Gilded Wind Chime

Here's another smart summer craft for you to try out. It's called the gilded wind chime and it's easier to make than you think. You need 4 clay pots about 1.5"small, Americana multi-surface paints in your favorite colors, painter's tape, Martha Stewart liquid gilding (I used the brass color), 20mm wooden beads, a good length of jute, and scissors.

The first fun step is to paint and gild your pots. I ended up putting about 4 coats of paints on my pots (not nearly as bad as it sounds since they're so tiny), let them dry for 20 minutes, then taped off an angled portion at the top of the pot. Using a small paint brush, I brushed on the liquid gilding. I really liked the way the brush strokes of gilding looked over the color, so I left them a little rough, but it's pretty hard to see them in these pictures.

Next, grab your length of jute, I measured about 2 yards and folded it in half, but that was WAY more than I needed. Anyway, take your jute and tie a knot in it about 6 inches from the top of the loop. It kind of looks like this. Next, your going thread your jute through the hole in the pot, and make another knot right above the pot to keep it all in place.

Now, start adding your beads. You really need to make sure that your wooden bead will sit inside your pot so that when the wind blows the bead will make your pot ring. When you have the bead situated, just make another knot under it to keep it in place.

To add the next pot, simply thread it onto the jute and tie a knot where you want the pot to sit. Add the second bead exactly the way you added the first one. If you want to, you can put a little bit of glue (I used Fabri-tac) to hold the beads onto the knots to keep them from slipping. I like to be extra careful with stuff like this.

My finished wind chime had a total of 4 pots, but I didn't put a bead in the last one because it acts as a weight to keep the jute taut and the beads swinging. These little terracotta bells actually have a very nice sound.

I hope you liked the post. If you want to come and listen to my wind chime, you should visit me here at the Enchanted Lake store.


Puna