How to make a paint chip clock

It’s no fun to rely solely on our smartphones for knowing the time of day. Stylish clocks still have their place and can add character to any room of the house. This clock project uses simple supplies, including paint chips easily obtained from the paint department of a home store. The result, however, is simply gorgeous.

The hues that grace the clock’s face are completely determined by the crafter’s imagination and taste: it will look stunning whether it's done in a rainbow pattern, just two or three complementary colors, or many variations of one shade. The sophisticated profile of this project makes it look like it came straight from a modern art museum’s catalog or a high-end home store.

Materials
- Plywood disk in preferred size (6.5-inch or 10-inch diameter sizes work well)
- Ruler
- Pencil
- 1- to 2-inch thick oblong wooden block, about 3 by 6 inches
- Two wood clamps
- Cordless drill
- Painter’s blue masking tape
- Sanding sponge
- Paint chips in seven or eight different colors
- Scissors
- Elmer’s clear glue
- Clock movement kit

Instructions
1. Lay the wooden disk on the work table.

2. Locate the disk’s center point using the ruler, and mark it with a small “+” in pencil. Take two small pieces of blue painter’s tape and mark an “X” on the center point of the back of the disk, where a hole will be drilled. Remove any stray pencil marks with the pencil eraser.

3. Place the wooden block on one of the corners of the table so it fits within the corner and does not overlap.

4. Place the wooden disk on top of the block, ensuring that the wooden block is below the disk’s center point.

5. Secure the disk in its place using the wood clamps; one clamp should align with the table edge horizontally, the other vertically.

6. Drill a small hole in the center of the disk with the cordless drill.

7. Blow away excess sawdust, and smooth the surface around the drilled hole by rubbing it with a sanding sponge a few times. Remove the painter’s tape “X” from behind the drilled hole on the backside of the disk, and smooth that area with the sanding sponge as well.

8. Gather a dozen or so paint color chips in chosen hues, and cut a series of seven or eight uniformly slender triangles with the scissors. The length of the pieces should be about ¼-inch longer than the distance from the center point to the outer edge of the clock. The triangles’ wider ends should go a bit beyond the outer edge of the clock face.

9. Cut enough of these pieces so they will cover the right half of the clock face.

10. Cut a series of more slender triangles; these will go in between the larger ones on the clock face.

11. Glue the pieces onto the right side between 12:00 and 3:00 of the clock face with Elmer’s clear glue. They should be glued in a larger triangle followed by a smaller triangle pattern. Be sure to stagger the placement of the smaller paint chip pieces so that their pointed ends, which are aimed at the center point of the clock face, are slightly distanced from it. Some of the plywood will be exposed and form a delicate, thin chevron pattern between the smaller and larger triangular cut pieces.

12. Trim the excess paint chip ends that extend from the outer edge of the clock with the scissors.

13. Allow the glue to dry.

14. Take the square clock movement hardware piece — make sure it has an AA battery in it — and place it behind the clock. Thread its metal pin through the hole in the clock’s center.

15. Spin the small circular hardware pieces on the pin so that the movement hardware piece is secure.

16. Wind the minute hand onto the pin.

17. Wind the hour hand onto the pin.

18. Wind the second hand onto the pin.

19. Secure the small circular hardware piece on top of the clock hands to hold them in place.

20. Set the correct time, and hang the clock.

Enjoy your new clock and a more colorful world!