When I started making these #timepieces I would painstakingly craft the face, and use some out of the box hands I would dress up and make fit the piece. It always felt like an afterthought to be honest. I wished I had some certain skill or technique that could will into existence the hands that were in my mind. A couple years later, I found out I already did. Just not the technology. Thanks to the #MakerStudio and #Adobe, I can design these custom hands in #Illustrator, and print them out. My dad's sweet pair of calipers and some pro-tips are coming in handy as well, but that's nothing new. It's really thank to the hand skills he's given me, and the tools I've "sto'borrowed" that I can do any of this. That and, ya know, Google...
These hands were able to be conceptualized right along with this #clock the whole time. I knew the look I was going for, and thanks to Illustrator (and by extension my mom for teaching me that one), these were super fun to make. They even almost fit the first print around. There is still a lot of work to be painting and placing them on the #collage, but that's another fun challenge.
Some more recent, non-afterthoughty, hands made without the advent of being able to ctrl+p a solid object were the stock metal ones I dressed up (grunged up? maybe both? depends on your perspective). The first set were for a teacher of mine that was awesome enough to come out to a couple of my shows last year. She was also nice enough to be patient for it while I worked out some pretty major life changes, much for the better, in the last year. When I delivered the clock I found out she "was" an artist herself. I felt like I should have known that, or asked. It made me feel guilty for being too self-aggrandizing. A lot flashed through my mind when she told me. I was inclined to wonder about the support she received as an artist, and if she had a teacher, like herself showed an interest? I also wanted to know what it would take to turn that "was" into an "is", and suddenly though of Ken Robinson's TED Talk on educating children out of creativity. Her timepiece had a wise owl hidden in it. When I was in her class, she had a patience and a kindness that only comes with wisdom, not simply age. The hands had to be a clue. Using the metal hands, an old vice grip as an anvil, and a hand me down jeweler's hammer they now look like feathers. Or at least to me they do.
The next set were for two friends I gifted a piece to, also a about a year in the making. They are two of the most caring people in our life. The clock was on a piece of wood they gave me after moving into their new house. I didn't know what it would be, but I knew it would make a cool gift to give back to them one day! These hands were done up to look like ivy and was maybe more of a meditative repetition exercise, that what I would call "fun", but I'm happy with how they look and think I was probably listening to Star Talk Radio for the hour or so it took.
Time to get back to tweaking these gear hands. You can check out pictures of these hands and more @Oconoclast on Instagram.