Total Time 1 hour Ages all-ages
Everyone enjoys a good outdoor summer concert, and it's literally a breeze to orchestrate one with this homemade wind chime.
What you'll need
- Brick
- 2 old dish towels
- Hammer
- Wide rubber band
- 4 spoons, 1 fork
- Spring clamp, 5 inches long
- Scrap piece of wood
- Safety goggles
- Drill with 1/8-inch bit for drilling metal
- Needle-nose pliers
- Ruler and scissors
- Fishing line
- Beads
Helpful Tip:
Although you can use stainless steel utensils, try to avoid it. Silver-plated ones make the nicest sound, and you can often find singles at a thrift store. In either case, choose utensils with thinner handles (about 1/16-inch thick), as they will be easier to flatten and drill. And use extreme care when drilling metal. Use a good quality bit, run the drill at its lowest speed, use a lubricating oil, and do not apply excessive force on the drill. Be patient.
How to make it
- Set the brick on the ground and place a folded dish towel on top of it. Fold the second towel (or just a piece of the towel, depending on how bulky it is) and wrap it around the striking end of the hammerhead. Use the rubber band to secure it. Now flatten the spoons and fork.
- Place a piece of silverware on the covered brick and pound it with the hammer. After a while, turn over the utensil and pound it from the opposite side. (Occasionally, as holes wear through the cloth covering the hammer, you'll need to unband it, refold the square, and reattach it.)
- After all the pieces have been pounded flat, it's time to drill holes in the utensil handles (a parent's job). One at a time, tightly clamp each utensil to the piece of wood. Wearing safety goggles, drill a hole 1/2 inch down from the end of the handle.
- Use the pliers to separate the tines of the fork and twist each of them into a small closed loop at the tip (another job for parents).
- Thread a 7-inch length of fishing line through the hole in each spoon and knot the line around the handle. Next, thread several beads onto each strand and knot the line above the beads as well. Leaving 4 inches of line above the top beads, tie the spoons to the loops in the fork tines. Finally, attach fishing line to the fork handle and string on a few beads. Securely tie a loop in the end of the strand and the wind chime is ready to hang.
