Floralarm

My other half took one look at this and named it “floralarm” — “because it’s a floral alarm clock thingy”… The project was driven by a desire to try altering something other than a jar and to use more than a couple of the flowers I’ve apparently been hoarding from my Craft Box subscription.

Tim Holtz has an assemblage clock that looks very similar to this one, but it was out of stock at my usual shops and cost over ten pounds on Amazon, so I decided to experiment and pick up a real wind-up alarm clock and see if I could dismantle it; it wouldn’t cost much less, but I might get a few cogs and bits that could be useful on another project. And it would be fun taking it apart.

So I had a browse on Amazon and found the Acctim Saxon alarm clock. Once I realised that (a) the keys on the back just unscrew the opposite way to normal and (b) the inside is held in place where the feet and bells screw on, it all came apart quite easily. There are a couple of springs inside — they won’t have much tension on them unless you wind the clock up, but better to play safe — so I wrapped it all in an old sheet as I dismantled it just in case anything separated at speed. At the end of the process, I had a pristine case and a bowl full of internals to add to my stash.

The surface is very slick so I gave everything a couple of coats of gesso before adding paper texture to the inside and stone texture on the outside. Once that was dried and the rough edges sanded off, I built up several layers of colour with acrylic paint and lots of sprayed water.

I layered a rice paper clock over a circle of scrap card I’d used to mop up some Distress oxides and glued that to the inside of the back of the clock. Then I reassembled it all.

The appliqué and the ribbon were white, so I coloured them with sprays and acrylic paint. The bottom part of the butterfly stickers was also white; these I coloured with alcohol ink and then added some detail sparkle over the top (and some gold sparkle for the bodies). I also used alcohol ink to colour the strips of mesh rhinestones. The resin butterfly was painted with acrylic paints after I gave it a coat of gesso.

I wrapped the handle with the ribbon, gluing it in place with the fabric hardener. I made a bow at one end and threaded some beads on the end of the ribbon (the only beads I had with a large enough hole, but they fit in nicely with the rest of the design). The rhinestone strips around the edge of the alarm bells add a little bit of sparkle to the project.

Then it was time to put it all together. I started by gluing some screwed up tissue paper inside to support the appliqué leaves. I love the 3D gel for sticking odd-shaped things, but I did need to use some of the fast grab glue just to hold the tip of the leaf in place on the edge of the case.

I added the butterfly stickers in a group: two on the inside and one outside. Then the fun bit of arranging the flowers. Once I’d positioned the large painted butterfly, I left all the glue to set overnight.

I coloured some gravel and stones with shimmer spray and filled some of the gaps inside with them. I also put a bit on the bells and around the outside for even more texture.

The last thing I did was dry brush a hint of the ancient coin paint on the edges of some of the flower petals.

 

Supplies:

• Prep & Stick:
  Finnabair 3D matte gel
  Finnabair soft matte gel
  Aleene’s fast grab tacky glue
  Collall fabric hardener
  Liquitex white gesso
• Texture:
  Viva Decor Venezia stone effect – bianco
  Finnabair paper texture paste
• Colour:
  Finnabair metallique paint – white pearl, rustic brown, ancient coin, golden moss, mermaid teal, rich turquoise, romance pink
  Craft Box shimmer spray – lagoon, chocolate silk
  Ranger alcohol ink – bottle, pool
  Imagination Crafts detail sparkle – white, gold
• Paper & Fabric:
  ribbon
  Stamperia clocks rice paper
  tissue paper
• Embellishments:
  Craft Box subscription flowers
  appliqué leaf with pearls
  resin butterfly
  butterfly stickers
  Colorall decoration gravel
  Cadence mixed media stones
  plastic mesh jewellery rhinestones