MOONLIGHT SERENADE 3D GRANDFATHER CLOCK – NEW COLLAGE SHEETS

I thought I would take a short break from Halloween projects with this moon-themed 3D grandfather clock.  Clocks lend themselves to all kinds of creative possibilities and themes, which caused me much angst in deciding which way to go before I settled on the moon theme.  No doubt you'll see me do something else with this clock in the future.

The clock is made from a chipboard kit, making assembly easy.  In addition to the large clock kit I used in this project, Alpha Stamps is also carrying a smaller version that is 1:12 scale in size. 

I’ve created a new Large Grandfather Clock Facades Collage Sheet to complement the clock kit.  The moon-themed images I used from the sheet are just one of four different themes to choose from, which also include Alice in Wonderland, Steampunk, and Halloween.

To add more whimsy to the clock, I created a new collage sheet of costumed characters dressed as Harlequin, Columbine, and Pierrot.  You’ll notice that Pierrot appears on the front of the clock serenading the moon.

LARGE GRANDFATHER CLOCK FACADES COLLAGE SHEET

This sheet contains four different themed facades, sized to fit the large 3D grandfather clock.  The themes are Alice in Wonderland, The Moon, Halloween, and Steampunk.  There are clock face images, front panel images, and decorative borders for each of the themes.

COSTUMES COLLAGE SHEET

This sheet includes 9 men, women, and a cat dressed in Harlequin, Columbine, and Pierrot costumes.  Click on the image below to purchase this collage sheet.

THE CONSTRUCTION

CLOCK CABINET ASSEMBLY

I started by assembling the clock cabinet.  Below are pictures to help you see how the pieces fit together.  

Before assembling the cabinet, I marked and punched holes for the clock weights and pendulum. 

Next, I assembled the cabinet and painted it and the clock front black. 

I then papered the inside of the clock cabinet and re-punched the holes.

CABINET MIDSECTION

For the inner workings of the middle section of the cabinet, I started by gluing chimes that slightly popped up from the back of the cabinet.  The chimes are made from Mini Silver Wind Chimes that are glued together and painted gold.  

The weights are Mini Glass Tube Pendants filled with microbeads.  You can pull off the bottom of the tube pendants to access the glass tube inside.  I hung the pendant weights on chains and then used a jump ring on the other side of the chipboard divider to keep the chain in place.  To ensure that the pendant's opening faced forward (so you could see the beads inside), I added glue to the jump ring, which keeps the chain from twisting.

The pendulum is a metal rod from my stash, filigree, and a brass moon.  I inserted the rod through the hole and glued it in place.  For extra support, I slid a rondelle onto the rod and glued it in place. 

If you choose to hinge the clock face to the clock cabinet, you will want to hide the area with the jump rings and rod.  An option to cover that area would be to use the drawer of a matchbox turned upside down.  The compartment is deep, so there is plenty of room for the matchbox drawer.  In the case of my moon clock, the clock face is glued in place, so there was no need to hide the jump ring and rod or to worry about the ugly-looking glue.

CLOCK FRONT - CLOCK FACE

I started by papering the front side of the clock front with tan and brown checkered paper from my stash (the back side is painted black).

With this kit, you can have the clock face fixed in place, or you can hinge it to the clock front, which then gives you access to the clock face compartment.

If you were going with a Steampunk theme, it would be cool for this section to open and see the clock's inner workings.

For my moon clock, I chose to glue the clock face and frame to the clock front.  

Between the image of the clock face (which comes from the Large Grandfather Clock Façade collage sheet) and the clock face frame (painted red), I glued a piece of clear plastic to serve as faux glass.  I used a raw brass box foot and a bead as a faux pull.

The kit comes with two chipboard trim pieces to dress up the top of the clock.  I papered one with Double Dot Vintage Wild Berry scrapbook paper and painted the other blue.

CLOCK FRONT – MIDSECTION

Just as with the clock face area, you have an option as to how you want to view the middle of the clock case.  You could just glue the frame in place and leave it open to view the weights, pendulum, and chimes, or you could add a hinged panel that opens to view the area.

For my moon clock, I decided to add a hinged door using an image from the Large Grandfather Clock Façade Collage Sheet.  I cut a thin piece of chipboard and glued the image to one side.  To the other side of the chipboard, I glued small hinges.  Next, I glued a second version of the image on the other side of the chipboard, thereby covering the hinges.  

