I was in our local Post Office yesterday and noticed some clever chap or chap-ess had made a bunch of clocks from vintage local scenes, in sepia, printed on CDs, complete with clock hands and a battery-operated clock mechanism.
How cool is that!
When I got home I had a quick surf around online and found loads of funky home made clocks.
Some of them are remarkably simple, others seriously complex, but they’re all fantastic.
Here’s a post about 5 cool and unusual DIY clocks, so you can see what I mean. There are loads more ideas here, complete with instructions. And there are 20 more excellent ideas to try here
I made myself a couple of clocks many years ago, scouring Brighton beach for driftwood, glueing it onto a circular piece of thick card and adding sea shells and a coat of varnish. It’s simpler than you might think.
You can buy clock kits from craft shops online and offline, costing less than a fiver for a pair of pretty clock hands plus a little battery-operated mechanism. Then all you need is a clock face, which is where the fun bit comes in. You just make a hole in the centre of the face – whatever it might be made of – to fix the hands onto the mechanism at the back, and that’s it. Some mechanisms even come with a little integral hook, which you use to hang the clock.
There’s no need to stick with a circular clock face. It can be any shape or size you like, from miniature to over-sized, square to triangular to multi-sided. I’m inspired, and I’m looking forward to having a go myself.
Here are a few ideas, off the top of my head, for the base of a clock face
- the lid of a biscuit or cake tin, ready-round and ready-made as well as easy to make a hole for the hands
- the circular piece of polystyrene you get in supermarket frozen pizza boxes
- CDs and DVDs
- a pretty vintage ceramic cake plate opr bowl. Here are instructions about how to drill through a plate
- an old decorative place mat
- a vintage wheel from a go-kart or even a child’s bicycle
- decorate an old frisbee or use a plastic camping plate
- a book
- a framed painting
- a piece of chipboard or wood
- a chunk of glass. Here’s how to drill through glass
There’s even more inspiration here on Pinterest, with some genuinely stunning and unusual home made clocks. You can even buy clock kits containing everything you – or the kids – need to assemble your own clock, including a ready-made decorative face.
How to split a circle into 12 equal slices
What about the numbers? Here’s a video about how to split your face into 12 equal bits so your clock actually tells the right time!
Things to use to decorate your clock face
- sea shells
- peacock feathers
- faux jewels
- pressed flowers
- plain old paints – eg. make an abstract design in stripes using masking tape to keep the edges neat
- wool and string, glued on in patterns
- 3d craft paints and glitter glues
- silk flowers
- kids’ action figures – my friend Louisa made a funky clock with plastic cowboys and indians marching around the edge
- metallic paint, gloss or emulsion
- cut-out photos and images from glossy magazines (wildlife, fashion, toys, fish, hats, shoes…)
- fabric
- wallpaper
- old watch and clock parts from boot fairs
(Thanks to Care2 for the fab image of a clock made from small framed pictures)