Huyze Herkert, morning room: mantel clock

I'd say the morning room has enough furniture by now. But a Victorian mind is never quite satisfied with empty surfaces – and there are still plenty of those! Fortunately, that gives me the perfect excuse to indulge in making (okay, and buying 😊) all sorts of little functional and decorative accessories.

Where to start?

Well, in order for Lady Herkert to run her household from here, she needs to keep track of the time. There is plenty of room on the mantelpiece for a clock, where she can easily glance at it while seated at her desk.

It's quite surprising just how many little pieces go into making a miniature mantel clock! I used cardboard in various thicknesses to create the structure. I fashioned the glass cover from the domed plastic part of a wobbly eye, combined with a jewellery finding.

I gave the clock a deep, almost black shade of green, with pink marble detailing to tie it in with the fireplace. A few golden touches were all it needed to complete the look. The clock face is a printed image I found online.

And just like that, the first functional item is finished!

And the mantelpiece feels a bit less empty.

Two weeks ago, we here in Europe switched back to winter time, which means noticeably shorter days and long, dark evenings (something I absolutely hate!). As we all know, making miniatures requires good lighting. I didn't want to let a lack of daylight limit the time I could spend working on my miniatures. So I bought a daylight lamp with adjustable brightness and colour temperature. It certainly won't win any beauty contests, but what a difference it makes! Even when it's pitch black outside, I can see exactly what I'm doing and judge colours as though I'm working in broad daylight. (Honestly, this has to be one of my best purchases in a long time! 😊)