How to Make a Wind Chime

I love wind chimes. Not only are they visually pleasing but they make a nice relaxing sound that helps me relieve stress and lifts my mood. My children seem to gravitate towards wind chimes in the store and are constantly asking me to buy some for them. The only problem is that wind chimes can get quite pricey (like so many things these days). My kiddos were so excited when I recently told them we would make our own wind chimes. It took some time but was pretty easy to do. Here are some ideas to help your family make your own wind chimes, too.

We started by finding craft supplies and other items that made a pleasant sound when clinked together. We chose shells, unfinished wood shapes, and various types of beads. Other ideas include old keys, bottle caps, pop pull tabs, bells, and crafting sticks.

Next we drilled holes into our items so they could be easily placed on the chimes. The thick and glossy shells were impossible to drill through with the tools available to me so be sure to consider that when choosing shells. After the wood shapes were drilled they were painted and sprayed with polyurethane.

The next step is assembling the wind chime. My son used a wooden sun as the center of his wind chime (see it two pictures ago). My daughter and I used pieces of wood from the yard (driftwood and broken branches). My daughter painted hers but I wanted mine to be more natural looking so I left them bare. All of the center pieces were sprayed with polyurethane to help them to stand up to the weather a little.

We used fishing line for our wind chimes but you can also use string, nylon thread, or whatever else you find laying around.  Just be sure it will survive your weather. For the driftwood center pieces I tied the line on either side and used a simple loop knot on top. For my son’s wooden sun center, I drilled a hole in the middle and anchored the hanging line using a large bead. I also made a simple loop knot at the top of that line.

For the next step, we tied all of our chosen items onto the string segments. When cutting your string segments, make sure you make them longer than you intend them to be in order to allow plenty of length for tying knots and wrapping some items. Also, my daughter learned the hard way that the more line that shows, the more tangles your wind chime will have. Start by tying a bead or stone to the bottom of each line to keep items from slipping off. Then feed your chime items onto the string one by one. The best way to do this is by feeding the line though and then pulling it around and feeding it through again. This secures it to the string but still allows you to pull it up and down on the string for repositioning.

Tie each line onto the center piece as they are finished. Make sure to space them out so that they will not get tangled. We ended up with four wind chimes but I may still make another. I want to make a chime from bottle caps or old keys but I do not have any at the moment. Check out our finished wind chimes!

I made this one. The shells had to be tied on and hot glued because I could not drill holes through them.

My daughter’s wind chime.

My son’s wind chime.

Another wind chime I made.  This one sounds heavenly.

Making wind chimes was not too difficult at all. It was so much fun and we only spent about $20 for the materials that made these four beauties (we already had polyurethane and paint).  This was so fun and easy that I am thinking that wind chimes might make the perfect Christmas gift for family and friends this year.

So how about you? Will you make a wind chime, too?