Tag Archives: Cool

Bringing New Life Into Old Frames

Posted on July 13, 2013 by Hepcats Haven

Love the frame hate the art!

Mel and I saw these frames at the Antique Trove in Roseville and I thought I might be able to do something with them. I took them home and they sat around for a while. I figured since I have just got into water coloring this would be a great next project.

I wasn’t sure that the flat house paint and the watercolor paint would work together but it worked great!

The first thing I did was sand down that tacky palm image so the surface was smooth. Once sanded I used an antique white flat house paint to cover the old image and give me a new canvas.

As before the first thing to do is sketch it out and then mix your colors. This particular painting is from a set of Carlos I saw that I just joined together to make one painting,

This one took about a day to paint. We are happy with the results.

Here is how it turned out. Here you can see the two Carlos I joined into one piece. (Carlo 1 & Carlo 2).

This next one was more of an original idea.

These will look soo great in our Tiki Room!

I love that these frames were able to be used with new art. I think it is always important to realize that re-purposing items can make them new again!

It has been fun getting back into my artistic form again. I hadn’t been actively drawing for some time now. I think If I were alive during the time Carlo was producing watercolors I would have tried to get on as one of the student artists.

Also, Here is another one I recently knocked out for our Tiki Room. I guess I am on some kind of jungle cat kick!

A Carlo style cat fight scene.

I think I will take a break from painting and pick up my gloves again and start restoring some furniture.

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Posted in Restorations and tagged Antique, Art, Carlo of Hollywood, Cool, retro, vintage, Water Color, Watercolor. Bookmark the permalink.

Telefunken Sonata 5183 WK

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Hepcats Haven

Hey all,

I was sitting around and remembered that I had not blogged about this great little 1960’s German unit. I found this on Craigslist sometime back for about $60. It was a part of a cluster of items a younger man was selling that were part of his late mothers estate. I was surprised to see everything worked when he turned it on. As usual it had that really rich and deep sound. I couldn’t get the $60 out of my pocket fast enough.

The great thing about these units is that they are small but still give the rich sound like the larger units. Also, one person can move them. The sound of these units can get even better if you buy a pair of satellite speakers to play through. I have a pair sitting around that need to be restored so I guess I should get on that.

Here are a couple of photos of my grandparents. The picture of my grandma Troxel is of her in England sometime around WWII. The picture of my grandpa Troxel is soo cool, he looks like a gangster or something. The frames are really cool. I plan to blog about Art Deco frames, there are soo many cool ones out there.

This unit can play all the variety of speeds (16, 33 & 45) including 78! I have a mess of 78’s including about 15 binders like the one below full of one of my favorite crooners Bing Crosby. I must have every song he sang or even hummed.

Since I am on the subject of 78’s let me take just a moment to express to you what a lost piece of treasure these records are. I have seen people throw these records away because they are not in demand anymore. These records are also brittle and can break with very little effort. This is why they need to be appreciated and in some instances there are some really rare recordings on these records. I love sitting around listening to records that range from early Perry Como to country western. Do yourself a favor, get a player that can play 78’s and just kick back and let the music wash over you (stepping down from soap box).

Check out all these cats listening to 78’s! How can all these guys be wrong!? On a side note, this would be a cool way to sample your music, why don’t they do this anymore?

So, if you get a chance to pick one of these units up I would say go for it, especially if space is an issue.

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Posted in The Makin's Of Our Pad and tagged 1950's, 1960's, 50's, 60's, audiophile, Bing Crosby, Business, Cool, Craigslist, dean martin, frank sinatra, grundig, Music, Perry Como, rat pack, Recordings, sammy davis jr., Shopping, Telefunken. Bookmark the permalink.

Rare Lighted Carlo of Hollywood Frames

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Hepcats Haven

As you can see these frames need some attention.

Hello all you Hepcats!

We are pleased to announce that we have acquired our first set of rare lighted Carlo frames. Since we have collected Carlo I think I have only seen three of these style frames. We stumbled across them while surfing the internet at Metro Modern. We reached out to them to see if they still had them, after a discussion we agreed on price and they sent them out. These frames were not in the best of shape and required the usual restoration and the lights needed to be replaced to prevent any damage to the art work. I have noticed that these lighted frames usually burn the art work because of the heat that the original lights generate. I replaced them with an under the counter light used in kitchens that did not generate heat from Lowes. Here is how they turned out:

I wired the lights in tandem that way I only have to use one cord to turn both on. I plan to install a switch later.

When these arrived they did not have glass in the frames. I am not sure but maybe the lighted frame Carlo’s didn’t come with glass. I shot of to Wholesale Art and Framing again to have Tim and staff help me get some glass cut.

As you can see the frames look cleaner. A good rule of thumb is that if you restore something and it is hard to tell a difference then you did it right.