THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 19, 1997 TAG: 9701210454
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 22 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LINDA MCNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 75 lines
Kim LeDoux has a business claim that isn't posted at the front desk of her small shop in Driver.
``We can frame anything,'' LeDoux says, smiling.
And she means it.
LeDoux claims to have framed a straw hat, several christening dresses, wedding invitations complete with flowers from the bride's bouquet, baseball caps, needlework, china.
``The straw hat was really old,'' LeDoux said. ``It belonged to the woman's father, and she wanted to preserve it. We put it in the shawdow box frame with acid-free mats, and it will still be there for another 100 years.''
That's the kind of unique framing project that LeDoux likes to tackle.
With five years of experience in framing artwork at two local craft shops on the Peninsula, LeDoux last year finally decided to go into business. And she already had her partner picked out.
Her dad, Dennis Vosburgh, had always been willing to help with her projects, she said. For a while, the two sold their framing talents at craft shows throughout the area. Now, he helps to run the shop.
The dad and daughter duo, originally from upstate New York, opened Adirondack Custom Framing next to Arthur's Store in the village of Driver in August 1995. They hadn't been opened long, LeDoux said, when dad came up with an original idea of his own.
``We used to live in Texas, and my dad and my brother were really into racing,'' she said. ``When we lived on the Peninsula, both of them raced at Langley. And they - along with my husband - have gotten me into it.''
With the shop's close proximity to the proposed auto race track in northern Suffolk, Vosburgh thought it might be fun to come up with an original frame based on the checkered flag. It wasn't easy to find a source for black and white checked matboard, she said. But once they did, they were able to order it in large sheets, big enough to fit practically anything.
Since then, LeDoux has framed everything from cars, motorcycles and people to a complete collection of Nascar drivers' photos in the checked borders.
``One lady came in with some old photos of her dad on his Harley-Davidson, and she wanted those in the checker board mats,'' LeDoux said. ``It looked really nice when we finished it.''
The frame shop ran a small ad in the Nascar newspaper and ended up framing orders from as far away as Michigan.
The idea is still to play on the local connection, however, LeDoux said.
``When the racetrack does open, we'd like to open a booth down there at the track,'' she said. ``I think a lot of people would like it if they saw it.''
The future of the racetrack just a couple of miles beyond Driver is still uncertain. The track has won approval from city officials, and a conditional use permit grant is due to be extended, a spokesperson for the city of Suffolk said. But no date to start construction has been announced.
So, Adirondack is going ahead for now with other ideas. LeDoux and Vosburgh have now gone into producing Adirondack lawn furniture. They carried a line of furniture when the shop first opened, LeDoux said, but Vosburgh, who is due to retire in about a year, has started building the furniture himself.
The Adirondack style of lawn furniture features a series of slats nailed onto a frame, and the shop's inventory soon will feature chairs, footstools and tables.
Still, the major emphasis for the shop is the frames - more than 1,000 different styles with mats in countless colors. LeDoux said she has done frames in almost every shape as well - triangles, hexagons, octagons, and double-sided glass frames (that is, both the front and back of a document, for example, can be displayed).
Adirondack Custom Framing, at 3118 B Kings Highway, is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The shop claims to frame practically anything.
``I love a challenge,'' LeDoux said. ILLUSTRATION: JOHN H. SHEALLY II
The Virginian-Pilot
Kim LeDoux of Adirondack Custom Framing in the village of Driver
trims one of the store's unique checkered mats.