Silliness

My dad isn't the worlds biggest Monty Python fan or anything, but he does enjoy it, and I know we've giggled together specifically over their "Ministry of Silly Walks" sketch.  It's so ridiculous, it makes me laugh every time.

Well one day when I was perusing Pinterest I came across a Ministry of Silly Walks clock tutorial and immediately thought that would be a great gift for my dad, and it looked pretty simple to make, too.  I simplified mine a little bit as well, no decoupage required.

After a quick trip to Michaels, here's what I gathered for supplies:

- 8in x 8in Circle Pine Plaque
- Clock Movement Kit
- White glue
- White card stock
- Hole punch
- Black Sharpie or felt marker (which I forgot to include in the photo)

I made a clock face template on my computer and printed it onto regular paper and cut around the circle.

If you're on a Mac, simply drag image to your desktop and print.

I made a page of the body parts and printed it onto white card stock so they would be sturdy, and cut them out as well.  I also printed a black area to punch holes out of to use instead of numbers.  I used the black marker along the edges to black them out, I found it looked nicer against the wood to not see a white edge.

Next I lay the clock face template over my piece of wood and pressed in the centre of all the dots (starting with the centre) to make an indent so I know where everything should go.  (I folded my paper in half after indenting the centre dot so I could line it up with the wood grain, but if you decide to paint your wood or don't care if the grain is straight horizontal or vertical this step won't matter).

I had my husband drill the proper sized hole in the centre of the wood for the clock movement to poke through (mine required a 7mm hole), and then I glued my black dots into their indented spots around the board.  After sliding the back of the clock through the back of the wood and securing into place, I punched a hole in my man, slid him over the clock piece and glued him in place.

I punched holes through the tops of the legs, attached the hour hand to the back of one leg and the minute hand to the back of the other.

(If you're wondering why my man's legs are backed with dark paper it's because I'd backed them with brown card stock to make them even sturdier but it's not really necessary)

I then assembled the rest of the clock according to the directions on the package.  The "second" hand didn't fit into my vision so I just bent it back and forth until it detached from the very front piece.

Feel free to use your marker and colour any metal bits black.  I didn't bother colouring anything I couldn't see from directly from the front.

Now enjoy watching your silly clock do it's silly walk!

All packaged and ready to wrap for my Dad