The Witching Hour ~ Tim Holtz Halloween Inspiration Series 2017

Hello friends...

Thank you so much for all the lovely comments I received about the projects I shared on Monday, I really do appreciate every single word and it means the world to me! Today, I'm back to share another project that I made for Tim's Halloween Inspiration Series ~ The Witching Hour, which some of you will probably recognise from Tim shared this on his Facebook and Instagram pages last week!

Since then, I've had quite a few messages and emails asking me if I would share how I created the texture on the outside of the clock, so I thought I would concentrate on that in this post because once you have that technique, then you can fill the clock with anything you choose!

To begin with I took the clock apart, piece by piece ~ I recommend that you keep all the screws and individual pieces together as you remove them from the clock...this will mean it's easier to piece it back together when you finally assemble the painted section of the clock. You also won't be needing the glass front or the attachments for the glass, on this project, so these can be put to one side.

I then painted all the metal sections of the clock, inside and out, with a couple of coats of gesso, allowing each layer to dry in between.

When the gesso is completely dry, I then smeared some Grit Paste over the gessoed surface ~ I used my fingers for this as it gave me more control over the paste ~ I purposely didn't cover the whole clock in the paste, I left some areas smooth. Leave the paste to dry, I left it overnight before then painting all the individual pieces of the clock with Black Soot Distress Paint.

You might need to apply a couple of coats of the black paint to give a solid coverage and at this stage, I also painted the inside rim of the clock.

When the painted surface is dry, I then dry brushed the surface with a little Antique Bronze distress paint, allowing it to pick up the texture of the Grit Paste but not giving a solid finish!

Finally, I used the lightest touch of silver gilding wax which will accentuate some surface areas. 

Now that the paintwork of the clock is complete, it's time to assemble the clock and put it back together, but don't attach the back of the clock at this point as I would recommend that you do some of the work for the inside now!

At this stage, I cut a circle of paper from the Halloween Paper stash by tracing around around the circular back cover of the clock and then I fixed the paper to the back wall of the clock using Collage Medium. I also added my lantern at this stage, attaching it in place using Collage Medium.

Now that this part is done, I gently eased the back cover onto the painted clock but allowed the wire of the lantern to trail outside. This can then be attached to the battery box which I fixed to the back of the clock, so it's easily accessible.

To decorate the inside of the clock,  I used dyed cheesecloth (dyed with Pumice Stone and Antique Linen Distress Spray Stain), floristry fibres and moss, which created my layers in the bottom of the clock and then attached my witches into place...these are actually secured onto an old cotton reel, which I then attached to the back wall of the clock, allowing the witches to stand proud at the front. I then added the various items from Tim's Halloween release and layering them behind and around the images to create dimension and to build up the layers. 

As the final touch on the inside, I added a Halloween Clippings Sticker.

To complete the outside, I added a key adornment, slightly altered to create a more vintage look and attached it to some chain, which I then twisted around the key and also added a halloween token and a spider form the halloween adornments set...

...before finishing the project with a skull, attached with Collage Medium and sitting proudly on the top of the clock.

I hope you've enjoyed how I created this project and it's definitely going to be displayed proudly amongst my Halloween decorations ~ I just love how the lantern glows from inside and creates a warm ambience to the witches market...

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I'll be back soon to share more of the projects I created for this series and don't forget you can catch up with all the projects and inspiration from the talented groups of designers, over on Tim's blog.

See you soon...love Emma x

Recipe for project:

Distress Spray Stain: Pumice Stone, Antique Linen

Distress Paints: Black Soot, Antiqued Bronze

Idea-ology: Halloween Clippings, Halloween Adornments, Skulls, Pumpkin Pieces, Jump Rings, Boneyard Findings, Mini Pumpkins, Paper Dolls Ancestors, Halloween Word Key, Halloween Shaped Tokens, Assemblage clock, Mini Lantern

Mediums: Gesso, Grit Paste

Surfaces: Halloween Paper Stash

Ranger Craft Sheet
Old Silver Alchemy Wax

Big Shot

Heat Gun

Cheesecloth, moss, sisal fibres and chain from my own stash