Buckets, Spoons, and a Jelly Mold Wind Chime
Whooooo, hoooooo Spring is in the air. My favorite season. While everyone in the North is busy carving pumpkins and making gorgeous wreaths, we’re doing the happy dance over here because the most beautiful season of all has finally arrived. That means it’s time to start making some magic in the garden. One of the first things we did was re-purpose an old jelly mold to make this wind chime.
Isn’t it cool? We hung weird, curly spoons and wire-wrapped glass beads under the repurposed jelly mold and they make the most delicious tinkling sound in the wind.
The jelly mold has been lying in our craft cupboard for a while now. Well, I think it’s a jelly mold or something like that. It gets used in a kitchen somehow 😀 Anyhows, since cooking isn’t something I do well, I definitely wasn’t going to use it for whatever purpose it was intended for.
Have a look in your craft cupboard (or kitchen 😉 ) and see what you can reuse. All righty, before I show you how we made this repurposed wind chime, be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram. And don’t forget to subscribe so you’ll never miss a post!
How to Make a Wind Chime from Odd Bits
To make a repurposed wind chime, all you need are some clanking tinkling bits and a base to hang them from. In my case, I used spoons, buckets, and glass pebbles for the hanging tinkling bits and that jelly mold for the base. First up, I needed to figure out a way to hang the glass pebbles and spoons. Since I have a whole bunch of jewelry wire I figured I’d make a wire cage for the pebbles and do something similar for the spoons.
How to Make a Wire Bead or Pebble Cage
To make the wire cage, you need some jewelry wire, flat nose pliers, and wire cutters. Cut the wire into 25 cm pieces. Use the flat nose pliers to make a small loop at one end of the wire.
Put the loop inside the flat nose pliers and then coil the wire as you turn it.
You should end up with a tightly coiled circle that’s large enough to cover one end of the bead. Do the same on the other side making a coil in the opposite direction.
Take the two coils and bend them towards each other. Insert the bead and then squish the wire around the bead, straightening as you work until it covers the bead nicely.
Your wire cage should look something like the piccy below once done.
Hanging The Spoons
When it came to hanging the spoons, I considered drilling a small hole in the handle. Unfortunately, the drill bit just went all over the place, and since I already had my jewelry wire handy it was just easier to use that. To wrap the spoons and get them ready to be hung, cut a piece of wire and make a small loop on one end.
Place the loop on the back of the spoon handle facing upwards, and wind or wrap the wire around the handle.
Make sure to wrap the wire from the bottom up towards the top.
Once the wire has been wrapped around the handle a few times, cut any excess away and tuck the cut end into the wrapped wires as shown below.
Prepping the buckets for hanging
The little buckets were the easiest to get ready for the wind chime. All I needed to do was drill a small hole in the bottom center of each one.
Pro Tip: Use a little tape to stop the drill bit from slipping.
Hanging the spoons, glass pebbles and buckets on the wind chime
To hang the pebbles, spoons, and buckets I used fishing line. Drill small equally spaced holes around the rim of the jelly mold (or whatever you’re using as a base). Tie some fishing line around a pin before threading the fishing line through the hole.
The pin helps anchor the fishing line on top of the mold. Add the caged pebbles and spoons but tieing the fishing line onto the jewelry wire. When making a wind chime it’s always a good idea to stagger the tinkling bits so they can bump into each other when the wind blows.
I absolutely love how it turned out. Those weird little spoons add a touch of drama and whimsy.
And the slightest breeze makes the caged pebbles twirl and dance in the wind.
What do you think?
Would you use kitchen stuff to make a wind chime?
How do you celebrate the changing seasons?
Sharing is caring.
Oh and if you’re looking for some of the things we used, we’ve got you covered Disclosure: Clicking on the links below, means we may receive a commission from Amazon. But don’t worry it won’t come out of your pocket, and it helps us make more amazing crafts to share with you 😉
And if you prefer to buy rather than DIY, then maybe these beauties will appeal.
And as always, wishing you a wonderful, crafty week filled with lots of love. Thank you for popping in for a visit.
The “mold” looks like the bottom of a spring pan.
Cute idea!
Yay, thank you Debbie 😀
It looks like a galvanized vintage chicken feeder.
