Wind Chime

A Variety Of Wind Chime Types

When it comes to wind chimes for the home or garden there are many types to choose from, each with their own unique characteristics and properties.  From aluminum to ceramic, there are many types of chimes out there, each with their own distinct sound and look.  Hopefully this article will help you find the specific material and type you are looking for.

Different Materials, Different Sounds

Not all wind chimes are created equal.  Chimes made out of differing materials will produce different noises when blown by the wind.  Metallic wind chimes, such as those made of aluminum, brass, or steel, will make bell-like sounds when the wind blows through them.  Of these materials, there are many different types and styles.

Styles such as gongs, bells, or traditional hanging chimes are available for purchase off of the internet.  Not only can you find the chime material and style that you want, but many chimes play specific notes from specific songs, allowing you to find the piece that suits your mood or stirs your soul.  Finding a wind chime that is beautiful and melodious is worth the time and effort, as it can last decades and truly make a back yard or patio special.

Apart from the traditional metallic chimes, there are plenty of other materials to choose from.  Wooden wind chimes and their bass-like sounds add a different flair to the atmosphere of a back yard.  Bamboo wind chimes can add a taste of the orient to your outdoor décor or perhaps add the finishing touch to your rock garden or meditation area.  Glass chimes can create a delicate sound that fits their delicate nature.  The beauty of the sun shining through a piece of colored glass will add to the ambience created by the tonal chiming of the glass.  Shell wind chimes can create an oceanic atmosphere for sea lovers, regardless of location.  There is nothing like strings of beautiful sea shells blowing in the wind to lighten up an atmosphere.

Searching For The Perfect Wind Chime

There are many options out there when it comes to wind chimes.  Searching for and finding a beautiful chime can create the centerpiece for an outdoors scene that calms and reinvigorates.  If you are going to spend the time and effort to hang a chime, you should definitely hang a wind chime that you truly want.  Creating the type of surroundings you want to be in is always worth a little effort and research.  Finding a perfect chime for you and your patio or porch can be rewarding and worth the time spent doing so, especially when you find the material and the style you are looking for.

So please put a little effort into your chime purchase and find the quality piece that you’ve always dreamed of owning, you’ll be happy you did so for a very long time.  The only people who regret their wind chime purchases are the ones who got a chime they didn’t really want.  Everyone has different tastes, and there is a wind chime out there for everyone or every setting.

Doorbell Chimes

Some are loud, some are quiet.  Sometimes you’ll press one and won’t hear anything at all.  Some play a popular television theme.  A doorbell chime can be as individual as its owner, and there are many different styles and types on the market to choose from.

The main problem with any kind of doorbell chime is that it can’t always be heard from all areas of your house.  If you are standing in the kitchen at the back of your house with the washing machine on final spin, you’d be hard pressed to hear even the loudest doorbell.

A Solution To The Common Doorbell Chime Problem

If you dislike the appearance of wires coming through your front door from the doorbell and into the box itself, why not opt for a wireless doorbell?

These are very cheap – usually only a few dollars – and most of them come pre-programmed with a wide range of different chimes, from the musical ones to the simple ‘ding dong’ version.

The advantage with these is that you can sit the main box on a table in the hall instead of permanently attaching it to the wall.  You can then carry it with you whenever you go to a part of your home where you know you are unlikely to hear the bell if anyone calls.

Check the range of the unit before buying.  Many of them will work even if you take them into the garden with you.  It’s also a good idea to buy the smallest unit you can find, for simple ease of use.

Can You Buy A Doorbell Chime For A Hard Of Hearing Person?

Yes you can.  These types of doorbell usually emit a flashing light when the doorbell chime sounds.  The person carries a small unit with them so they can see the flashing light.  These units can also clip to the waistband and vibrate to alert the person.

Opting For A Novelty Doorbell Chime

Popular television series such as “The Simpson’s” have made novelty doorbell chimes available to buy.  These are often programmed to utter phrases from the show rather than play a tune.

So it seems your doorbell chime can be as versatile as you want it to be.  You can even buy a fully programmable one, so your doorbell chime can be anything you can think of.  Whether it’s your favorite television theme, your favorite song, or even something you’re known for saying, it can now be your chime.

Beautiful Door Chimes

There are few things more annoying than a broken or unpleasant door chime to signal the arrival of welcomed guests or visitors. But much as each house and each household is unique, so too can be the door chime.  For every personality of every type there is a beautiful and fitting one to go along with the person who bought it.

“Ding dong,” can be a thing of the past, a piece of ancient history.  Or, with the addition of a chime instead of an electronic box, the “ding dong” of someone at the door can be a musical and pleasant experience.  Either way, the door bell you are now stuck with does not always have to be the greeting that floats through your house whenever someone comes to visit.  There are options available, and with just a little effort you can find the tone and piece you want inside of your home.

