Clock Face Art Projects
Clock faces can provide inspiration for many different types of art projects. These can be broken down into four principal categories: designing an entire clock face, customizing the faces of plain clocks, inserting or adding clock faces to other objects and other art works inspired by clock faces. The ideas below provide basic inspiration and guides which can be adapted to suit individual projects.
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Clock Face Design
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Plates, mirrors, tiles and CDs are a few examples of the everyday objects that can form the base for a clock face. Buy hands and workings from on-line clock suppliers who also sell basic templates that show where to place numerals. You can design your own templates using a computer program. Numerals can be engraved, painted or stuck on. Remember to leave enough room around the edge so the numbers will not be hidden or obscured by any frame.
Customizing a Clock
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Many clocks come with frames that are easy to remove so that hands can be moved to set the time. These can be customized with paint, stickers or glued-on pictures, or by attaching small objects such as shells or beads. It is important to ensure that any items attached are small enough that the hands can pass over them easily. Look out for plain-faced clocks and those where the hands are set high off the face to make customization easier. Remember to leave a blank area around the edge where the frame will sit.
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Clock Face Sculptures
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Clock faces can be used to create dynamic sculptures. For "soft sculptures," insert faces into cushions or padded fabrics by cutting a hole, hemming around the hole, then gluing the face in from behind the hole with craft adhesive. Use drift wood and branches to create frames or 3D sculptures on which to attach faces. Wood glue, available from craft and DIY stores, should be strong enough to affix a face without the need for carpentry skills. Wire can be used to attach faces to metal objects to create sculptures without the need of soldering.
Clock Face Inspiration
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Salvador Dali's abstract work, "The Persistence of Memory," is among the most famous paintings to feature clock faces. Art projects featuring images of clock faces should consider themes exploring the nature of time. Pick a word, image, memory or photograph that conjures up time for you and use this as a starting point for a painting, drawing or multi-media art work. Consider how color, such as sepia tones, can represent time and how time might impact the "structure" of depicted objects; for example, might they be "hazy" or "crumbling"?
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References
- Photo Credit clock face image by Megan van Dyck from Fotolia.com
