How to make a comic book cover clock

As I've mentioned before, my family is happily geeky and comic book love falls in that geekdom. So we have boxes and boxes of comics and some of them are in less than pristine condition. Never, ever cut up a comic unless you know that it's not a collectors item, preferably only comics in "loved"condition. The comic above isn't valuable and I have duplicate copies of it.

You will need:

• comic book with an intact cover
• thermal laminating machine 
• 3 or 5 mil letter sized pouch (I used 3 mil- glossy)
• small sharp scissors
• paper trimmer or large scissors
• pen- ball point worked on my laminating pouches
• Clock movement kit- I used #10043 from Klockit, the shaft is short, and perfect for thinner faces.
• hands for the clock- you can pick free hands from Klockit when you order the movement, a second hand costs a little extra
• battery for the clock

About thermal laminating machines- I have a couple of them, the one I used is a very fast Black and Decker model that is a little on the pricey side. A much less expensive option that does take a little while to warm up is the Scotch thermal laminating machine. I have one, and used it for years, and can recommend them for hobby use. Links to both at the bottom of this entry!

So to start, open your comic to the middle and unpin the staples to remove the cover intact. It's easier to trim it straight if you can cut right along the fold or in the case of my comic, it had a line down the middle. 

Cut the cover in half, then find the middle. You'll bring the top and bottom edges together, and make a small crease approximately in the middle of the fold.

Repeat lengthwise, then you'll have a small folded + in the middle of the cover.

Now the thing about lamination is there has to be an outside edge of the lamination for it to be sealed. So to create that edge for the hole for the clock shaft to go through, I used the brass washer from my clock kit and traced around the outside of that. Place it directly over the + and trace with a pen.

Then cut out the hole using the small sharp scissors, cut just slightly outside your traced line.

Now you put the page in your laminating pouch, and run it through your laminating machine. 

Now you need to cut your hole for the clock movement shaft. This time I used the larger of the 2 hex nuts that were in the kit and traced the inside.

Use the small sharp scissors again to cut out the hole. Then check it on the clock movement, if you need to make the hole a little bigger trim just a shaving around the edge until it fits.

Now it's all set to go, pull out the clock movement and trim the edges around the cover remembering to leave at least a 1/8th to a 1/4 inch of clear lamination all around the edges. Then install your clock movement following the instructions that came with it.

Now you have you own comic book clock! The same technique will work with all sorts of paper projects, the key is having a fairly stiff lamination. When you hang it, it will stick out from the wall the same distance as the clock movements thickness.

About The Warlord- The Warlord was written and illustrated by Mike Grell, and it was one of my favorite comic books when I was a kid. My mom didn't like me reading comics so a lot of the time my Uncle Lamar would sneak them to me. He was fond of all sorts of titles, but mostly not the superhero books. The Warlord was a favorite of his. I'll probably make another one of these with a Green Lantern cover for my husband.