New Zealand DIY Wind Chime
About a month ago I got an email from a writer in New Zealand....
First let me just say that I am thrilled to death...beyond that. So the emails started and here are some of the 50 or so pictures that we sent....
First you have to go on a treasure hunt to find just the most unique article of junk that you can find to be the centerpiece of the wind chime. We were able to find a colander in Old Milford and my new favorite junk/treasure/antique shop.
The next order of business is to find spoons, (which we already had because Betsy found them for us at a rummage sale at the church), knives and forks. A small hole must be drilled in the end of each spoon, fork, and knife. Most of them are easy but there are a few kinds that just won't be drilled. Luckily we had the soft ones.
This is the second most challenging part of the whole operation...twisting the fork tines with needle nose pliers. I love the way that they look all curled up. The sorta reminds me of the old witch in the Wizard of Oz after she gets hit with the house and her toes roll up.
I had to make sure to get just the right picture here because I needed to hide Michael's hand...he has his scissors upside down while he is cutting fishing line that we use to tie everything together. Our first plan was to get the tape measure and measure out certain lenghts of fishing line. We decided that it might work out better...be more creative ...if we just pulled it out and cut. And that is exactly what we did.
Threading went really well until we got to the knives. Seems that knives are hollow and when you try to thread a curled end of fishing line into it...the line somehow gets lost mid way thru. I was delegated to thread and tie all the knives. I had to tie all the other knots also. Seems we might just be learning to tie knots and shoes this summer. One of those teachable moments I guess. Michael's little fingers just don't quite work that way just yet.
The item in the middle always has to be a bit larger that the other things hanging around it. One, for interest and the other so when the wind blows it gets the big this first and it in turn makes everything else work. We found a giant spoon at Tater Ridge...my all time favorite place to spend a couple of hours going thru old barns filled with everything that you can imagine and then some.
According to my helper...'this is the most boring part'. I guess it would be if your only job was holding the colander. Threading the holes is a bit much for him also. We tried me fishing the line up and him catching it and then the other way around.But he was a trooper...he held it and would choose which hole to put it in. He has a pretty good eye...must be that OCD thing. Our picture taker, Cassie, had to be called into action for some tieing assignments.
Still tieing spoons, knives and forks. As you can see we are working well into the night. What we won't do for some fun around here. I would have to get Emmy back with the camera...she was off shooting her shots for our next God's Abundant Gifts Photo Challenge...the sky. (She seems to think she is going to win...I had to remind her several times that she needed to go look at the last challenge to see who the Biggest Winner was...) 
And tada...the finished product hanging in the tree by the patio. I wish the wind would blow so we could hear how it sounds. We have wind chimes all around the front and back yards. We love the 'music' they make...Michael's words. (You know that he always has music running thru his head.)
When the article comes out I'll let you all know. I think it might even be on their website. I am excited and hopefully have some other things that they might consider. Wish us luck!
I am researching windchimes for our magazine's very first kids project, and I just really liked the look of your windchime, which I found on google images under "fork+spoon+wind+chime". There are many windchimes out there, but (in addition to liking the actual windchime) I got the sense that the creativity that is clearly bursting from your children is being fostered in a family environment that is soulful and beautiful. I also liked that you used a potato masher!!! No one has done that in any of the windchimes I have researched!
First let me just say that I am thrilled to death...beyond that. So the emails started and here are some of the 50 or so pictures that we sent....
First you have to go on a treasure hunt to find just the most unique article of junk that you can find to be the centerpiece of the wind chime. We were able to find a colander in Old Milford and my new favorite junk/treasure/antique shop.
The next order of business is to find spoons, (which we already had because Betsy found them for us at a rummage sale at the church), knives and forks. A small hole must be drilled in the end of each spoon, fork, and knife. Most of them are easy but there are a few kinds that just won't be drilled. Luckily we had the soft ones.
This is the second most challenging part of the whole operation...twisting the fork tines with needle nose pliers. I love the way that they look all curled up. The sorta reminds me of the old witch in the Wizard of Oz after she gets hit with the house and her toes roll up.
I had to make sure to get just the right picture here because I needed to hide Michael's hand...he has his scissors upside down while he is cutting fishing line that we use to tie everything together. Our first plan was to get the tape measure and measure out certain lenghts of fishing line. We decided that it might work out better...be more creative ...if we just pulled it out and cut. And that is exactly what we did.
Threading went really well until we got to the knives. Seems that knives are hollow and when you try to thread a curled end of fishing line into it...the line somehow gets lost mid way thru. I was delegated to thread and tie all the knives. I had to tie all the other knots also. Seems we might just be learning to tie knots and shoes this summer. One of those teachable moments I guess. Michael's little fingers just don't quite work that way just yet.
The item in the middle always has to be a bit larger that the other things hanging around it. One, for interest and the other so when the wind blows it gets the big this first and it in turn makes everything else work. We found a giant spoon at Tater Ridge...my all time favorite place to spend a couple of hours going thru old barns filled with everything that you can imagine and then some.
According to my helper...'this is the most boring part'. I guess it would be if your only job was holding the colander. Threading the holes is a bit much for him also. We tried me fishing the line up and him catching it and then the other way around.But he was a trooper...he held it and would choose which hole to put it in. He has a pretty good eye...must be that OCD thing. Our picture taker, Cassie, had to be called into action for some tieing assignments.
Still tieing spoons, knives and forks. As you can see we are working well into the night. What we won't do for some fun around here. I would have to get Emmy back with the camera...she was off shooting her shots for our next God's Abundant Gifts Photo Challenge...the sky. (She seems to think she is going to win...I had to remind her several times that she needed to go look at the last challenge to see who the Biggest Winner was...) 
And tada...the finished product hanging in the tree by the patio. I wish the wind would blow so we could hear how it sounds. We have wind chimes all around the front and back yards. We love the 'music' they make...Michael's words. (You know that he always has music running thru his head.)When the article comes out I'll let you all know. I think it might even be on their website. I am excited and hopefully have some other things that they might consider. Wish us luck!
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