Silverware Wind Chimes

First of all, please excuse the low quality of the photos for this demonstration. Would you believe that my web camera takes better pictures than my normal digital camera? It's true! Time to update, I think.

Secondly, I want to give a shout-out to my friend, Lydia, who inspired me to try to make a personalized photo wind chime. As you scroll down, you'll see many pictures of various wind chimes. Hers is the green hurricane glass one with silver spoons and FRAMES! Cool, cool. She has some great ideas for personalizing gifts and decor. Visit her website!

Now, on with the show...er, demo!

Stuff You'll Need:

*Fishing line
*Glass beads (I love the mixed colors boxes you can buy at any craft store. I also always have a box of clear/white mix on hand--these can be any size, depending on your taste.)
*Plastic beads (Just something cheap, but not too awful looking, like clear pony beads. These are hidden once the chime is finished. Don't worry, you'll see what I mean.)
*Crimp beads (These are the kind you can pinch flat with a pair of needle-nosed pliers.)
*Buttons (These will act as anchors for your bead strands. I recommend smallish white buttons, but you can use whatever you like. I don't like my buttons to be the focus of attention, so I try to match them to the piece I'm gluing them on or use a very light, neutral color. You'll see!)
*Silverware (Mostly spoons, some forks. I don't use many knives. Also, I use real silver. Stainless steel silverware is sooooo hard to punch holes in; and yes, you'll punch holes in your silverware for this project.)
*Hammer
*Nail set (Sometimes called a nail punch, these handy little gadgets basically look like a piece of pointy metal. They're cheap to buy.)
*Drill and drill bits (These may not be necessary. I generally use my nail set to punch holes in my silverware, but if you have a thick piece of silver or you're working with stainless--not recommended--you may want to use a drill after you've made an initial dent in your silverware with your nail set.)
*Scissors
*Needle-nosed pliers or jeweler's pliers
*Heavy-duty glue (I recommend a glue that has some hold on contact but dries very hard and strong. Nothing that expands!)
*Pretty cups, saucers, etc. for your bead strands to dangle from. (I love glass and china, but metals are very nice, too. Use your imagination, and think about where this chime will hang. Outdoors, glass looks SO BEAUTIFUL because the light shines through it. Wooden pieces can warp outside if it rains or snows.)

Let's get started!

DESIGN AND BASIC PREPARATION:

1) Design your chime! I use five pieces of silverware for each of my chimes (usually). Some people like their chimes to be a nicely matching set--all the silver comes from the same set, the teacup and saucer pieces that the beads hang from are of a set, the beads are strung on fishing line in a nice, orderly pattern. I like my chimes to be more of a hodgepodge of happiness. Nothing of a set for me, generally. Here's a picture of an example design:

*Note #1: When choosing silverware, I choose a "clanger" (central piece of silverware) that is larger than the other pieces. Then I choose my other pieces so there is some symmetry. For example, maybe the "clanger" is a large spoon. I need to choose four other pieces, now. I choose two spoons and two forks. They're not of a set, but they have symmetry anyway.
*Note #2: If you've chosen to put together a teacup and a metal saucer, or you're using some other metal piece for your main piece from which the chimes hang, now is the time to drill holes in the metal. Use your nail set or your nail set and drill. Look at Step 3 to see where you'll need holes for your beads to hang from.
*Note #3: Now is the time to glue your main pieces together (example: teacup glued to saucer); UNLESS you're using metal pieces (like a teacup sitting on a metal saucer). In that case, you should glue your pieces together right before you begin to string on beads (next section).
2) Once you've designed your chime, gather together your fishing line, buttons, crimp beads, glue, and pretty pieces (I'm going to call these main pieces "Fascinators," because I gaze at them with adoring fascination.
3) Mark (using a washable marker or a dry-erase marker) five points on the bottom of your Fascinator with one of the points in the center, like in this picture, which is the bottom of a saucer:

*Note #1: You are going to glue strands of fishing line for beads (attached to a button anchor) to these five points, so make sure they are as far apart or as close together as you want. There needs to be a little distance between them so they can catch the wind and clang nicely.
*Note #2: If you are using a metal Fascinator rather than a china saucer or other piece of china, you can go ahead and skip using the buttons. Instead, string fishing line through the holes you've drilled, string on your crimp beads, and crimp 'em. If you drill holes, the four on the outsides of Fascinator need to be close to the rim of your metal piece--otherwise you won't be able to crimp them nicely. For your center piece, string a bead onto your fishing line and use it as a button. Put it INSIDE your Fascinator, and let the line pieces dangle through the hole, out the bottom. Complex, I know. If you have questions, email me--I'll make a youtube video.
4) Cut five pieces of fishing line about a yard long apiece (If you've chosen more than five pieces of silver, go ahead and cut however many you chose.)
5) Thread a piece of fishing line through two holes in one of your buttons until the button is in the middle of the line. Gather the two ends of the line in one hand and thread on a crimp bead. Push the bead down all the way to the button. Crimp the bead in place. You should now have something that looks like this:

6) Okay, so you've made one button anchor. You're going to need four more for the bottom of your chime, so make more!
7) Now that you've made your anchors, you can glue them on the bottom of your chime on top of your five marks (or however many you made--hopefully it corresponds to the number of pieces of silverware you're going to use). Let your glue dry for the full time (Every glue is different--check your bottle.).

See how the fishing line strands (two of them on each button) hang from the buttons?

8) Once your glue is dry, you can make hangers for the top piece of your Fascinator. In this case, a teacup. You only need four hangers, and you'll make them the exact same way you made the button anchors.

