentation yet when the magnetic flaps are snapped back into place the box is sturdy and able to stand erect.