A New Project

I'm currently working on a new project. It's a reproduction of a New Hampshire mirror clock. One of the reasons I've decided to work on this project (instead of finishing other ones) is to practice some of the restoration skills and techniques that I've learned over the past few years. One of the other reasons is that I'm in the mood to paint, and most of this clock will have painted surfaces. It's also winter, so I can't work on any large house projects, or do too much woodworking in the freezing cold shop.

This clock will be a fairly simple build (I've been working on it for a few days and the main case is nearly done), but the real challenge on this clock will be the treatment of surfaces to achieve a realistic antique look on what's basically a brand new clock. The look I'm aiming for is a period 1820s clock in good, but not perfect shape. This means that I want it to have a few blemishes, imperfections, and "character" but without going overboard. That said, I'm also making an effort to make the clock not so convincing that someone later on could pass it off as a fake. For this reason, I'm choosing to use one of my spare ogee clock movements in the clock. I'll go into more details about that later.

On this clock, I want to practice gilding on gesso (something I've never done before), antiquing new wood to match old wood (ie: getting that perfect shade of old reddish brown), making a convincing silvered mirror, and reverse painting in bronze powders.

I also want to print my own antique style label for the clock, paint a custom dial, and possibly even cast some custom lead weights.

There's still a lot to do on this clock, but I'll be doing my best to document the process as I go along. The next step will be the backboard, and the turnings.

Hopefully I'll have some photos to share soon.