55 And Holding

"55 And Holding"
Odd title, right? (more on that later)  As I begin this post, that is what comes to mind.
My husband and I were in Fort Bragg, California over Thanksgiving weekend. While we were there, we found a small flea market, being held in a parking south of town. That is where I came across a pair of hand-carved wooden bookends in the shape of a "Holstein Cow".  Adorable!

. . . I failed to take a 'before' photo of the book ends before I started working on it, so I found a similar one on the internet, to show how it looked.

The base is the base of a 'spice tower' similar to this:

The hardest part was 'connecting' the 2 cow parts to each other to make a "Whole-Holstein". . . (pun intended). I drilled small holes on each cow half, and joined them with wooden dowels and wood glue.

Once all these logistics were resolved, I started papering and embellishing. After the green tissue, came the vintage brass numbers '5' on each side of the cow. I did this, not only because I love the patina on the numbers, but because I wanted to add a little extra support to HOLD the 2 cow-halves. (hence the title . . .)  Then I started 'bling-ing'.

She is very whimsical and fun! and the fact that she spins around makes it even more fun.