This will be my first Instructable, so I hope i do it right...

So, I had a relative visiting me and she lives abroad. I was thingking of many ideas to build for her, but had to think of weight, size and avoiding any customs inconveniences when she flew back home; so I looked up for some ideas on Internet and Pinterest and I found this cute dog silhouette clock.She and her husband own a Grehound, so it was a great opportunity to build something like this

Step 1: Materials

Fortunately I had enough scrap wood so I didn't need to get any more.

The sizes are aproximate. You can build according to your needs

1x 19mm Pine board about 250x300 mm
1x 45mm pine board about 70x300 mm
1x 19mm plywood about 100x100 mm
1x 9mm pine about 50x300 mm
1x piece of cristal/acrylic 650x650 mm aprox

Step 2: Tools

All I have is Hand Power tools so you don't need any fancy equipment. But if available will do an easier job

Jigsaw and Blade for curved cuts
Sander and sandpaper 120, 180 & 220
Drill
Hole saw 2 in
Drill bit 3/8

Hand tools:

Chissel (1/4 and 1 1/4)
Rasp file
Sand paper
Wood glue
Epoxy glue
Screwdriver
Masking tape
C Clamps (or any available)

Step 3: Cutting Silhouette

Unfortunately I don't have the original silhouette file anymore, but is easy to find any on Google. Just look for the dog, cat, or any figure you want to build. What I did is to print it on a sheet of paper and simply stick it on the board to then cut the silhouette with the jigsaw.

Step 4: Mortise and Tenon

I decided to join the silhouette to the base using tenon and mortise, so I used the chisel to cut a tenon and then placed it on the base to draw the mortise. I had to so some chopping but after that I had the mortise finalized.

I tested the pieces frecuqently to avoid overchopping and the result was pretty good

Step 5: Size the Clock Hole

I had never done anything similar so I had to improvise.

I looked for a clock mechanism that would serve the purpose but then I had to look for the whole accesories. I better decided to purchase a cheap China-made clock on the size I wanted. I dissembled it and got the pieces separately to work with them easily later

For the hole, I took the plywood piece about 100x100 mm and had the clock mechanism placed on it to meassure the hole I was going to make to fit it inside. It had to be tight ro at least big enough to fit but not to fall over. This was quite a task

I made a hole first with the drill and a hole saw about the size of the mechanism. This left a rounded hole and I used the chisel to get it squared. I used the rasp at the end to remove all dents and chips

I tested the sise and with the rasp I tried to leave it as snug as possible. This of course wasn't that easy. The result was not the best, and I got an oversized hole...

Step 6: The Clock Frame

Now that i had the hole cut for the clock, I had to build a frame using a piece of 9mm pine that I found.

I meassured the size of the square I made the hole and started cutting. I did piece by piece to avoid measuring mistakes and glued the frame using masking tape and clamped it for about 2 hrs to let it cure

Step 7: The Front

In order to install the face crystal I had to make some groove on the frame to fit it. I should have used a router before glueing but... agh... whatever... I then had to use a chisel which astually came up very easily and pretty well.

Step 8: Sanding

I sanded first with 120 grit, then to 180. For most cases this would be enough, but I wanted it to feel really smoth, so I continued with 220 grit. Must say that it did feel very soft and even.

Was worth the time invested

Step 9: Assembly and Glueing

I placed the clock on its hole and had to use epoxy as the hole was very big. It worked ok

For the front glass I also used epoxy taking care not to spread more that necessary on the frame

I aplied wood glue on the mortise and fit the dog tenon with glue as well. Then clamped

The clock I wanted to screw from the bottom but to avoid more holes I decided to just glue directly to the base applying a clamp

I left it cure overnight and the following day I apllyed acrylic transparent coats to protect and some beeswax to seal and shine a little

At the end I was very satisfied with the result and she was very happy when she opened the gift bag to discover the clock

Hope you like this and please give me some feedback on the description and on the project

I also have some other projects on my Blog: http://hobbycarpinteria.blogspot.mx which I invite you to watch. (it is written in Spanish, but there is a translator button on the right column)

Thanks for wacthing!