Wind Chime Rescue

When we moved from our mountain side to our new home a year ago, the Mountain Man saved a few of our many wind chimes and brought them with us. I thought I would buy new wind chimes for our new yard but the prices shocked me! 

So, you know how I roll; I told him I was ready to take a look at repairing the old ones and he gave me this "wind chime stew" in an old canning kettle. (A wonderfully dented, chippy, rusty and blue enamel canning kettle which would look great holding a big bushy lavender plant and maybe some cascading petunias and alyssum....ahem, I digress. )

Whoa. What is in there? I see parts of four wind chimes! I sort of wondered if I'd really be able to salvage four complete sets out of this smorgasbord.

Here is my wind chime rescue kit...four and six pound clear fishing line, plastic beads, a yarn needle, split rings from 1/4" to 1", plastic rings, scissors, jewelry pliers, wire cutters and needle nose pliers. 

Just a note-Light fly fishing line is also excellent for wind chime repair and it is not expensive. It is very similar to the cord used in commercial wind chimes.One roll will give you enough to make/repair LOTS of wind chimes.

For these repairs, though,  I used clear fishing line and a 2" long yarn needle with a large eye. 

I set up on the front porch on a warm summer morning and got to work.

                                        

I had a gorgeous view of my 3 barrel fountain with ivy and flowers cascading around. It's just me and the hummingbirds and the butterflies out here. With a little Pandora on my Kindle and a big cup of coffee, it was a wonderful way to start the day.

So, DON'T do this first thing. Yeah, how pretty the shiny rings look against the porch boards! I couldn't believe I did this.  Moving on.....

I untangled a surprisingly intact wind chime that we'd made out of flattened and drilled kitchen ware and some light metal rods. I hung it inside this trellis tower and went to work. The top is a soup ladle that the Welding Man drilled to hold everything in a balanced design. He also drilled a hole in the middle to hang the "clapper," which is a spoon. I added more beading to each peace and triple tied the fishing line back and forth thru the mounting holes. One down!

Here is a light and airy metal wind chime that I am surprised is still around. I reattached all the pagoda pieces and the hanging chimes with fishing line. If you are repairing a wind chime, take a close look at how the chimes are attached. The lines for the chimes should not be rigid and should let the pieces swing freely. When in doubt, tap your hanging chime parts and listen for the best tone. You will soon hear the difference that long or short lines make to the sound of your chimes.

Since both of these wind chimes sounded good but  still looked beat up, I hit them each with a coat of silver metallic spray paint. 

 Ooh aah!

The silvery paint made all the metal look just shiny enough and the colored plastic beads are a perfect blue touch. The flatware by itself is not too "chimey" so the addition of the metal rods gave this a beautiful, tinkly tone. I like this so much I think I'll have to make another!

And here is the "pagoda" wind chime after a shot of that silvery metallic spray paint. Pretty and delicate and perfect for a gentle tone when the wind blows.

Here is the largest wind chime, the parts of which you can see scrambled up in that canning kettle. I put it back together with fishing line and the Welding Man made a new "sail" for the bottom out of a scrap of wood and an eye bolt. The metal and wood were grungy so I primed it with white spray paint followed by a good coat of that same silver metallic spray paint. Now this wind chime looks almost brand new!

Here's what's left after all the other chimes were put back together. The soup ladle is already drilled and we saved two pieces from an old wind chime. I gave the Welding Man three pieces of yard sale flatware to drill so I can get this chime repaired and hung up. Since I don't have any small metal rods left I am thinking of using some old keys and other metal hardware. I hope it comes out as neat as my mental image!

I'll post pics on my blog if it looks good. And if it doesn't it will just quietly go away, never to be mentioned again. :o)

I'll be joining the parties in my sidebar, come visit and link up. You never know what cool, creative and interesting ideas you will find!

Nightstands Turned Kitchen Island...Really!

Here it is, the latest project that's eaten my time between life's usual craziness and necessary business...a "new" kitchen island made from our old (circa 1971) nightstands.

Yup, we made this from two nightstands!

Inside I covered a wooden box and the inside of the island in red checked craft paper. The Welding Man installed the old drawer pulls for towel hangers on both sides. I love recycling the hardware from vintage furniture and these work great!We had a BBQ for over 2 dozen people this last weekend (plus a couple of big family dinners for 14 the week before) and this island has turned to be a most excellent addition to our busy kitchen.

Here's our messy kitchen with that big empty space between the sink and the stove. Additional work space is always good, and I wanted a serving bar for our buffet style family dinners.

I saw this photo of a dresser restyled into an island and the wheels in my head started turning....

So last Thanksgiving we put our two nightstands back to back, threw a tablecloth over them and called it good.  The two of them together gave me a lower work surface for hand mixing and bread kneading so I knew they would work with a bit of tweaking. We also figured if I wanted it higher we could put chunky wood bun legs at each corner, but we did not have to. The cost to build a brand new country style island chalked up to about $130 so we decided the nightstands it had to be!

The rainy, cold Oregon spring  made outdoor work uncomfortable/impossible, so we set up in the dining room. I used an old oilcloth tablecloth under the nightstands and painted them blue with a grey wash, after cleaning and sanding them thoroughly.

The Welding man cut MDF (medium density fiberboard)  to fit the top. It passed inspection by our chocolate lab, Molly Brown. She's actually checking for food, lol! The Welding Man also cut shelving for the inside.

For the top surface I wanted something close to the color of the still serviceable linoleum floor. I had already added book pages to the side of a kitchen shelf and since I am all about book page recycling, you know what's coming next. What better way to use a way out of date Betty Crocker paper back cook book?

Here The Welding Man is spreading the Envirotex resin, a two part mix which was really affordable with a 40% off coupon at Michael's.  It takes 72 hours to cure. We poured it on a Tuesday and by Saturday it was totally serviceable. The Envirotex is commonly used for bar tops and wood crafts. We used it way back when on walnut and myrtle wood burl clocks. Hello, 80s! It is water and alcohol proof and cleans up nice and shiny.

Here's another angle taken before we added the drawer pull/towel holders. I like it. I like it alot!

Here you can see how the book pages and the linoleum are totally compatible color wise. Serendipity!

 I LOVE how this came out! The actual cost on this project was less than $40, with the money going to Envirotex and paint. We already had the nightstands, MDF, sand paper and brushes.

Making do with what we've got never looked so good. Now I've just got to get to my other "blue" project, the bargain priced buffet I got for $20. Just as soon as the weather gets nicer so I can work outside, because it's too big to put up on the dining table.

This was an easy project with minimal skills required. You would be surprised how easy projects can be once you break them down to component parts and a step by step "battle plan." Got a project you're holding off on? You can do it!

I'll be linking up to the parties in my sidebar. Come visit and check out the creativity!