Commemorating A Wish Come True

We were contacted by Charlie Engasser of Eden Prairie about doing a special project for him to memorialize a special day in the life of his young son, Roman. You see, Roman has been fighting leukemia for a couple of years and enduring a whole lot of difficult treatments. Through that journey, he began to love music and Twisted Sister was a favorite, with a little influence from his parents. When the family was offered a Make-A-Wish, he quickly asked to go to a Twisted Sister concert and to meet Dee Snider.

The project began with an internet search and a virtual meeting between us and Roman’s parents. We discussed ideas and options, and they put together a collection of items from the trip. Then we did an in person consultation in our shop. We offer appointment slots which busy families and individuals really like—little to no waiting on their end and we love being able to give the personalized attention.

For this project, we incorporated a photo of lead singer and songwriter Dee Snider along with a set list from the concert, 2 Dee Snider action figures, a signed metal photo of the band and a CD case. The backstage and on-stage photos were taken by Roman's parents and edited and printed at Frame Minnesota. Our staff has extensive backgrounds as photographers so we can help turn an okay iPhone photo into something frame worthy. We drew the Twisted Sister logo and cut it using our Wizard 9000Z computerized mat cutter. We used a simple black shadowbox frame, acid free mats and backing to help preserve the items inside for a lifetime. We used Museum glass which is a nearly glare-free glass with a coating to filter 99% of UV rays—again, helping preserve the project as long as possible.  

The frame was a birthday gift Roman for his recent birthday. At 7 years old now, he is officially in remission and doing well. He’s joined his brothers playing sports teams. He got to see Twisted Sister again recently at Treasure Island and was invited backstage again to hang out with Dee Snider.

An important tool for this project was the Wizard computerized mat cutter. It allows our team to configure the perfect layout and share it with clients to confirm that everything has a dedicated space in the shadowbox and that the layout is to their liking.

We love using our imagination to do these super customized designs together. Everything is handcrafted on site and on site by experienced professionals. We use a variety of tools and materials in a fully stocked workshop hidden in the backroom of a strip mall in Eagan.

This video speaks for itself! Roman was very excited to see his trip made into a memory with the shadowbox, and to find out that he was headed to a Twisted Sister show!