When I was five or six years old, one of my favorite television shows was Pee Wee’s Playhouse. The show’s commitment to zaniness and surreality stood out among a panoply of kid’s programming largely meant to impart moral lessons and guidance. For a kindergartner, there was something special about watching a show that valued silliness for silliness’s sake, not as a tool for edification.
Not that Pee Wee’s Playhouse started as a kid’s show. Paul Reubens developed the character as a member of the Groundlings comedy troupe (with substantial feedback from fellow Groundling Phil Hartman, who would go on to be the Captain Carl to Paul’s Pee Wee). Eventually, Paul transformed the stage act into a live HBO special, a cult film directed by then-newcomer Tim Burton, and, eventually, a live children’s television show called Pee Wee’s Playhouse.
One of the things that made Pee Wee’s Playhouse such a hit with children was the eclectic scenery and puppetry. Everything in the playhouse was color saturated and anthropomorphized: Chairry the armchair, Magic Screen the .. magic screen, Globey the globe, and Clockey the clock. As a child, I pined to have my own Chairry or my own Globey, even if they didn’t trade jokes with me as they did with Pee Wee. Inanimate versions would suffice.
Fast forwarding to my adult years, a recent moment spent reminiscing made me wonder if one could buy a Clockey or Chairry or Globey. I browsed online stores that specialized in official film and television prop replicas, ultimately to no avail. Etsy got me closer, but the replica objects available there were relatively pricey. And I’m pretty frugal.
So I wondered if I could somehow make a replica of the Playhouse’s silly objects myself. For some reason, I assumed the answer was yes, and set out to make my own Clockey.
What it was like
Some quick Googling led me to the conclusion that, with a bit of polymer clay (something I’d never used before), an inexpensive set of clock parts from Amazon (something I’ve never built before), and patience, I could probably create a replica of Clockey for less than $30.
I got to work. I ordered a few different colors that matched the saturated tones of the original Clockey - orange, red, black, and white - along with the set of clock parts.
Once the components arrived, my process was pretty unscientific but relatively straightforward:
Warm up the polymer clay to a moldable state. We happened to be cooking some dinner with our sous vide at the time, so I plopped my clay into ziploc bags and dropped them in alongside the meat.
Roll the base of the clock into a flat rectangle that I could then carve into the shape of the clock.
Carve a hole in the base for the clock part - the part that the hands rotate around - to fit through.
Roll thin strips of red clay to decorate the base just like Pee Wee’s.
Carve divots in the base for Clockey’s eyes to fit into, and roll small white balls of clay to be those eyes.
Cut small cubes of white clay to be Clockey’s teeth.
Bake in the oven at 230F for 30 minutes and superglue it all together.
Assemble the clock part according to the instructions.
The finished product (listen to the ticking sounds! It works!):
What I learned
I really enjoyed working with the polymer clay. One of the benefits of polymer clay is that, being oil based, it doesn’t dry out in the air. I didn’t have to worry about moving quickly; I could be patient and methodic about the sculpting and carving that I was doing. As a newbie to polymer clay, I valued the opportunity to pause and look up tips for how to introduce a particular texture, or how to warm up the clay enough to work with it.
I also appreciated the fact that I was indeed able to execute and create something that totally aligned with my end vision. This wasn’t inevitable though, particularly since I’d never worked with polymer clay or made a clock. But being new to the craft made me even happier with my end result, and proud of what I was able to accomplish.
Finally, and frankly, making Clockey made me want to do more clay sculpting, whether with polymer clay or with another material. I didn’t expect to enjoy a three dimensional art as much as I did, particularly since I’ve more recently been enjoying watercoloring and sketching. But taking the time to make Clockey helped open up a new area of interest that I’m excited about learning more about.
Maybe next time I’ll make Chairry. Stay tuned!
