Pocket watch clock

Hi Everyone,

As mentioned in my last post I have finished my project that I had great fun doing when Me & Anne did a workshop with Hels Sheridan last week at the MDF MAN in Mansfield.  As you have probably already gathered from the title it is a pocket watch and its huge!


 When me and Anne booked on this workshop we were given a choice of a small 5 drawer chest or a pocket watch project.  As we had both done something along the lines of a chest before, we both opted for the pocket watch expecting something about 6-8" round.  As we walked through the door of Robs workshop our eyes nearly popped out of our heads as these enormous pocket watch blanks were staring at us.  These monsters are over 18" x 14" and have the wow factor before you even start playing with them.


I have to make a confession that Rob did help us all out, and put the lovely graphic 45 paper onto the cog frontage in advance to save us labouring away for hours with sandpaper, and the main body & back had been primed with white Gesso but the rest is all my own work!


The first step was to add some texture around the edges with texture paste, I used a few different stencils and masks from the huge selection Hels had brought along.    Crackle,Script and clocks  were my choice and a sunburst type pattern that I used on the top.

Time for a brew whilst this dried, then I used weathered wood, bundled sage, Victorian velvet and frayed burlap. over the texture. 

The papered cog centrepiece was sanded back to get rid of all the nasty bits from the cutting, and I then gave it a distress of frayed burlap to age it a little.  The numbers were painted, with black acrylic and after little bit of a struggle by a few of us to do this neatly with a small brush, Hels came up with an easier solution of using one of the small fine nib applicators you use with alcohol inks.  The nib was much firmer, and the paint did not stray quite so much.  One or two other ladies used a black sharpie pen for this process with much success.

I went around the outside of the watch with black acrylic using a piece of cut n dry but swopped over to a paint brush for the inside of the handle as I found it easier.  The edge of the cog section was given the same treatment to make it pop.
 
Hels gave us an introduction to using Treasure Gold  on loads of different ways, and again we had lots of colours to choose from to highlight the texture paste.

The back of the clocks have been cleverly designed in that they still have a hole in the centre and a small recess on one side for a clock movement so can be used independently as a clock on their own.  

I used a crackle stencil and weathered wood distress ink to get a lovely crackle background.  The white gesso, stood out a bit too much for me so I toned it down with old paper distress ink.  This made it much more in keeping with the rest of it.

The clock movement fits onto the front cog section and this actually screws onto the centre securely.  The back was left off as I wanted to put some more bits and bobs into the aperture between the 3 pieces. 

James worked very hard most of the morning chomping flowers & butterflies for everyone so we could decorate our pieces.  I scrunched mine up a bit and added a couple of metal flower centres I had with me.  I added one or two metal leaves for interest.  The butterfly of course was just asking for the pen nib body.

I went to a car boot recently (no change there then!) and found a man who had an old biscuit tin of old clock and watch parts.  I put these to good use as workings inside, layering them up.  The spring is not even glued into the space at the bottom, it is just holding there on its own.

I added a little shelf at the bottom (half a large button) and put a little bottle of watch parts my friend Anne had given me a while ago onto it with a small cog.Anne also gave me the little bottle top and I dropped a small owl charm into it and some UTEE. This fitted perfectly int one of the holes and a cog fitted just over the other hole in

Me Hels & Anne enjoying a well deserved brew! 

between the cogs.  A couple of adage tickets  completed the centre.  The chain was secured at one end behind the flower with a small screw eye and wrapped around the top of the handle.  The other end was attached to a key and the key has been stuck down with glossy accents.

The whole project was thoroughly enjoyable, and I cant wait to do another similar project.  In fact I did do a little bit of shopping whilst I was there, inspired by some lovely samples Rob had on display.  Watch this space for more info.....
Thank you as always for your visit, I hope you enjoyed the pictures.
Hugs
Mo x