The kit includes a frame for the midsection of the clock front.  I painted this frame blue and then glued a piece of clear plastic behind the frame to serve as faux glass.  Next, I glued the frame in place.  The frame fits flush with the opening.  I trimmed the frame area with tiny gold dot Dresden borders. 

Finally, I glued the hinges to the front of the clock over the opening in the frame.  I used a raw brass box foot and a bead as the door handle.

Next, I glued the front of the clock to the clock case.  If you choose to use a panel for the bottom section, you should glue it in place before gluing the front of the clock to the clock case.

CLOCK FRONT – BOTTOM SECTION

For the bottom of the clock, you can either use the panel or drawer from the clock kit.

Below you can see a picture of how the drawer pieces fit together.  I painted the drawer red, then papered the front of the drawer with Double Dot Vintage Wild Berry scrapbook paper.  I didn't paper the sides or bottom of the drawer as I didn't want to create too much bulk that would get in the way of sliding the drawer in and out.

I added a panel from the new collage sheet, plus a piece of filigree, and trimmed the front with tiny gold dot Dresden borders. I used beads for the drawer pull.

CLOCK FRONT – BOTTOM SECTION

I papered the sides and back with Halloween in Wonderland – Wonderland Classifieds scrapbook paper. Waiting to paper the sides and back until after attaching the clock front to the clock case allowed me to cover up the tongue and groove areas where the two pieces fit together. 

Next, I added black and white diamond trim from the new collage sheet to the front, sides, and back.  I added Dresden moons and figures from the Costumes collage sheet.

CLOCK TOP

I added a decorative brass piece from my stash to the top center of the clock.   To serve as finials, I stacked beads and gold star studs.  

DETAIL MASTER SUPPLY LIST

Large Grandfather Clock Façade Collage Sheet

Costumes Collage Sheet

Double Dot Vintage Wild Berry Scrapbook Paper

Halloween in Wonderland – Wonderland Classifieds – Backside

3D Grandfather Clock Large

12x12 Clear Plastic for Windows

Mini Glass Tube Pendant

Mini Silver Wind Chimes

Flat-Back Gold Star Studs – 12mm

Red Faceted, Fire –Polished Glass Beads – 10mm

Man in the Moon – Raw Brass

Gold Dresden Moon

Tiny Curved Hinges

Thin Ornate Filigree

35mm Round Flower Filigree

Tiny Dot Dresden Borders - Gold

Raw Brass Box Feet - Rounded

Treasure Chest Gift Box with Jewelry & Matchbox Mermaid Clock

Good things come in small packages, and this one is no exception.  If you are looking for a special way to present a small gift, how about making a gift box from a mini kraft treasure chest.

My version of a gift box is mermaid themed and contains an ocean-themed necklace and bracelet.

Below you can see the undecorated chest that would work for whatever theme you have.

I started by painting the chest using teal acrylic paint, then rubbed the raised areas with Inca Gold Gilders Paste.  The straps are Dresden borders.  To add more interest to the straps, I added bronze buckle connectors.  The closure is fancy mini latch set.

On the sides, I attached small swivel drawer handles.

At the top is a paper compass star which you will find below.  Feel free to download and use it in your art.

  Attached to the top is a brass mermaid rubbed with Patina Gilders Paste.

The necklace sports a couple of starfish and brass shells.  The larger starfish comes in a patina color.  To coordinate the other starfish and shells, I rubbed them with Patina Gilders Paste which gave me a perfect color match.

To achieve a matching color on the rosary chains, I used Clover Alcohol Ink.  To dye the beads, make a bath of the Alcohol Ink and Blending Solution; you just need enough to cover the beads.  Drop the beads in the bath and leave them for about 5 minutes.  Carefully remove the beads from the bath, making sure you don’t touch the beads (I used tweezers and grabbed the chain part).  Hang the beads to dry (about 30 minutes).  The nice thing about Alcohol Ink is that if the bead is transparent, it will still be transparent after you apply the ink.  With this technique, your beads can be matched to the color of your jewelry or art piece.

The simple bracelet below sports antique pewter starfish and antique silver seahorse charms.

MATCHBOX NAUTICAL CLOCK

Below are two samples using the Matchbox Nautical collage sheet.

