Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Wake Up and Smell the Coffee Clock

About two weeks ago we went to an estate sale where I found a clock to add to my clock collection. The price was right, only $2.00. However, the color was all wrong and it needed a little fixin'. Besides the awful blue color, do you see anything wrong?




My cup clock was missing it's saucer. I found a picture to show you what it should look like. When this clock has it's saucer, it can either stand on the counter or hang on the wall. Here's a "complete" clock.


Since my clock was missing the saucer, it really needed to be replaced. A trip to the local hobby store produced just the piece to make the repair, an unfinished 7 inch oval wooden plaque. The plaque had a beveled edge, so I could turn it upside down to replicate the upturn on a saucer's edge. Then I had to decide where to draw the line....the line to guide my saw to flatten this plaque on one side so the clock could hang on the wall when the new "saucer" was attached. I sawed off about a third of it. Then I had to drill holes into the "saucer"to fit the pegs on the bottom of the cup and do a little sanding to smooth the rough edges. 


Before I could attach the saucer, I had to paint it and I already had paint the same cream color as the "ear" on the coffee cup. But I still hated that blue color! In my box of paints, I had the perfect color, Really Red! So I removed the clock works and sanded away the blue, and painted the cup red. After proper drying time and re-assembly, I now have a coffee cup clock that I really love.



Now isn't that much better! I'm thinking it's time for a relaxing cup of coffee.

 

Monday, April 9, 2012

Wall of Clowns .... Two Days Later.... with Emmett Kelly

Here it is, 2 days later, and I have now placed the Emmett Kelly clown paint-by-number pair on my "Wall of Clowns". I changed my mind slightly on the placement of these two. Originally, I was going to put one Emmett Kelly above the Bozo clown puppet and the other below Bozo, but the one below would just be too low. So, I thought I'd post a photo of the final product. Final, that is, until I run across the next clown wall art! Here's how the wall looks now.



Saturday, April 7, 2012

Clown Paint By Number Paintings & Emmett Kelly

A trip to the local Salvation Army Thrift Store was a success for me today. I didn't think I was going to run across anything, but my eyes wandered to the far wall behind the books and furniture. There I spied not one, but TWO framed pictures that required a closer look!





Off I went, only to find I was a bit too short to reach them. Well, really shortness wasn't the problem. The problem was the table and 2 boxes containing a various, jumbled mess of donated picture frames. The last time I was in this store, the table was there, but it appeared the Salvation Army store workers had been "unloading" the warehouse by the boxful! Not to be deterred, I scooted and scrunched and inched my way toward the wall. Finally, just by the tips of my fingers, I could edge the two pictures down for a better look. All the while I was thinking and hoping that the worker who priced this pair did a decent job and didn't think the paintings were "Louvre" quality and deserved a price tag to match!


I was in luck! The person who "painted" these paint-by-number clowns did a decent job, and they also liked them well enough to take them to a frame shop to be framed. The frames did have a few "bruises" and some dust, but overall, I was very pleased with the pair. Now, for the determining factor...the price....was it "too pricey" or "just right"? At $2.99 each.....the price was "just right"!


I have no way of knowing for sure that these paint-by-number clowns are, indeed, Emmett Kelly, but it sure looks like him to me. So I'm just going to call them "my Emmett Kelly's". 

Since I really like Emmett Kelly, I thought you might enjoy this video of Emmett appearing on What's My Line? TV game show on March 11, 1956.


I've already decided on the placement of the pair on my already full wall of clowns. One will go above the clown puppet on the right and the other just below it.




If you want to see more about my clown collection, be sure to check the Blog Archive in the right hand column.