Make an Awesome Clock From Sugru + Twigs

In the run up to Christmas break this year we're sharing a genius idea each a day, for 24 days! (kind of like an advent calendar) From ideas to get the house ready, to making awesome gifts and planning fun activities for the break, these ideas will help you make this the best Christmas ever.

Check back each day for a new project to be revealed!

#2 Create a DIY twig clock

Bring a bit of the outside in this Christmas with this really cute and clever clock. It will make an amazing gift for someone, or a great project to do over Christmas for yourself. All it takes is a clock mechanism, some brown Sugru, and a trip out to the park, forest or fields to find the right twigs :)

Sugru is as easy to mould as play dough, so it makes fixing and making easy and fun. Because it sticks to lots of different materials (including wood and plastics) it's perfect for attaching the twigs to the plastic parts of the clock kit for this project.

Step 1: What You'll Need for This Project

• a basic clock mechanism — you'll find these online or maybe in your local craft store.

Use a standard mechanism for smaller twigs (up to 4 inches max.). If you want to create this project using larger twigs, you will need a hi-torque mechanism, which will be strong enough to move the larger hands around.

• one single use pack of Sugru — we used a pack of Woody Brown Sugru to blend in with the twig for this project, but you can also get colourful and choose from 10 awesome Sugru colours!

• something to use as the clock face — we used red card, but you could use anything you like, a collage of photographs, maybe a book or vinyl cover?

Step 2: Gather Your Twigs!

Time to take a trip out to the local park, forest or your garden to find the right twigs :)

• You'll want to get a bunch of them so you can find the perfect two to use!

• Remember longer for the minute hand, shorter for the hour hand.

If you're using a standard clock kit, the hour and minute hands should be light in weight and no more than 4 inches max in length.

• If you don't want to use twigs, we were thinking feathers might look pretty cool.

Step 3: Creating the Minute and Hour Hands

To make sure the two hands don't clash as they rotate, make sure you attach the minute hand twig to the top side of the plastic minute hand and the hour hand to the back side of the plastic hour hand.

Making the minute hand

• get a pea sized piece of Sugru, roll it into a little sausage, the length of the plastic hand

• press the Sugru sausage onto the top side of the plastic hand, then gently and carefully press your longer minute twig onto it.

• you might want to use another small piece of Sugru to wrap around the plastic piece to blend it in and get a better grip between twig and plastic piece.

Making the hour hand

• Repeat the same process for the hour hand.
• Make sure you attach the hour hand twig to the back side of the plastic hour hand.

Now leave the Sugru to fully cure for 24 hours before assembling the clock.

Step 4: Assemble the Clock Parts

When your Sugru is full cured, assemble your clock kit in this order:

• the clock kit
• then your clock face (we used red card, but you could use anything you like, a collage of photographs, maybe a book or vinyl cover?)
• then the little washer included in the clock kit
• then the hour hand
• then minute hand

The kit we used was friction fit, so you just need to push the hands on gently until they are in place.

That’s it and you’re done! :)

Remember to check out advent calendar of ideas - each day we'll be releasing a new genius idea. From easy projects to get the house ready, to making awesome gifts and planning fun activities for the break, these ideas will help you make this the best Christmas ever.