A new quartz clock is on the way. There are going to be a lot of layers and depth to this one. Still need to refine a bit, but the cutting should start soon.
"7-6-5"
The workshop doesn’t stop. After hundreds of hours invested in finishing my last mechanical piece, I decided it was time to work on some smaller clocks. I’m slowly replenishing the inventory, and it’s really nice to see multiple pieces hanging in the “gallery” of my home.
This piece, simply titled “7-6-5”, is the latest addition. I tried to go for something a little more thin and delicate with this one. The original thumbnail sketch had some pretty thin pencil lines, especially at the tips of the five and seven. I liked the look of it, so I tried to keep the final piece as close to that as possible.
This piece is for sale on my website. Click the link below to take a look.
I-II-III
New clock!
A couple months ago I sat down and sketched out a bunch of designs that had roman numerals, twisting and transforming into gnarled, organic shapes. I singled out four of five of my favorites, and last year I finished the first of them, titled “Branchy”. This piece is another one of those designs. This style is working well, so I might make more of them.
I tried something a little different with the hands on this clock. The hour hand, rather than being a straight spear-like shape, is a triangular cutout. This works really well for readability from a distance. It also makes for an interesting overlap when the hands line up. I definitely like this look enough to consider it for future projects, should the stylistic fit arise.
This piece is currently for sale. Click the link below to take a look.
Enjoy!
New quartz in the works
Fabrication has started on a new quartz piece. It’s all cut out, holes are drilled and tapped, and the screws are all made. Now that it’s assembled, I’ll start sculpting the flat pieces with a rotary grinder to give it that branchy, gnarly, organic feel.
There will likely be a lot of quartz pieces hitting the workbench in the near future. I’ve finished a new mechanical piece, which took quite a lot of time, and now I’d like to create some smaller work. My hope is to always have a range of sizes and styles available from now on. Although these smaller ones tend to disappear, so that might be difficult.
Should be finished in a couple weeks.
"Three"
A new mechanical clock is finished!
This is the first time a new heartbeat has emerged from the shop since “Perth,” back in 2023. It’s also the first non-commissioned mechanical piece since 2019. The time required to create custom mechanical work is significant, so these clocks are very rare.
While I love all the quartz projects I created over the last few years, I really missed making gears and hearing that ticking sound echo through the house.
This piece is a variation of one of my favorites from 2019, titled “Th3.” Both the mechanical and visual layout are similar, but this one is bigger, and the design is more refined.
This clock is fabricated 100% from scratch. Every gear tooth and screw thread was cut by hand in my shop. All of the more organic forms were sculpted by hand with precision rotary grinders. Click on these links if you’re interested in the process:
Process content here on this site
This piece is available for purchase. If you’re interested, click here:
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Thank you!
New Tellurion Design
A tellurion is an earth/moon/sun orrery. The sun is in the middle. The earth spins once a day, and also orbits the sun once a year. And the moon orbits the earth.
After I worked out the gearing for this complication I wanted to see what it would look like in a clock. The quickest way to do that was to draw up a variation of my “Perpetual No.1” style layout. It visually worked well, but I’ve always wanted to come up with a design dedicated to this new mechanism.
A few days ago I was doing some thumbnails, and stumbled on to this one. I’ve refined it over the last couple days, but I still have to tighten it up, and work out some mechanical things. I really like the way this one is shaping up.
The little dial on top is for the time. If I keep it clean and simple enough, it won’t need to be very big. This allows the tellurion orrery to be the hero of this piece.
I’m going to set this one aside for now and get some mental separation from it.
Creating this one would land in the ‘thousands of hours’ category, so I won’t be able to tackle it anytime soon. However, it is at the top of the stack, prioritized alongside a couple other favorites.
Safe Arrival
Yesterday I got a picture from the recipient of my latest tabletop piece, confirming that it arrived in Australia unscathed!
Shipping is always a little (okay very) stressful. And the nail-biting is amplified when a piece is going half way around the world. To alleviate some of that stress, I really went overboard with the packaging. Direct quote from the client: “I think it would have survived a small IED the way you boxed it up.”
As you can see from the picture, he is now the proud owner of not one, but two of my clockwork sculptures. He’s an awesome client, and my work found a good home.
On the flip side, the room in my house that used to have multiple clocks on the wall now has zero clocks. I didn’t realize how much I used them until they were gone. It’s so much easier to glance up, rather than have to reach for my stupid phone to see the time.
Guess I need to get back in the shop!
"Twisted Branch"
In my recent post of this clock I promised a couple things.
The first was a new photo set featuring a worn and aged vintage wallpaper background. After wallpapering, sanding, and repeated oil paint washes, I have a stack of panels with vintage wallpaper that I can use to photograph my smaller work. I’ve been wanting to do this for a while. It’s a technique I used in the past, and it was a good way to keep my clock photos from looking too repetitive.
The second thing I promised was the reopening of the shop here on my website. For the past six years I’ve been working on very large commissions, which took years to make. I loved the challenge, and seeing what I could do if I committed such a significant amount of time on larger work. One downside is that the inventory in my shop ran out, and I didn’t have any time to replenish the collection of smaller work. I eventually closed the perpetually empty shop.
