Oh My Darling Clementine

One of my favorite movies features a character with a very colorful personality and name to match.  While she frequently changes her hair color in the movie, her name is the inspiration of today’s featured color: clementine.

Fans of the movie “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” may remember (if they have not chosen to erase their memories) the infamous “manic pixie dream girl” named Clementine Kruczynski.  In major portions of the movie the character’s hair color is the basis of the origin of her name- orange.

According to Wikipedia:

“A clementine is a variety of mandarin orange (Citrus reticulata), so named in 1902.[1] The exterior is a deep orange colour with a smooth, glossy appearance. Clementines can be separated into 7 to 14 segments. They tend to be very easy to peel, like a tangerine, but are almost always seedless. For this reason they are sometimes known as seedless tangerines; the clementine is also occasionally referred to as the Algerian tangerine.[2] They are typically juicy and sweet, with less acid than oranges.”

Her counterpart character, Joel, seems knowledgeable about this correlation as he refers to her at one point as “tangerine.”  But while Clementine may very much like her namesake in the movie, she can be anything but sweet at times and is most certainly not an easy to handle character.

The color itself starts out with this base of orange with an additive of red.  It is, like the character, a very bold and dynamic color.  Painting this on any surface is sure to get a ton of attention.  There is not a color for the faint of heart.

Let’s take a look at a crafter that was brave enough to embrace the color clementine. With a blog entitled “Clementine and Olive” you might not be too surprised what color seems to pop up on founder Erin’s repurposed furniture renditions.

This old fashioned vanity was given a new life with the addition of clementine.

As did this decorative table base done for less than twenty dollars.