Oh wow, I need to look that one up. Thanks so much
This is very creative and humorous at the same time! We have just bought a new spoons set. Maybe I have to ask my hubby to buy another new one so I can use the present set for this. Thanks so much for sharing!
Thanks so much Jennifer and I agree get another spoon set. The wind chime is a lot of fun to make and it looks real pretty in the garden 😉
I am so gonna try and make this I love wind chimes but I have to say never one so unique and beautiful all in one I have been on a mission all week trying to figure out how to make a wind chime with a bunch of old silverware and a small metal watering can. And you have given me the inspiration to do it. Thank you so much for sharing.
Hello Tammy :D. I’m so glad you like the wind chime and can’t wait to see what yours will look like. Will you send a photo when your done, I’d love to see it.
I love this; it’s the coolest wind chime I’ve ever seen! How did you bend the spoons? They are so neat! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much Mickie. Unfortunately I can’t help with the spoons, I bought them like that, sorry.
Save yourself some grief – & wire ( although yours looks great! ): buy a “prick punch” from your local hardware store. Using a hammer – you create a “dent” in the object – & your drill bit will stay in place. ( Not working? Make the “dent” even deeper with a couple more whacks of the hammer! )
Beautiful piece! But I can’t see how you made the bends & twists in the flatware??????? )
Good tips Ro, thank you so much. Sorry I can’t help with bending the spoons, I bought them at the China Mall. I have seen them on Amazon though, but they were a lot more expensive
I noticed your wind chimes somewhere in blogland and made a note to check them out when time permits. Then when reading Mary’s post I see your fabulous wind chimes and see that you’re the newest member of the Int’l Bloggers Club! – congrats and welcome! I LOVE your first project in the group – your whimsical wind chimes are fabulous!!! Pinning to share ?
Hello Maire, I love, love your stuff. Wow, thank you so much for coming to say hi and for the pin 😀
That turned out beautifully! It is always a bit hard to wrap my brain around the fact that half of the earth is in the opposite season… it always is so interesting! Anyway, I just love this!
Lol, I struggle with the same thing Carlee. The weirdest thing for me is trying to imagine a white Christmas. For us Christmas is all about pool parties and braai’s or BBQ’s. 😉
Love this idea, and love your out of the box thinking! You have created a magical garden for the springtime.
Lol, thank you Mary.
Love this and love the mold – although not sure it’s a jelly mold, will do some investigation and see what I can find out (It probably wont surprise you to know I actually have a bit of a thing about jelly molds lol!)
Thanks a ton Sarah, I’d be really keen to know what IT should be used for, besides making wind chimes, lol 😉
Michelle, how fun that it is springtime for you when all I’m waiting for is fall this time of year! I love that wind chime, it is so unique, all the little bits and pieces you added are so clever! It looks really beautiful!
Lol Katrin, you’re right it’s weird. Hope you have a beautiful, inspiring fall
How cute Michelle! I love how you used a combination of things to make your wind chime. It turned out really pretty! I’ve been wanting to make a wind chime, I even have everything that I need. Guess I need to get with it.
Hey Linda <3 looking at all your other projects your wind chime is going to look amazing. Can't wait to see it.
Super cute! love how you took something you didnt think you’d use again for its intended purpose
Lol Sarah, if I knew how to cook I’d probably be able to use IT for whatever IT was meant for. Thanks for stopping and leaving a comment
Your left-hand social media bar is horribly annoying when someone tries to view your posts with an iPad. It obscures the first word or two on the left and is impossible to remove.
Thanks for letting me know Beth. I’ll try and see if I’ve missed a setting or something somewhere. Sorry about that, but I really do appreciate you letting me know.
Michelle, this is AWESOME!! I love how you took the combination of different things and put them together to make a wind chime! Also your methods for attaching all the different elements is so absolutely clever!!! The wind chime looks so cute too!
Thank you Keri. I just wish I could get a nice picture when the solar light goes on at night. It looks so pretty. Hope you have a beautiful fall filled with pumpkins, golden hues and amazing sunsets
Michelle, you amaze me! Really! I wish I could travel to your garden to see all the magical things you have there! This wind chime is absolutely adorable, I can see the sun hitting the stones and the spoons and how it will shine.
Enjoy your spring!!
Awwwww Pili, thank you so much. I really, really love our garden, especially this time of the year. I’d love for you to see it for real sometime. Enjoy fall <3