A diploma is a document you will hang for decades. Marty & Pat’s frames degrees, certificates, and honors on Camp Bowie with the same conservation-minded stack the shop uses for other paper: mats cut for the piece, boards that will not burn the document, and a frame that fits the room it will live in — not a leftover school-store kit.
Some diplomas want a quiet double mat and a closed moulding. Others arrive with a stole, cords, or a tassel that should stay in the story. That becomes a shadowbox: the document readable in the center, the cloth given depth, school colors picked up in a thin reveal rather than shouted across the wall.
Fort Worth is a college town as much as an art town. Families come in from the Cultural District, TCU’s side of the city, West 7th, Ridglea, Tanglewood, and Arlington Heights after commencements and after promotions. The shop has been doing this work since 1986. You do not need a published package. You need the paper in the room on a weekday.
Certificates, licenses, military and service documents, and award letters use the same bench. If a medal or a small object belongs with the paper, say so at the start. Conservation framing and matting is the materials conversation. UV-filter glazing is worth discussing if the diploma will face a bright window.
The local art gallery on The Bricks helps with scale. A nursing degree, a law certificate, or a high-school diploma should not disappear in an oversized frame or fight a moulding that belongs on a Western oil. The staff will walk the sample wall with you the same way they do for custom picture framing.
Related pieces — a jersey from the same years, a photograph, a cap — can hang as a set or share a box when the layout allows. See jersey framing if athletics are part of the same wall. Needlework and scarves are different textiles; those pages are next door if that is what you are actually bringing.
Visit 5025 Camp Bowie Boulevard, Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., or call (817) 738-7328. Bring the diploma in its folder or envelope, and bring any stole, cords, or medal you want considered. Saturday and Sunday the shop is closed.
Questions we hear
Can a stole, tassel, or honor cords go in the same frame as the diploma?
Yes, when a shadowbox has enough depth. Many graduation presentations keep the document in a window and give the textiles their own space. Bring those pieces so the layout can be planned together.
Do you frame certificates and licenses as well as university diplomas?
Yes. Degrees, certificates, licenses, and other honors documents are regular paper work. The mat and moulding are chosen for the document and the room, not a single school-store style.
Should I take the diploma out of the school’s folder before I visit?
Bring it in the folder or envelope if that feels safer. The staff will handle the document at the counter. Weekday hours are Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.