LuminFrames: Our Origin Story — From Eternity Etchings to ilLUMINation

We’re back, baby.

18 years later; a little older, a lot wiser and ready to do this shit the right way.

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away, LuminFrames was merely a spark of an idea, originally named Eternity Etchings. One birthed from two 20 year old kids who had more dreams than sense, and an unwavering desire to create something meaningful. 

We went balls to the wall and tied ourselves to a business loan bigger than the Super Bowl (not really, but it definitely felt like it, as broke college kids.)

I’m not sure what sweet, hopeful soul at the SBA granted our loan, but- honestly, bless their heart (and ours)!

Back then we were raw-dogging business plans with unmedicated ADHD, and without the help of AI to smooth things out. It was rough. 

But we were young and eager, and we tried every gadget and gizmo on those first iterations of our customs creations.

The art pieces you see today had truly humble beginnings.

Version one had us using a sandblaster to hand etch each piece of glass, but that proved to be arduous and inconsistent. (Can we say finger cramps and dry boogies anyone?) 

Let’s just say- fricken laser beams make all the difference.

That was just our first hurdle, next up to kick us in the shins was the lighting itself. The LED’s of Christmas past weren’t like the kind that now line every 14 year olds bedroom ceiling. 

Back then they were individually wired, and soldered- and our frame within a frame fabrication didn’t make it any easier.

Alas, a little time, some technology advancements and a lot of experience have taught us how to both design and route each shadowbox frame to enable us to line them with LED’s to perfectly illuminate each engraving.

Technology has jumped so far, and so fast that some of the pieces we now use- didn’t even exist in our first prototypes.

We can now design and 3D print pieces specifically made for each frame to direct light and dissipate heat. 🤯 Something we never even considered possible until just recently.

Side note: We also print mildly risqué Christmas gifts with said printer, but that’s a story for another time. 😜

We're taught as kids that every masterpiece starts as a rough draft. Eternity Etchings was ours. A real life trial and error.

It certainly wasn't pretty- but it was necessary. 

Then right in the middle of that fine-tuning process; life happened. Nursing school, 3 babies in 3 years, career changes, 4 cross country moves, another baby, and lots of  promotions. The space and time for our favorite creative outlet got pushed to the back burner.

We’d come back to it over the years, feeling inspired during big family events- wanting a way to cherish the feeling of each milestone with one of our engravings. But always just a little too busy to try again.

Until now. 

Both the patriarch, and matriarch of Cameron’s family passed, and we both felt that burning desire to create something to honor their legacies. A way that would light up others lives-in the same way they lit up ours.

It was exactly the push we needed, the reminder that the only time we have, is now. With that, the spark of determination returned.

And here we are, almost 20 years later- doing it better than we ever thought we could. 

This was supposed to be an origin story of LuminFrames, but really, our family and our business origins are the same.

Same roots, same tree.

We grew up-building this business. We grew a family while building this business.

All 4 of our daughters contribute to LF- from weighing in on designs, to social media, to setting up and manning booths at local farmers markets (even in the cold wind and rain). 

Getting to this point has taken so much time, energy, effort, stress and so so many units of Botox.

But it’s also given us opportunities to grow together in ways we never would have. Lumin has been built from the ground up with love.

And we’re ready to get growing, for real this time.

It’s been one hell of a journey getting to this moment, and if you’ve made it this far with us-well we’re grateful you’re here. We hope you stick around for the ride.

It’s gonna be a good one.

So buckle up buttercup, it’s time to glow. ✨

 

Here's some old fun photos before we even figured out the lights.