Tick Tock

In light of the fact that I've recently only been showing the finished product of my projects, I decided to make sure to document every step of my work on this clock. Originally, in its yellow gold state, this clock sat in my grandmother's den loudly tick-tocking over her couch. While the sound will always remind me of her, I decided that the clock itself didn't have to always look like it came from a ninety-year old woman's living room.


The first step I took was to spray paint the entire clock silver. I had hoped to find some metallic paint at Home Depot, but the choices were very few and the smallest amount I could purchase was a gallon. And by the way, what are people doing with gallons of metallic paint? Are there entirely reflective bedroom walls in homes around the country?


After allowing the silver spray paint to dry for 24 hours, I applied a layer of periwinkle blue paint that we had matched to our sofa. In pictures the blue looks much more green and vibrant than it does in person, it is a more dusty and purple blue in actuality. I paid special attention to making sure that the blue sunk deep in to the crevices because in the next step I was going to scrape the majority of the blue off.


Once the blue had dried for about an hour, I went back with a piece of steel wool. The grooves in the clock's surface worked perfectly for this technique. The deep crevices held the blue shade out of the reach of the steel wool, while allowing the peaks and ridges to be revealed in silver once again.


In some areas you'll notice that I rubbed past the silver to expose the gold layer underneath. I really like the way that the two metallic's peek through, it gives the effect of a patina on the underlying metal. The glimpses of gold also help to soften the contrast between the gold numbers and hardware and the silver accents.


Can't wait until its 100% dry so I can hang it!