Recycled Junk Wind Chime

Throwing away all the collected junks just a week before you need them, well, it happens to every crafter. But no worries, here's a perfect project for you to use all those junkies and turn them into a lovely wind-chime. Follow the tutorial and ind out!

What you need

For this project you’ll need:
1. Small stainless steel bowl
2. Awl and hammer
3. Craft wire – 18-20 gauge
4. Leftover beads and charms
5. Old keys for chimes
6. Plastic thread or string for hanger

Instructions

Gather all the materials for decoration from your junk collection. You can use almost everything that sparkles and chimes! I collected old keys for the chimes. Used crystle beads and leftover jewelry charms for decoration.

You will need something for the base, lets see…. what do we have? well, I’m using a small stainless steel bowl but you can use leftover tin cans, soda cans as well. Once you’ve selected the base you’ll need to make holes on it to attach hanging mechanisms and decorations pieces. Mark the places for the hole and then use awl and hammer to make the holes. I made 6 holes around the open sides for the decoration pieces, 1 hole on the center for the main chime piece and 3 holes around the center for the hanging mechanism.

Okay, time to make the decoration pieces. I simply wired beads and made 2 small loops on both sides of the wire to secure the beads. You can bead 1-3 or as many beads as you want into the same wire, just make sure that the combination is good. You can also make small wire charms or use i you have any in your junk collection.

Attach the wired beads together through their loops. You can also use jump ring to attach them but it’s easier to attach them through their loops. After reaching the required legth of the decoration pieces attach a charm to complete.

Nice and bright bead and color combination is the most important part for this wind chime. Look how lively the decoration pieces turned out, who would know that they’re all made out of junks!

Cut 3-4 cm long wire pieces. Make a small loop at any one end of the wire. Take a beaded decoration piece and attach it with the small wire through its loop. Now insert the straight end of the wire through any one of the holes around the bowls open edge. Create another loop to secure that wire with the base.

Similarly attach all the other decoration pieces and also the center piece. At last create the hanging mechanism. Use string and plastic thread, take them through the 3 holes around the center hole. Hold all the open ends of the strings together and tie 2-3 tight knots to complete the hanging part for the chime.

All done!

Enjoy your new Junk Chime!