Grab A Dollar Tree Pizza Pan And Hula Hoop For A Beautiful DIY Modern Wall Clock

Given that there are probably kids old enough to have driver's licenses who think clock is nothing more than a smartphone app, the phrase modern-analog-wall-clock might read as nonsense to some. So when TikTok DIYer and crafter extraordinaire @my_home_by_kendra decided to make a modern wall clock, there was inevitably going to be a bit of retro flair involved. What wasn't inevitable, or even predictable, was her choice of materials — a pizza pan, a hula hoop, a craft board, and a clock kit. We've seen beautiful clocks made from wood pallets and stunning DIY clocks made from old books, but this might be a first for a pizza pan and hula hoop. We priced everything, minus the black and gold paint, at a mere $7.92 — cheaper than the pizza would have been.

The project is a simple one by almost any standard. Start by painting the ¼-inch by 2-inch by 48-inch poplar board from Lowe's ($4.23) black. The 12-inch Cooking Concepts pizza pan ($1.25 at Dollar Tree) is spray painted gold, then a hole is drilled through the center of the board and pizza pan, into which a clock kit like this $1.19 model from Walmart is assembled. The hula hoop (you can pick up 4 in various sizes for $1.25 at Dollar Tree), also painted gold, is mounted behind the board, concentric with the pizza pan. Voila! At its worst, this sub-$10 clock will be right twice a day.

The style of @my_home_by_kendra's creation is nonspecifically retro, but it would be home in just about any modern or minimalist design. Given the main elements of a black bar and a couple of circles, there are a lot of places this design could land historically. The gold makes it work as a stripped-down Art Deco piece. It also has a bit of a Bauhaus vibe, which isn't something you see every day. The point is that simple shapes can be timelessly modern far more easily than more complicated ones. This gives you a lot of room to play if you decide to make something similar but more fitting for your own space. Here are a few ideas, but there are endless possibilities for artistic wall clocks you can emulate.

As it stands, the design is vaguely reminiscent of a wristwatch, but repositioning a circle to the bottom end of the board instantly reminds one of a modern pendulum clock. Add a small white circle at the top of the clock, and you start to see Nathan George Horwitt's 1970 clock design from the Museum of Modern Art Design Collection emerge. Two concentric hula hoops and some PVC pipe get you close to this modern Art Deco design. And one can imagine using the entire four-pack of hula hoops to sneak up on something like this classic midcentury modern design. It's time for some brainstorming, which you'd already know if you had a clock.