By taking apart a toy xylophone, I created colorful and musical wind chimes. I painted some stripes on a branch and hung the xylophone pieces from it using yarn. I love how it adds a fun and whimiscal touch to my porch! Megan, Homemade Ginger homemadeginger.com
This rustic do-it-yourself wind chime is crafted out of an old mattress spring and antique skele- ton keys. I knew I wanted to use skeleton keys to create a wind chime, but the mattress spring was a burst of last-minute inspiration. Its circular coils function as the perfect structure to assemble a chime.
I added the skeleton keys by winding silver 24-gauge wire around the keys and attaching them to the mattress spring. An old keyhole plate connected with more wire serves as a spot to hang the chime. It’s a bit whimsical (and I think that’s why I like it so much.) Kirsten, Red Leaf Style redleafstyle.com
The combination of a trashed-out lampshade, crochet thread (metallic in size 10 thread), a 3.5mm crochet hook, large eye needle (to weave in thread ends and attach chimes), glue and some assorted jewelry and lamp finds from my collecting stash turned into this sparkly wind chime. Most of the gutting of the lampshade was courtesy of the shade’s previous owner. Reflective glitz was the look that I was going for, so first I chose gold metallic crochet thread. Using two strands of thread, I worked several single crochet stitches around the stays and the top and bottom rings of the frame. Most of my creating time was spent choosing the jewelry and the chimes. After some experimentation with light refraction, sound and “swingability,” I decided on lead crystal tear drops and the remnants of a broken 1950s necklace. These choices provided a wonderful accent of the desired glitz. Again using double strands of metallic gold crochet thread, I attached the beads and the teardrops using chain stitches to the desired lengths. I tied the center chime in place and secured the tie with glue. I then stitched each of the remaining chimes in place and also secured their attached areas with glue. The definitive layer of glitz was complete. After a mere two hours, that which was once a pile of “collected stuff ” became a sparkling, chiming, messenger of spring. Karen Glasgow Follett karenglasgowfollet.wordpress.com
37 vintagekc spring 2015
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