Workshop Clock Challenge- Part 3
Preparing the Materials & Components
Despite being quite tedious, the next step was to prepare the materials and components. I feel I have to include this in the description of the process of making the clock ,because although it can often be a bit dull & time-consuming it really is worthwhile spending time and effort to produce a high quality piece at the end of the project.
The underside of the stainless steel dish needed to be cleaned and then given a satin finish using wet & dry sandpaper with water. I thought this was preferable to polishing out the slight scratching due to its being pre-owned and it seemed to me that a very reflective surface could be distracting and like a mirror when viewing the clock. The dish also required a central hole through which the clock movement could be inserted plus holes for the attachment of the fondue forks using bolts & nuts. The mirror frame needed work in the form of cleaning and waxing using fine wire wool and furniture wax, to bring out the colour & grain of the wood.
Next, the stainless steel rings had be taken apart. Dating from the 1970’s they featured a wide band with a large diamond-shaped setting intended for mounting a semi-precious stone . The weld on each ring was broken and the band hammered flat, then hammered again with a specialised jewellery hammer to produce a textured finish. The settings were to be used reversed with the domed side uppermost, so each was given a satin finish on this side.
The copper shapes which would decorate the centre of the clock and mark the hours were cut from either recycled/reclaimed copper, or reshaped from previously bought but, unused shapes known as ‘blanks’. Hand tools such as 'tin snips' can be used to cut the general shape which can then be refined to the exact design with a file. For more intricate forms a piercing saw (a frame with a very fine saw blade) is the most suitable.
Now, barring a few remaining small components to be decided upon everything was ready either to be enamelled in the case of the copper shapes, or for the assembly of the clock.
In the next part, how the designs on the enamelled copper elements were developed, and choosing the colours & enamelling techniques to be used…