Clocks are something I’ve always enjoyed making. Many years ago, my dad, Ed, asked me to make a clock for him and my mom. I said, “Sure, I can make you a clock”—despite never having made one before.

I started with a small square that became my guide for forming the numbers. Every numeral had to fit within the same space, so the 5s, 1s, 2s, zero, and 3 were all shaped by hand to create a consistent clock face. A circle in the center held the clock mechanism, and suddenly I had a clock.

I liked the result enough that clocks began finding their way into several of my rolling ball sculptures. They give the sculpture another purpose and something interesting to look at even when the marbles aren't moving.

This Clock Tower was one of my early experiments with a wrap-around loop d’ loop. I wanted to keep the sculpture relatively compact, so instead of letting the loops consume the entire front of the piece, I bent and shaped them to begin along one side of the frame and wrap around the front.

That loop d’ loop contains seven inversions before the marble exits directly into a “balls on track” element at the front. Another fast track drops through a tall vertical zig-zag, while the remaining track winds around the clock rather than obscuring it.

There’s plenty more packed into the frame: a tipping arm, horizontal zig-zags, small dips, and lots of twisting, curving track. It’s part clock, part kinetic sculpture, and a good example of how I learned to fit increasingly complicated marble paths into relatively small spaces.

100% stainless steel, TIG welded.