Tuesday, May 11, 2010

The Uncuckoo Clock ( No Time like the Present)

I deconstructed an old assemblage that wasn't working. Here are the materials planned for the final product, although changes are bound to occur. The large black item is the base for a bell jar, its upper component long since broken and lost. Gothic arch cut out and and cigar box cut up with Terry's amazing saw.
Oh, and these, I forgot to put these in the first photo.


It turned out I had to take the little wooden handle off, as it interfered with the knob with the flower on it (you'll see why I changed it later). I turned the wooden disk over, I like the red on the other side better even though it is more distressed, as in having a chunk missing out of it. changed my mind on the background (several times actually). I replaced the green paer with the star paper. The birds have been glued to heavy paper reinforced with thin copper wire which I taped down with acid free tape.


The final piece and...



The reason I didn't want the knob hitting the wooden handle. Wheeeee!

15 comments:

Shayna said...

This is thrilling, Susan - to see your process laid out and described in this way - and my oh my, the completed animated delight! Those happy twigs whirling around! Truly wonderful.

Clowncar said...

Shayna is right, it is a thrill to see the process at work. I like the twigginess of your recent projects. Drills are fun, eh?

Karin på FOX said...

What alovely thing - to give old things a new thrilling life. I don't know if I would have the curage to put a saw in such pieces of handicraft.

California Girl said...

it's dynamite! had to come here to see it constructed.

ArtSparker said...

Thanks, guys.

Clowncar, I do love my drill. I like connecting (both people and things) and drills make that place of attachment. Well, not on people.

patricia said...

Stunnig! Both the process and the object itself & implicantions.

Cláudia said...

A spinning sun clock - how delightful!

Uncuckoo Clock - I loved that!

Jess said...

Wow! This is great! x

steve said...

Wow, wonderfully broken down!

Danielle Barlow said...

This is wonderful! Can I have a go at spinning it? :)

Bee said...

Poetry in motion . . .
but is the sound of the cuckoo replaced by clickety clack?

Tammie Lee said...

So fun to see your step by step creation. A wonderful twirling creation.

Jenny Woolf said...

This is charming. I would love a real (working) clock like this; it would be so much more than something that just tells the time.

Talking of cuckoo clocks, have you read Mrs. Molesworth's The Cuckoo Clock? Written in the 1870s, it's about ornaments coming to life. I loved it as a child and just found a reprint copy

ArtSparker said...

Jenny - I have read a reprint of a Mrs. Molesworth book as a child, but not that one.

I don't trust inanimate objects, though, mine are always wandering off on their own and getting lost (AKA hiding).

The Crow said...

It is beautiful, Susan!

As my grandson said, then aged 4 years, "A spinny fing, Nanny! Look! a spinny fing!"

He and I love 'spinny fings.'

:)