Friday, July 27, 2012

Summer Under Glass

I am so excited that now my new camera actually will take good pictures of something under glass.


I have a couple of cloches. One isn't really supposed to be a cloche, but I made it one. 
I made mine because cloches were the new, in thing and they were priced exorbitantly.
I was not going to pay 30-40 for glass. 

Mine started life as a clock.
I got a clock just like the one below at a garage sale. 
I think I paid $2.00. These can be good clocks but the one I found was super cheesy, cheap and broken!
(I really wanted one as a new bride but never got one.) 
 I had been looking for a while for one to photograph for a cloche post and found this one in Colorado at an antique shop. They wanted $25.00 for it! It is very fake and blingy looking.

Here is another one I found while on the same trip. 
This one is a much better clock.

Since mine was so cheesy, I had no problem tearing it apart.
I safely set the glass aside and started unscrewing the three screws that held the guts in. It took a little doing but it eventually all came out. I saved the face for crafting and threw the rest of the guts away.
Here it is for...

Christmas


 Winter
 Valentine's Day
 Easter
  and summer. 
        The treasured birthday card is from my dear aunt. 
 Are you as wild about this bathing beauty as I am? 
 She is from Japan and was a souvenir from somewhere in Missouri. I wasn't aware that Missouri had beaches, but whatever. I picked her up in a little shop. I'm not sure whether it was a junk shop or an antique shop but I know I didn't pay much. I love her with the little sand castle from a fish tank.  
 I spent hours and hours one summer looking at mermaids, bathing beauties and fish tank decor on e-bay. Seriously days and days! I'm sure my husband was becoming concerned. I bought only one thing because all the items were so high. 
Finally, I found a few things elsewhere when I wasn't really looking anymore. 
 I got this cloche at a thrift store. It had a very vintage butterfly display in it. I guess it was popular in the 70's to make dried displays with real, dead butterflies. I didn't care to have something dead on display. Poor thing. 
 This little mermaid was $1.00 at my old favorite junk shop.
I think the owner was a storage auction hunter, like those popular t.v. shows. She really found some good stuff. Her husband would get mad when she slipped in little treasures for good deals. But as a frequent shopper, I loved finding a treasure in the midst of the more expensive items she had. This little gem would have been 
much more on e-bay.

The new owner of the shop has it with more pricey antiques, so I never go anymore.
 I bet she was a souvenir or an aquarium ornament as well. She doesn't have a mark on the bottom. 

 Small items like this have more presence under glass. 
So much fun. 
Katie 

4 comments :

  1. Oh my goodness, all of your coach vignettes are so beautiful and you have them photographed so perfectly. That is definitely an art that you have mastered. I love them all. Thanks so much for joining the party. Hugs, Marty

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    Replies
    1. You are welcome, Marty. Thank you so much for hosting.

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  2. I love to use cloches too! Yours look great!
    Kris

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