Crop Around the Clock

For a fun, easy, and inexpensive altered art project I suggest you try your hand at altering a clock. I created two clocks to share with you, but the technique is essentially the same no matter what style clock you want to create.

Here are the before and after photos of the two clocks I altered. I purchased both at a garage sale for $1.00 each. You can alter any kind of clock you find. Wood, ceramic, or plastic clocks work very well as bases for this project.

Step One:

Disassemble and clean your clock parts. I used a small, flat-head screwdriver to pop off the plastic face on these two clocks. The hands were easily pulled off the pin in the middle of the face. I cleaned the plastic backing, face, and hands with a baby wipe and let them air dry.

Step Two:

Remove the paper face piece with all the numbers and use this as a template for your new background. I traced mine onto the backside of patterned paper for the tropical clock I made for my daughter's room. For the blue and brown altered clock I traced multiple circles onto 6" x 6" sheets of patterned paper. Next I tore, distressed, and inked the papers before adhering them back together to create the background.

Step Three:

Now the fun begins! Decide on a theme for your clock and create numbers and embellishments that enhance that theme. On my daughter's tropical-themed clock I used buttons in place of the numbers 12, 3, 6, and 9. I used a Dott-a-Riffic pen to create dots where the other numbers would be. Before reassembly I placed a ribbon through a small hole in the underside of the clock and covered a ring. This created a whimsical way for me to attach the clock to the wall.

On the shabby-chic-style clock that I created for my office I stamped and cut out numbers, then added 3/16" eyelets in place of the other numbers on the clock face. I also added rub-on phrases to enhance my theme.

Tips and Tricks:

• For a quick way to create the numbers on your clock face take a square or circle punch and punch them out of the paper face that came with the clock.
  
  
• Purchase clock parts and create your own clock from an altered canvas, wooden charger/plate, or a simple piece of wood. The lid of a vintage-style hat box would make a great clock. Be creative!
  
  Altered Canvas Clock by Katie J. from Beech Grove, Indiana.
  
  
• Use buttons, brads, eyelets, stickers, or other 3D type embellishments in place of numbers.
  
  
• You can alter the frame of the clock as well as the face. There are paints on the market that will adhere to plastic. You an also cover the frame with adhesive and put a layer of sand, glitter, micro-beads, silk flowers, buttons, or any other embellishment that will stick.
  
  
• Try stamping a message onto the frame or face of the clock using a solvent ink, such as StazOn.
  
  
• Try adding photographs to your clock to make it more personal. A baby-themed clock for a nursery would be adorable with small photos of baby "parts" in place of numbers.

I hope you'll take an old clock and give this altered project a try. It's a functional piece of art that's easy to embellish with supplies on hand, and it takes hardly any "time" to create!

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