Giving a Clock a New Look

by Cynthia H

4 Materials

3 Hours

Easy

In the ongoing process of making my new house, my home, I wanted an aged brass finish clock to match the mirror on my bathroom wall. My old bathroom was polished nickel everything, but, the two new bathrooms have aged brass. Trouble is, the only clock I found for my budget (less than ten dollars) purchase was a brassy gold color. So, I decided to "age" it with products I had on hand. So for less than four dollars, I bought this clock at Walmart.

Here's the clock. They had them in silver (which I had in my old bathroom), aqua blue (which I have in my new kitchen which is all white tile, marble and stainless steel), red and white. With the dark gold, which I thought looked kind of brassy, I decided to apply some craft paints to "age' it.

I wiped it down, in case of fingerprints, dust, etc. and then started layering shades of brown. I had Nutmeg Brown, Brown Oxide, Chocolate Bar, and Burnt Umber. I followed the ridges on the clock, to apply the different shades of brown. I used a paint brush that I already had. You can buy paint like this for a dollar or less at local stores. I had Apple Barrel acrylic paint on hand.

I kept layering the paint in thin coats, to get the look I wanted.

It had kind of a mottled look, which I was going for, to coordinate with a mirror I had already hung in the bathroom.

Patience is the key with a simple project like this. It's tempting to just paint the whole thing at once, but, that wasn't the look I was going for.

Time to compare the two pieces. I can always add more paint! Still not dark enough, so I layered some more paint, let it dry. Then I pulled out my tiny bottle of Waverly dark wax/sealer and went over the whole thing. More drying time!