Ferris Wheel Clock

Hi, this is my first instructable and I hope you like the Ferris Wheel clock I made today. The construction is mainly cardboard, and an old electric clock I was able to buy for $2 at the thrift store. It´s main application is in a childrens bedroom but can be used anywhere. If you´ve ever done a craft before, these are tools and materials that you should be able to find around your house, hope you enjoy, : )

These tools are nothing special and you should be able to find them around your house, here they are:

• Scissors
• Box cutter/ razor blade, these can be replaced by the scissors, but it will be much, MUCH, harder
• protractor, or other angle measuring device
• Paintbrushes, just make sure you have a medium to large one, and a small one
• Hot glue gun and hot glue
• glue stick
• Ruler, the measurements in this instructable are in inches
• Pencil for marking
• Black Sharpie
• Masking tape, not a necessity but nice to have for temporary fastening

Like the tools, these materials are most likely ones you won't have to go out and buy, but if you don't have one, you will most likely be able to substitute it or do without it, here they are:

• An abundant amount of cardboard
• 8 1/2 by 11 printer paper
• modge podge or other varnish
• an old electric clock that you know longer need
• Thin yarn or twine
• Acrylic paints
• Toothpicks

Your clocks will most likely be different, but mine was fairly simple, all I had to do was remove the clock hands by pulling them off gently, and then pull the box with all of the gears, and electronics out the back.

To cut out the wheels first use pencil to draw a cross 10 inches long and 10 inches wide. Then, use the protractor to create 8 five inch long going out from the center point, these lines should be each be 30 degrees from the one next to it . In the end you should have 12 equally spaced lines going out from the center point. Next, inside these triangles create another triangle 1/4 of an inch from the outer edge, and 1/8 of an inch from the inner ¨spokes.¨ Once you have done that for all 12 spaces, cut out along the outer lines and the inner triangles, this should give you something that looks like a bike wheel with 12 spokes. You must now create another one and paint them the color of your choosing (I chose red, and used modge podge to give it a better finish).

To create the seats first you will need to take the normal paper and loosely role it around a toothpick, and glue it so it does not unroll. Make sure that if you stick a toothpick down the middle it can spin freely. Next, attach 1/4 inch of the rolled paper to 2 1/4 inches of the thin yarn, this is what allows the seats to hang freely. Then cut out and paint 12 1 1/2 inch by 1 inch rectangles, 12 1 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch rectangles, and 24 3/4 inch diameter circles. Assembly as shown above with the right side of all the seats numbered 1-12.

To attach the clock and the wheel simply cut a hole in the wheel and glue it onto the part where the hourhand would normally go. Then, glue twelve toothpicks straight up on each of the corners. Next, slide the seats onto the toothpicks from 1 to 12 going counterclockwise.

Start by cutting out and painting 2 trapezoids that will hold up the wheel. It does not matter what they look like as long as they can hold up the wheel. Then, in one of them cut out a hole the size of the clock mechanism and glue that in there. With the other trapezoid put a small piece of the rolled up paper from earlier where the middle of the clock would be, and in the front wheel put a small piece of a toothpick sticking out so it will fit into the trapezoid. Lastly, glue the front wheel to the rest of the clock so that all of the seats can no longer get off.

To finish the creation I decided to cut out large sections of the supports to make it more realistic. Also, to show what time it is I made a small prodrudion stationary arm that will show what time it is. Thanks for reading this, I hope it was enjoyable. : )