9) Glue your top buttons (hanger buttons) in place and let them dry so they can do this:

10) Once your Fascinator pieces are glued together and dry and your hangers and bottom button anchors are glued on and dry (or crimped on, if you're using metal pieces), you can do the WAY FUN PART: Beading! This part deserves a whole new section, don't you think?

BEADING:

1) Start stringing beads onto your fishing lines (Two strands hang from each button, but you're going to put them together and treat them as one.). You can do the bottom anchors first (my favorite), or the top hangers. Let's do the bottom anchors first. This is where your silverware will hang.

Don't worry--I'll walk you though making your strands look GOOOOOD.
*Note: Decide how long you want your chime-hangies to be. You might not get a feel for this until you have strung some beads on. No worries! Generally, I string my "clanger" (center strand) first. Also, since I normally choose a clanger that is a bit bigger than my other silverware pieces, I don't string many beads on this strand. Maybe just 6-8 smallish beads (more if you're using seed beads or slightly-larger-than-seed beads).
2) Once you've got your strand of beads on, slide on a crimp bead. Don't crimp it yet!
3) Slide on you piece of silverware.
4) Now, take the ends (remember, you're working with two strands of fishing line), and poke them back into your crimp bead, then up a few beads. Here's a picture:

5) Pull your fishing line tight, and crimp your crimp bead that is sitting right next to your silverware piece.
*Note: If you want, you can make your bead and silverware strand doubly secure by tying a knot, then tucking the ends of your fishing line up several more beads.
6) Clip the excess fishing line. Guess what? You're done with one strand! Now, make the other four strands (or however many you've got) in the same way.
*Note: You can choose to make your chimes dangle to the same length, or you can choose to make your beads all end at the same length. If, for example, you put three inch's worth of beads on each strand and then put on your silverware, all of which are different lengths, you'll end up with different lengths of chimes. This can be cool, if it's done right. You don't want to have two strands accidentally end up the same length while two others are way off. Or maybe you do want that? I usually like all my chimes to end at the same length. Here are some pictures for examples:




7) Once you're done with your chimes, you can move on to the hangers. Again, this deserves its own section!

CHIME TOP, OR HANGERS:

If you're using a glass Fascinator such as the one in this picture, you may need to improvise the following steps, or do what I did (tie fishing line around the fluted part of my hurricane lamp before I strung on beads):

1) String beads onto the fishing line coming from one button (two strands, remember?). I make my hanger much shorter than my chime. If you're doing a teacup, you could string beads onto a strand until you reach the opposite side of the cup:


*Note #1: I usually choose smaller beads for this part of the hanger. It looks nicer that way, I think. These photos are for the demonstration only--I'd never choose such large beads to hang over a teacup!
*Note #2: If you glued your buttons down deep into your cup, you can use cheapy beads (like the pony beads in the "Ingredients" list at the top) if you want to save nice beads. I did that with this copper chime:

2) Crimp a crimp bead into place at the end of your strand of beads.
3) Pick up the fishing line hanging from the button opposite the one you just finished. Slide beads onto this strand until you are at the same length as the one you just finished. Slide on a crimp bead.
4) Bring your two bead strands together and slide a crimp bead on the fishing line dangling from both strands (four strands all together). Lift your chime in the air and center your strands over the center of your teacup. Crimp the crimp bead in place.
5) Bead the other two strands and link them with each other in the same way that you linked your first two bead strands. Make sure you center them!
6) Link all four bead strands (eight pieces of fishing line) together, using another crimp bead (or two, if you're concerned your chime is too heavy). Make sure you center the crimp bead before you crimp it flat!
7) Now that the four bead strands are linked together, you can make a top for your hanger:

8) I try to slide a bead with a very large hole in it over my crimp beads that I just put on to hide them.
9) Put on a couple of big beads (big beads are okay, here), then another crimp bead. Crimp it!
10) Put on another crimp bead (don't crimp it), then a big bead, then another crimp bead (don't crimp it).
11) Curl your eight strands of fishing line into a loop, then thread the ends back into the crimp bead, the big bead, and the other crimp bead. This is TOUGH with so many strands of fishing line, so here's a trick: Take off your crimp bead, your big bead, and your other crimp bead. Put them aside. Take one strand of fishing line (a separate, little piece you've just cut--maybe six inches long) and loop it through your loop of eight strands, like so:

*Note: Please ignore the fact that my crimp beads are crimped in this picture. DON'T CRIMP YOUR BEADS YET!
12) Bring the two ends of your little piece of line together, and slide on your crimp bead, your big bead, and your other crimp bead.
13) Push the two crimp beads and the big bead over the top of the loop of eight strands of fishing line. This may take some tugging.
14) Slide the crimp bead, the big bead, and the other crimp bead down and crimp the crimp beads into place.
*Note: Make sure you have a nice sized loop, first! I usually make mine big enough to slip over my thumb (to the bottom knuckle).
15) You should have some extra fishing line "tails", now. You can tie them in a knot around the bead strand (like in Step 5 of BEADING). Tuck the tails into some of the other beads, if you can. If you can't, cut them off at the bottom crimp bead.

YOU'RE DONE!!!

I know this may seem like a difficult process, but it's really not. It's like any beading process: You have to make a few before you really get the hang of it. But once you do get the hang of it, they are fairly simple to make--even relaxing!

Please comment if you have any questions.

Source: http://up-cycled.blogspot.com/2010/08/silverware-wind-chimes.html