This week I was having a wander and on passing my local charity shop, noticed an analogue alarm clock in the window so stopped for a closer look. As I looked closer a light shone down from the heavens and a chorus of inspirational voices burst forth …

If you don’t think I’ve finally lost it then please do read on to find out what happened next …

This is, as I said, where the story starts. With an alarm clock. Just £3 in my local charity shop.

Upon getting it home I obviously began to dismantle it and see what was available to use.

Blimey, who would have thought that there was so much in a wee little alarm clock?!

Cogs, frame, handles, bells – the works!

After fiddling about with the bits for a while the original idea, that I had had whilst gawping in the charity show window, resurfaced and I went off to rummage through my 3D printed bits and came across a bust that was a test print.

Perfect!

I glued this into the inner ring of the clock with Pinflair Glue Gel and added a couple of the cogs that came from the clock.

In my stash of 3D printed bits I also found a doily design that I thought would look awesome as part of the background.

Again, using Pinflair Glue Gel, I added this and a load of the cogs to the back plate of the clock.

At this point I realised that I might not have enough of the right size of cogs to achieve the look that I was going for so I converted some of my SVG cutting files into 3D printing files and bashed out a batch on the CoLiDo 3D Printer.

One of these cogs stood out as a perfect accent for use behind the head of the bust so in it went along with a couple of smaller printed cogs.

I popped the inner ring into the clock to make sure that it was what I was aiming for …

… yup, that’s just right.

Next I grabbed my Tonic scissors and hacked down the doily print so that it would fit within the clock when I came to reassemble it later.

Time to get messy!

First job was to give both parts a couple of light coats of white Liquitex Acrylic Spray. This was to make sure that all of the surfaces would take the paints, that I would use later, in the same way.

Whilst that dried I rummaged the punch box and found my Tim Holtz/Sizzix distressed flower punches and cracked off a load from lightweight cardstock.

These were then assembled and were joined by some crumpled leaf shapes that I cut freehand from some crumpled paper.

Using Pinflair Glue Gel again these were then built into a floral spray around the outer edge of the clock body and given a couple of light coats of white Liquitex Acrylic spray.

Here are a few piccies of how this process went …

Here is where I got to and decided, that’ll do pig.

Starting to love this!

A bit of colour needed though I reckon.

Much deliberation ensured and I even used my ‘phone a friend’ lifeline before settling on a tealy/pinky/coppery palette.

The process began with a light wash of DecoArt patina antiquing cream.

A bit wishy-washy though so some sea spray, cobalt teal and conifer green acrylic paint were dry brushed and dabbed over the piece.

This was followed by some tittivating with some copper coloured Ken Oliver Liquid Metal to bring back the metallic look.

Earlier whilst rummaging for paints I also stumbled across some extra embellishments that I shoved in with some Pinflair Glue Gel and then spattered with sea spray acrylic paint to tone their shinyness down.

Oh, and of course some faux pearls.

Using the lessons that I had learnt decorating the background I then went on to decorate the front of the piece.

I haven’t mentioned the pink paint so far but this was just a tiny amount of Quinacridone Violet DecoArt fluid acrylic paint dry brushed over various extremities.

One final touch, some sparkly gems in the centre of the flowers. They probably don’t show as I was waiting for the glue to dry as I photographed the piece – the patience of a saint I do not have, lol!

Anyway, so as not to risk overdoing this I decided that all was as it should be and inserted the back plate into the clock and …. voila!

I am going to be honest, and I don’t mean to blow my own trumpet, but this is probably one of the best things that I have ever made – or at least it felt like it.

As ever I did a ‘few’ more pictures for you to browse – click on any of them if you want to take a closer look and open a gallery.

Breathes sigh of relief. So, what do you reckon? Anything you would change or do differently?

Hope you have enjoyed this journey from charity shop to mixed media clock.

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If you are interested in finding out more about these fabulous 3D printing machines, why not look out for the shows or head over to Create and Craft TV now.

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Appreciate the time you have spent with me on this post today and look forward to bringing you more.

Ciao for now!

J :)