Assemblage Clock

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you'll get comfortable and stay awhile, since this is bound to be a long post with lots of photos.  Linda and the Curiosity Crew at CC3C had a great time altering Tim's cool Assemblage Clock and bet that we will, too. A selected Curiosity Crew's Choice winner will receive a fabulous assortment of Tim's products, compliments of Tim and Mario.  And Linda, the owner of The Funkie Junkie Boutique is offering a generous $25 shopping spree to her shop to one lucky winner!  She treats her clients to fabulous customer service--it's always a pleasure to shop at the Boutique. Be sure to visit each crew members' blogs to see how their clocks rock!

You can see instructions for the clock on page 33 of Tim's inspirational book A Compendium of Curiosities, Vol. 3, but we can't give away the details.  You just have to pick up this awesome book for yourself to get instructions for many fabulous techniques and plenty of great inspiration.

While assembling  the insides of my clock was a bit of a challenge (my old Bakelite ornaments are extremely fragile), I think my biggest dilemma was deciding which way to go with this assemblage-Halloween or Christmas.  In the end,  I was inspired by Candy's vintage Christmas clock and a vintage Christmas scene was my choice. I used this  vintage card, mercury glass beads and ornaments, and vintage angels as my inspiration.

Yes, some of these (I have 5, but all wouldn't fit) had some damage, but it goes to that "life- lived" idea I love about vintage things--embrace imperfection.

First, I painted my clock inside and out with gesso, bronze fabric paint (that's all I had in this color!), gold Distress paint, and Christmas red acrylic paint, allowing all layers to dry thoroughly between applications.  When dry, I applied crackle glaze and allowed this to dry. Then I rubbed  various colored metallic rubs here and there, then topped it with Rock Candy Crackle Paint randomly to give some areas of more intense crackling.  The inside of my back plate became my test area to see how different paints and glazes would react with one another.

 For the background,I stamped my Christmas flourish paper with a Christmasy flourish from CTMH  in Brilliance Platinum Planet ink, then distressed with walnut Distress Ink.  This hardly shows in the end, but is one of those details that make a difference when you peek inside.  I never like to skimp on the details.  I cut my vintage glittered snowflake to fit and glued it on.

For the "walls" I used a couple of angels from a book and "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing" from an antique "Church Hymns" book adhered to a snowflake print paper, distressed with Distress Ink and the spritz and flick technique, texture paste and stencils. I attached a tiny star from my stash using gold thread stuck through a tiny hole.

Looking from the back opening to the front once the glass was replaced and the walls installed.

I added rub-ons to the glass, and had to redo them when my assemblage didn't go in as planned.

After the glass was replaced and the "walls" glued up, I decorated the outside using pieces of some old Christmas picks, some antiqued Tim Idea-ology paper twine, bells from my stash, and an Idea-ology word disc, antiqued and crackled and attached using an antique glass ornament hardware piece.

Sorry for the blurries; I was trying to show the way I fastened this tag.

I had to really work at getting the layers right inside the clock.  I wanted the harpist to appear to be floating, so I made a wire cage to hold her, beads and a vintage gold mercury glass ornament. She was not glued to the backing, but this rather gave another layer to the scene.

I made and painted clay bases for my other two angels and glued them in first, then some of the larger white/silver ornaments.  The tiny multi-colored glass beads were then put in, the wire cage with the harpist next ,and then I replaced the backing.

You can peek in and see the angel on the wall holding the Christmas tree.  You can also see I broke one of the harp strings!

The words you see on this wall is the first verse of "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing".

I hope you enjoyed my little clock as much as I did making it.  It will be a special homemade Christmas gift to my family.

I am entering this in The Compendium of Curiosities 3, Challenge #10.

A special thank you to my husband, Krystal and Marion in my hour of need!  Our computer died just after I finished, and I did not think I would be able to enter this challenge.  Krystal and Marion generously offered their computers to me and my husband got us up and running in just over 24 hours, even with his busy schedule.  Thank you so much!