MATCHBOX NAUTICAL CLOCK COLLAGE SHEET

The sheet is designed to fit the narrow matchboxes carried by Alpha Stamps.  On the sheet, you’ll find 3 water papers that wrap perfectly around the matchbox as well as water paper pieces for each end.  To decorate the box or build your matchbox clock, I’ve included lots of shells, fish, clocks, and a frame sized to fit the box.

Working Clock Made from a Cigar Box

After the great response I got on the cigar box chest project, I thought you might enjoy another cigar box project that is both decorative and functional.  In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to transform a cigar box into a working clock.

In the project example, I decide to make the lid of the box the clock and the inside a scene.  There are so many options and possible themes for this project.  Instead of having the clock on the front you could have it inside the box.  Instead of creating a scene inside the box you could add matchboxes as drawers and use it to store your treasures.   Last year I posted a tutorial on how to make an ATC Armoire out of a cigar box.  You could combine that project and this so that the lid is the clock and the inside is the ATC storage area.

TUTORIAL

The first thing you need to do is to find a cigar box.  The size of the box is completely up to you.  It just needs to be large enough to accommodate the clock mechanism.  The box I used measures 7” x 6” x 21/4”.

Start by finding the center point of the cigar box lid and drill a hole large enough to accommodate the center piece on the clock mechanism.

I covered all of the surfaces of the box with the Madame Payroud’s 6x6 paper pack.  I love the color scheme and the collage images on this paper. 

Before gluing the paper to the box, I cut up several sheets of paper so that I could re-collage the images on the box.  Using smaller pieces of paper made it easier to fit the paper to the different sized surfaces and to choose where I wanted the images to be placed.

In the picture below you can see the stained edges and the paper attached to all of the surfaces.  Be sure to re-poke the hole for the clock mechanism.

Next, I started work on the front of the box and what will become the face of a clock.  I used a round piece of filigree to frame the center and painted two fancy foliage chipboard embellishments (first with acrylic blue paint then dry brushing Lumiere Old Brass paint).  I painted the egg cup feet with the same paint mixture.

I glued the clock mechanism to the back of the lid.  The clock comes with instructions on how to attach the hands of the clock to the mechanism (it's super simple).

I added the ladies (flipped versions) backed with heavy cardstock for support.  In their hands are filigree pieces with button clocks.  The pediment is made of filigree butterflies.

I painted the butterflies with a combination of Verdigris & Jade Metal Patina paint.  

For the 12, 3, 6 & 9 o’clock positions I used Masonite Eiffel towers.

I first painted the towers with Gold Alcohol Ink.  Metallic Alcohol inks work nicely on slick surfaces like the Masonite.  You could also use the Metal Patina paints.  Next, I stamped the tower using Black Staz-On ink with a crisscross patterned stamp (from my stash).

For the other positions on the clock, I used pearlized stick pins.  I inserted them through the holes in the round filigree piece and glued them in place.

The last step is to attach the hands of the clock.

INSIDE THE BOX

One thing you need to consider when planning what you are going to do with the inside of the box is the position of the clock mechanism on the back of the lid.  Make sure the items inside the box don’t prevent the lid from closing.

For the swing inside the box I used two Eiffel towers for the seat. 

I poked holes in the top of the box to insert the eye pins to hold the swing in place.  I also added some beads to the eye pins.  The image of the girl is bent (as if she is sitting) and glued to the seat.  To keep the seat in place I glued the tip of it to the side of the box on the right.  The girl with the tutu is attached to the back of the box with multiple layers of double-sided foam core tape (to pop her out).

In the picture below you can see the top of the box where the eye pins are ticking through the holes then through a bead and looped to keep the swing in place.

To frame the ladies I collaged together a Masonite Eiffel tower, more pieces of filigree, Dresden myrtle leaves, paper clocks from my Tick Tock collage sheet and other paper images.  The filigree is painted with the same Metal Patina paint that I used on the butterfly pediment.  I built the collage on a flat surface first before attaching it to the box.  To support the collage in the box, I attached the resin gables and then glued the collage to the gables.  The Eiffel tower is glued to the bottom of the box.

On the side of the box I attached two latches to keep the lid closed and attached the egg cup feet to the bottom.

NOTE:  If you attach feet to the bottom of the box, consider the weight of the stuff on the lid of the box versus the weight of the box (without the lid).  If the stuff on the lid weighs a lot more than the stuff in the box, the box will fall forward when you open the lid.  This is only a problem if the box has feet.