Raven Cuckoo Clock – Halloween House

I made another cuckoo clock but this one is for Halloween.

The house is simply a pattern I drew and cut out on my regular cardboard. It’s painted with gesso and various greys and some black. I made it this height because I needed space for the raven, the clock, and the door. Next time I will leave out the door – who needs a door in a cuckoo clock anyway? The raven is a Tim Holtz mover and shaper. I cut out about 5 layers from cardboard and glued them together to fit in the recessed area. The clock is a stamp from Papertrey Ink. The door is hand drawn and cut out. The fence is a La La Land fence which I love because it works so well with the houses and is so easy to cut out. The pumpkins are made from Sculpey clay. I made the purple tree and glued on a glittered bat from an EK success punch. The larger bats that dangle are from a Tim Holtz thinlet die. They are the perfect size for this. The leaves are punched out of cardstock colored with various inks to make them look more realistic.

Every time I make something I learn more about what to do to bring my vision to life more effectively. One thing is that if you are making a cuckoo clock whatever cuckoos needs to be protruding not recessed. That was a mistake having the raven in a recessed area – not overwhelming, but definitely detracts from the design. Two, I have to learn a bigger color palette. All my Halloween houses do not have to be grey, though currently most of them end up being grey. I will work on that. Maybe I need to go back to covering them with paper. I did better and used more colors when I did that. The third thing is not evident, but I forgot to glue in the moon before I glued the house to the base. You cannot secure it when the house is glued to the base. Solution – I made a little slot for the wire to slide into. So now the little moon is removable which may make it easier to box up the house when it is out of season.

Here is a view of the house hanging on the wall. I just love the dangly bats.

I am going to paint a layer of glow in the dark paint on the moon and maybe the bats. It is already behind the raven and looks really cool.

I am going to enter this in an online challenge called “Anything but Cute – #13, Celebrate Your Style”. I think this counts as not cute.  I mean ravens, bats, and a spooky moon should not be defined as cute, right?

That is where I am now. I am finishing something else for halloween that I am excited about. Still making mistakes and still loving the making. I should have the next project done in two or three days, so I will post it when I am done.