Home: 'How to' Halloween, Crafts : Halloween Clock – Reincarnated Home Decor

Halloween Clock – Reincarnated Home Decor

By Cindy Tevis

Giving new “life” to tired decor

What a better way to create Halloween décor than through REINCARNATION! (Dr. Frankenstein would be proud!) Take some of your old discarded items and bring them “back to life.”

This old plastic barometer is about to become a Vintage Style Halloween Clock:

Old plastic barometer

After finding your treasure, you must disassemble the piece. I took the back off, and pulled all of the “barometer” coils, and such out. I found that I needed to replace the plexi glass, since it had a hole in it to allow the dial to stick out. This only cost a couple of dollars at the hardware store.

Disassembling the barometer

Pick your color scheme

Next I painted the entire surface orange. I usually do not use primers. Priming first makes the item appear
“new” and I am going for an “old as the hills” look.

A simple color scheme works best for me. I choose three colors – orange, black and off white. Apply several coats of base color, and sand between each coat. If you are as impatient as I am, you may use a hairdryer between coats to speed drying time.

orange Halloween clock frame   Halloween clock, with painted decor

Make sure you allow the paint to cool before sanding, because warm paint will pull from the surface. Sand the last coat rather roughly around the edges to remove paint in select spots, to age the piece. After achieving the desired result, you can begin to decorate your creation.

I was lucky to have designs “raised” on the surface of this “clock.” That made it much easier to decide how to detail it. I painted the raised areas in either black or white. I also painted in some bat silhouettes. You can also easy do this by cutting out the shape of a bat you had traced, then placing the paper (not the cutout) on the clock. Then, simply paint! Easy, even for the novice painter.

Then I added the Halloween phrase “There is always time for Halloween”

Finishing the Transformation to a Vintage Halloween Clock

This face was painted on balsa wood, and a hole drilled in the center. You can use a printed image for the face, if you like.

Attach it with glue dots. Do not try to glue it completely down on the surface, or it WILL bubble.

I myself ran into a slight problem when assembling this finished clock. Being a barometer in it’s first life, this clock had very little space between the face and the glass. Not enough room for clock hands.

The fix – I epoxy-glued wood sticks (square ones) on the edges of the surface that the face was going to lay
on. This brought the face back enough to allow the hands to turn freely. I then reattached the original back
and Voila! A very nice Halloween Décor item for less than ten dollars!

I then sold this clock on ebay.

TIP: It is sometimes difficult for novice crafters to find designs to paint. Look up vintage Halloween images, or novelties online. You will find many ideas that way. You can trace around most images, and use them as silhouettes. A lot of royalty free vintage Halloween designs are available.

Do not be afraid to mess up, and do not try to paint too perfectly. Flaws are a charming addition to a primitive
style fold art painting. Start with simple designs, black cats, bats, and spiders are good.

Finished Halloween clock - Looks like a vintage antique!

My creature … I mean creation! It lives!

My name is Cindy Tevis. I am a Halloween artist. I re-paint vintage décor in a style that I call “ShabbyHag”
You can find my art on ebay, under the ID “halloweenspirit01″

I also have a showcase blog here: http://www.shabbyhagdecor.blogspot.com

I also create Halloween poetry at http://www.idreamofhalloween.blogspot.com

Bookmark and Share


Filed under 'How to' Halloween, Crafts

Related Articles

Leave a Comment


Search »