Feature Friday- Faux Brass Wall Clock

I redecorated my study about a year ago, painting the walls a deep gold and adding a whole wall of bookshelves in a dark wood. The study is where I spend a whole lot of my time as the computer lives there, so I wanted it to be a warm, friendly place.  It is by far my favorite room in the house.

One wall, however, has remained blank as I haven’t come across the right thing to put there.  I wanted some sort of large wall clock- something that made a statement.  So what better way to make a statement than a clock made of recycled toilet paper tubes?  Now, why hadn’t I thought of that before?  Ha!

For this project I used:

One inexpensive plastic clock
About 30 toilet paper tubes
One cereal box
Hot Glue
Antique Brass Metallic Spray Paint
One sheet scrap booking paper
Number decals

I began by removing the plastic cover from the clock and then cutting up my toilet paper rolls.  I just cut them lengthwise, folded them open and then cut them into approximately 1/4″ strips.  For this project, I did not measure them for exact width because I wanted variety of depth or a more textured look.

I wanted larger curls, so I used the hot glue gun to glue two strips together before I made each curl.  I then simply curled them around a wooden dowel to create the curls and then glued them onto the sides of the clock.

A very simple project, actually.  I just kept gluing spirals around the clock, layering them a bit as I worked closer to the clock.  This project is all about texture.

For the larger spirals around the outside edges, I cut strips of a cereal box and then coiled them just as I had done the toilet paper tubes.

To ready it for painting, I removed the clock hands and the paper that covered the face of the clock.  And then took it outside for a good coating of Antique Brass Metallic Paint.

 I won’t lie here.  It took nearly two cans of paint for this project.  My finished clock is 3 1/2 feet in diameter and has tons of nooks and crannies that needed covered.

And here is where I made an error.  I left it in the hot sun to dry.  You see, when I normally work with paper, I use a tacky glue.  In this project, I wanted something that dried more quickly and went with the hot glue.  Seems that a property of the hot glue is that when it gets hot, it melts.  So when I picked it up to take it inside,  I had some issues with pieces dropping off.  I had to re-glue in quite a few places.  So if you decide to make this, be sure to not be a doofus like me and leave it in the sun.  Or use tacky glue.  Whatever works best for you.

I used the old clock face as a template to cut out a new one out of fancy scrap-booking paper.  And then used number decals for the numbers.

I chose not to put the plastic cover back on.  I was going for fancy here….

And the finished piece is complete!  It totally looks like antique brass and matches my study very nicely.  And only weighs the weight of the plastic clock.  I’m very pleased with my final work of art.  I now have a great conversation piece for my study and used up my huge stash of toilet paper tubes at the same time.  You can’t beat that!

Tagged as: faux finishing, paper crafts, quilling, recycled crafts