But now that the larger work is behind me, I’m happily getting back to my old routine. I have a lot more work on the way, and I’m looking forward to having the walls in my house full of clocks again.
But not too full.
Enjoy the new photos!
The next piece is already in the works.
New clock finished
New clock finished! Here are some preliminary photos. I have something special in store for the final photo set.
I really like this one. The romans are completely broken apart, and have a good gnarled flow to them. I like the half-bladed hands too. And even though this one is smaller and less structured, it’s still very readable from across the room.
A couple pieces of news:
One
I used to make interesting backgrounds for the photo shoots of my smaller clocks. A lot of my work for the last five or six years has been too big for that treatment, so I got away from it. But I’m bringing back the tattered and aged wallpaper backgrounds that I used to use. It takes a little work, but it’ll be worth it.
Two
Awhile back, I deactivated the shop on my website. During the fabrication of the larger commissions the supply in the shop disappeared, and I never had the chance to replenish it. I’ve gotten back to creating work for myself, and I’ll soon be reopening the shop on my site for the first time in six years.
More soon!
Dark and branchy
All sculpted and darkened. Time to make some hands!
I’m having a lot of fun with this design. It’s leaning into my usual decayed organic thing, but this one has a lot of nice movement to it.
I should be finished with it in a week or two!
Tabletop Tick Tock
Finished!
After months of work, I’ve finally completed my first tabletop piece. This one took a bit longer than I expected, but it was worth it.
I’m really happy with the way the inlaid “Six” and “12” worked out. I might have to incorporate that look into some future projects.
Soon this one will be on a plane to Western Australia. I’ll be holding my breath for a safe delivery.
Small and fun
The fabrication of the next quartz piece is underway.
About two weeks ago, while I was waiting for some materials to finish up the tabletop piece, I started the first cuts on a new quartz clock. This one will be small, delicate, and detailed; leaning into a more organic and unbridled style.
Estimated completion in a couple weeks.
Dial Markings Finished
The dial markings have been cut, carved, and fastened.
Next I’ll be making the hands, but first I need to answer a question. Originally I’d planned on having my often used, tattered and weathered paper treatment for the dial. But I’m kinda liking the way it looks metal-on-metal.
Decisions decisions….
Getting Close Now
Quick update as I come down the home stretch.
I’ve finished the back plate assembly, along with the rolled piece in the center. The whole clock body is finished, and I’ve applied the patina to all of it.
Now I just need to make the dial and the hands.
Finished front
The front of the tabletop piece is finished!
Sort of.
Okay so as I was putting the patina on this one I realized there’s still one piece on the dial that I still need to cut out by hand and attach. The thin broken ring of markings that are in the center of the clock.
But other than that, the front is finished!
Coming along nicely. Looking forward to the finish line of this one!
Piece by piece
The front of the clock is starting to take shape now. Slowly grinding away. There’s a stack of six layers that make up the front part of this clock. I’ve finished sculpting the front two layers, which make up most of the visible details. Now I have to go a few layers deeper and carve the smaller numbers (words) and the back layers of the front plate assembly.
The next post should be a good one!
Taking shape
The framing around the numbers is starting to take shape. With all the depth in this piece I’m really looking forward to applying the patina. Once the low spots are darkened and the high spots are popped it should look very nice.
However, before I can get to that I have a lot more carving to do. The two “wings” of the base, and the layer below that, and the layer below that….
Headphones and mask on - Let’s goooo!
Hands!
There’s been a small, but important addition to my latest mechanical project. “Three” (working title) now has hands. It first had a pulse back in March, but with the addition of a finished pendulum and hands, I can now use it to tell time. It’s been running well, and telling really accurate time.
Gotta love the steady and reliable tick of a traditional dead-beat escapement.
I’ll be getting back to the tabletop clock exclusively for the next month or two. In the meantime, it’s nice that I can now run this one, test the accuracy, and use it as a clock.
I'm back!
I’ve been away from the workbench for a couple weeks, but I’m back at it, carving away at the new one. I started with the fun parts, which to me are the Six and 12.
The other job was smoothing out the on the sides of the clock body. A lot of my clocks are constructed with a carefully thought out “sandwich” of metal layers. Once I screw everything together I have to smooth out the sides so it feels more like one, solid, sculpted piece.
I also made the hands for the new mechanical I’ve been working on. I’ll post those next.
Tabletop Progress
Update on the new tabletop piece - Assembly is 99% complete.
There’s only one little thing I still have to attach - The rolled drum that goes around the center of the clock is just sitting on the interior lip between the two plates. I’ll need to drill, tap, and screw the drum to that lip. Right now, if you look carefully at the top (especially in the first photo) it tapers a little instead of having a consistent gap. That’s because it’s lifting off it’s seating a little. But it has some flex, so once it’s fastened it’ll be be good to go.
Next step is to grab the rotary grinders and make these flat pieces into a 3D sculpture.
