Clarity Challenge 27 Clocks

Clarity Challenge April 2015 - Clocks

Rock Around the Clock

Hi from Shelagh-land again. Cannot believe it's time for the next Clarity challenge.Where have the first four months of this year gone? I do recall someone saying time passes so much more quickly when we are 'older' but I'm not THAT old YET! Pondered long and hard over this challenge, tried a few different things but kept coming back to the clock. In the end, the idea would not disappear and  I doggedly persevered. This was yet another departure for me as I was using Fresco Finish (now available from Clarity) and Spectrum Aqua pens. The clock was a reduced item I spotted and purchased from a local supermarket as I thought it had potential.
Many apologies for the lack of step-by-step photos this time but I had revised my write-up and added more when the server refused to play and I lost the lot. So, I'm afraid it's chalk and talk this month!

Materials:-

·         Wooden Heart Clock:- purchased from a supermarket for a couple of pounds

·         Gesso:- Pebeo White

·         Fresco Finish Acrylics:- Sherbet Opaque, Claret Translucent, Honey Dew, Crackle Glaze

·         Clarity Stencils:- Elegant Ladies

·         Grunge Paste

·         Clarity Stamps:-Remountable Music Clear Stamp Set, Remountable Birdsong Set

·         Ink Pads:- Ranger -Archival Black, Distress Inks – Old Paper, Black Soot

·         Spectrum Aqua Pens

·         2B pencil, eraser, paper stump

·          Black, white card (Clarity)

·         Cut’n’Dry sponge

Instructions:-

1.       Firstly I removed the ribbon from which the clock is suspended (I'm not a fan of ribbon on household items.) then taped over the hands with masking tape.

2.       White gesso was applied to front, back and sides mainly to cover the painted message on the front of the clock (for the life of me I cannot recall what it said, obviously meaningful!) – and also to cover the unreal colour of the wood as it was a grey/green/ yellow shade.

3.       This was where I made a bit of a mistake.  I painted the base of the clock in Sherbet; dried it; added Crackle Glaze then sponged on areas of Claret.  When it was dry, it was too sugary-pink. Back to the drawing board – or alchemy corner of the kitchen as Mike my husband calls it.

4.       I drew around the clock onto some canvas paper to create what I call mock-ups. I painted one of these with Sherbet and Crackle Glaze, allowed this to dry then sponged on Honey Dew. This created a much more eye-friendly cooler tone; I repeated this on the clock-face and the desired cracks reappeared. Phew!

5.       Old Paper and Black Soot Distress inks were gently blended onto the clock face and some areas removed using  baby wipes.

6.        I decided where I wished the right-hand figure to be placed, taped on the stencil and smoothed Grunge Paste through this. The clean, dry stencil was flipped over and placed at the other side of the clock and Grunge Paste dragged through again.

7.       Once the figures were dry, I sanded them gently before adding colour. Spectrum Aqua colours were scribbled onto a palette - Peach for skin, Yellow for hair, Slate for shirt and Scarlet for trousers and picked up using a fine, wet paintbrush, intensifying the colours in areas of shade. (I tried using the pens 'neat' on a 'mock up'  but could not achieve the intensity of colour to create shade, hence resorted to diluted colours. NOT the pens fault, I hasten to add, but mine.) 

8.       Three records were die-cut from black Clarity card and added to top, middle and foot of clock. The records at 6 and 12 o’clock were stuck to the clock by using a sheet of Clarity double sided sticky film. The middle record was slit from centre to outside, Glossy Accents applied to flip side and smoothed down around the hands.

9.       With black Archival, I stamped the musical staves from the Musical Birdsong to waft out from each record, two Treble Clefs, a number of notes and the single note repeatedly around the edge – all from the Remountable Music set.

10.   Armed with a 2B pencil and an eraser, I gently shaded around the figures, notes and records. (It took me two evenings to create the depth of shadow I wanted.)
12. The clock hands were coloured using a dark red alcohol marker.

11.   In my craft stash, I found tiny red seed and larger black glass beads. With a length of fine silver wire, I created a hanger for the clock, threaded it through the hole at either side, through the first black bead on either side, tied it off and clock complete!

Et maintenant, we have ‘Rock Around the Clock!’ 

Thank you for looking in and remember to have a go at the new Clarity Challenge, number 27. Each month I look forward to viewing the marvellous creative masterpieces you produce and I'm always quite blown away by the amount of talent you all display.
Bye for now,
Shelagh.