Clocks

Word clocks offer a low stress take on the concept of a clock. Need to know what time it is to the closest second? look elsewhere. Is within 5 minutes close enough? Say hello to my little friend.

Golden Age: large word clock with mirror face. Circa 2022.

I made a few clocks with LEDs between 2014 and 2018. I never got to something I like until 2019 when I built my first word clock. It was tiny, measuring about 4.5 x 4.5 inches. But I loved it. I have continued to develop word clocks ever since with new sizes and shapes added as I go.

My first word clock, March 2019. Who knew?

The clocks are made primarily from Baltic Birch and Acrylic cut with a laser. Thin paper or rice paper is used as a diffuser for the light. Many of the clocks feature a living hinge element that allows otherwise rigid wood to easily bend around a corner. I developed the electronics within each clock which includes a custom circuit board that holds a tiny “arduino” processor to manage the LEDs ( a trinket M0 from Adafruit), a clock chip to keep track of time, a backup battery to keep the clock running when not powered, and controls for setting/adjusting the time. On the hour and half hour a short lightshow is done as a form of digital cuckoo clock.

Custom circuit board for the clock brain. This makes for tidy connections between all the necessary bits. Still a lot of solder joints per clock.

Each clock design represents a new challenge for the artist, bringing together, electronics, programming, and design. Materials include wood, paper, acrylic sheet, custom electronics, and programming. These clocks provide a low stress approach to time.

My clocks are available for the lowest price at local galleries:

Tracy Park Gallery in Malibu

Compound Contemporary in Thousand Oaks

Cartwheels gallery in Cottonwood AZ

If you cannot make it to the gallery, mirror-faced medium square clocks are also available in a wide variety of colors in at My Etsy Shop (price slightly higher).

Sky blue mirror faced clock

Possible colors for mirror faced word clocks

 
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