Spring is in the air. FINALLY! At the first sign of spring, I can't stop obsessing about my garden and though it its too cold for me to start planting, I can still start decorating. My little treasures hanging from the trees and on the ground gives my garden a hint of fantasy and whimsy. No garden is complete without wind chimes.
Materials
- 3 - Different sized clay pots painted and sealed with clear coat spray
- Assortment of Pony beads
- 3 feet of Fishing Line (30 lb test)
- 3 - 5/8th inch washers
- 3 different sized washers the width of the bottom of each of your clay pots.
- A decorative key OR fishing weight
I decided to go with fun spring colors. One important note, remember this is going UPSIDE DOWN so make sure whatever you paint is going in the correct direction. I realized this half way through painting the pots. Lucky for me I went with shapes in different directions so it didn't matter.
The smaller washers are used to hold the pots in place and the larger ones are used to hit up against the pot and make the 'chime' sound (its is more like a clank).
You start stringing these suckers with the middle pot. First, tie a 5/8 washer in the middle of your fishing line and double knot it. About a finger width lower, tie the middle sized washer on, DO NOT double knot it. The reason is that you want to be able to adjust it just in case it is too low or two high. You don't want it hanging too low because you want the pot to hide it.After the two washers are tied on, you can slide your middle clay pot on the fishing line. This is when I started to get excited because it actually looked like a chime. Now you want to tie on the biggest washer above the middle sized clay pot (just once because you want to be able to adjust it). Right above that you want to tie on the 5/8 washer. Slide the large clay pot on top of your newly placed washers and you are almost there.
Now that you have two clay pots on your fishing line, you need to finish with the last one. Slide the smallest clay pot on below the middle clay pot, then tie on the 5/8 washer, then right below that tie on the smaller of the three washers.
You may have to fool around with the fishing line to adjust the pots to be in the correct places. This is why I only double knotted the first 5/8 washer and none of the others.
Once you have your pots in the correct places you can tie a loop at the top of your fishing line for easy hanging then start sliding your pony beads on the top of the string. When I'm finished sliding my pony beads on I like to knot it to keep it secure.
Now you can start sliding pony beads at the bottom of the string, tie on your fishing weight or decorative key (if you are lucky enough to have one) and you magically have chimes!
Grade: A
Skill Level: Low
Difficulty Level: Low
Frustration Level: Moderate
Price: $ - $$
Its a little frustrating playing around with the fishing line to get the wind chimes in the correct place.
