Custom Wall Clocks For Children - Joshie's Giraffe

After making this giraffe wall clock (more about that later), I wanted to write a little bit about children's wall clocks. While I have made many custom children's wall clocks over the years and, up until recently, offered a line of children's wall clocks through our website, I decided recently that I would no longer offer the line. The main reason being that the clocks are so jigsaw intensive to cut out that I have to price them too high. Instead, I intend to include a small section of photos of the children's clocks that I've made as a portfolio of my style of children's clock.

Joshie's Giraffe is the first children's clock I've made in a very long time, so I'm excited about it and want to show it off. I made it for a baby friend of mine, whose nursery has a jungle theme. The clock is made using sdf (sustainable design board) made from 100% recycled wood pulp and painted with milk paints (voc-free). Earth-friendly equals baby-friendly! It is painted a pumpkin orange with chocolate brown, rich red-orange and cream accents. It has lots of little handpainted design details as well as handpainted numbers on the face for easy readability at the 4am diaper change.

Here are a few more shots, including close-up, detail images - enjoy! And, contact me if you would like to have a wall clock made for your child's room.

Custom Art Clock Design

NUMBER 46 by Mary Preiser Potts

I am currently working on a custom version of a large wall clock that I designed and made the prototype of almost 3 years ago. The original art clock was 22" wide (at the widest point) and 54" long (including the pendulum). The custom version is smaller than the original and, as such, is posing some interesting challenges for me. In the original art clock, the center gold area with the small circles running down it, including the little bit coming out from the bottom of the clock was the pendulum. It was huge! In order to perform this feat, I had to use a heavy-duty pendulum drive, which sticks out from the back of the clock 2.5 inches. In order to hide this pendulum-driving beast from the side view of the clock, I built a frame around it so that only the frame would be visible from the side...

Well, this time around, because the clock is much narrower, and because my client foresees that much of the time the clock will be seen from the side, the idea of the frame being exposed from the sides is just too much for either of us to bear! So, the center gold area between the violet-mauve bars will be stationary - no movement. The pendulum will just consist of the large gold circle at the bottom. I think it is a great variation on the design and I really don't think the lack of movement down that center strip will take anything away from the overall look of the art clock.

Custom NUMBER 46 in progress

So, this is what I have been up to for the last few weeks....well, that and working on Justin's new album cover with him. If you're a fan of indie rock and experimental music, then click on over to Justin Potts' myspace page!

I have some new block clocks laid out and hope to post some new designs next week!