Finding A Fitting Door Chime

Settling for what you currently have is not always the best option, especially when you find yourself wishing that no one would come to visit because of the noise that your old and annoying door bell makes.  But the problem is more than just fixable, and rather than just replacing your door bell with another sad or pathetic sounding device, you can find one that is right for you.  Chimes are beautiful, their peaceful and pleasant sound has been a staple of relaxing times for centuries.  And by placing a chime inside of your home to register the visit of guests, you can have that same relaxing atmosphere of the outdoors inside of your own home.

Not only can you find a beautiful sounding chime for you house, but you can find a chime that rings in the way that you want it to.  Perhaps you want one that plays a small piece of classical music.  Perhaps you are looking for a chime that plays Dixie.  Perhaps you want a chime that plays a funny or uplifting tune, such as “Shave and a Haircut.”  Luckily for you, they exist.  And with the presence of one inside of your home, you may just find yourself inviting people over just to hear them use your door chime.  And the playful and cheery tunes just might brighten their day, as well!  Indeed, with something that is used as much as the door chime, it becomes almost necessary to have something pleasant and nice to toll in the arrival of guests.

Enjoy everything in your house, not just the parts you got to choose when you bought it.  Anything and everything can be changed for the better, door chime included.

Watch this video on a wireless doorbell chime.

How To Build A Wind Chime

Anyone can build a wind chime fairly easily.  A wind chime can be constructed out of various materials that can be found anywhere, such as metal pipes, seashells, rocks, or glass.  The easiest item to use is metal pipe, so that is what we will focus on.  The items needed to build a wind chime can be purchased at any place that sells hardware, hobby items, craft items, or home improvement stores.  Basic items needed are metal pipes, a support ring, a wood or metal object for the clapper, string, a drill, and a pipe cutter.

Steps To Build A Wind Chime

You should begin by cutting the length of the largest chime.  This will determine the lengths of the other chimes.  After cutting through the pipe with the pipe cutter, remove any sharp edges by filing the metal smooth or using the metal remover tool found on the back of many commercial pipe cutters.

The next step is to produce the sound you would like the chime to make.  Tap the chime near the base to hear the sound it produces.  If you like the tone, then there is nothing else to be done with this chime.  If you do not like the tone, gently shave increments of metal off of the bottom of the chime to change the tone.  The shorter the chime is, the higher tone it will produce.  This is the most time consuming step when you build a wind chime, particularly if you are trying to produce a specific sound.  Repeat steps one and two for each length of pipe you would like to turn into a chime.

The third step when you build a wind chime is to measure each chime about ¼ of the way down the length and drill holes in either side of the chime.  Make sure they are even as this is where the support strings will go.  Run the string either through all of the chimes or use a different length of string for each chime.  The second option is the best as it adds to the stability of the wind chime.  Ensure that either all of the tops or all of the bottoms of the chimes are aligned so that the entire wind chime will hang evenly once supported.    

Next, you will attach the individual chimes to the support ring for hanging.  The last step to build a wind chime is to hang whatever you have chosen to use as a clapper from a string from the support ring into the center of the chimes.  When the wind blows, the clapper will swing, striking the chimes and creating a beautiful sound.  Now you know how to build a wind chime.

Wind Chime Crafts That The Family Can Enjoy

Family vacations and the memories they create are priceless treasures for everyone.  However, it isn’t always easy to display the treasures gathered from those vacations.  Trying to find fun family crafting projects for preserving the family memories can often prove quite challenging.

Summer Fun Preserved In A Wind Chime Craft Using Sea Shells

Many families spend their summers at the ocean shore, playing in the waves and frolicking along the beach.  If this is something your family does for a summer vacation, odds are that you have collected quite a number of seashells over the years.

A creative wind chimes craft for seashells collected during a summer vacation is fun for the whole family to create.  Children love wind chimes, making a set of their own that can showcase the memories of a family vacation and their personal creative talents is a great summer activity that everyone will enjoy.

A Wind Chime Crafting Project Using Recycled Products From Around The House

Gather about 8-10 seashells of approximately the same size.  These sea shells will provide the ornamental appearance and the sound quality of your wind chime craft project so you want to make sure that the entire group of sea shells is pleasing in their color, size and shape.

In addition to using the collected seashells, you will need ribbon or some other type of string or yarn and a plastic coffee can lid to create your wind chime craft project.  Since the supply list is so small and so many of the supplies are found just laying around the house, creating this wind craft project is not an expensive venture and can often allow for each child to create their own wind chime craft project.

Once you have gathered all the supplies that you will need to create a wind chime craft project, you are set to begin the creation process.  Using white liquid glue, glue each of the seashells to a piece of ribbon.  When selecting the ribbon that you will use to hang your seashells, you can choose one color or you may choose to use a variety of colors to add a visual dimension to your wind chime craft project.  It is best to let the glue dry overnight, to insure that the sea shells stay attached to the wind chime once you are completed and it is hung up.

The next step is to punch holes into the plastic coffee can lid, large enough to push the ribbon, thread or yarn through but not so large that the ribbon pulls back through once you have tied a know to the end of it.  Make sure that the knot is held securely to prevent the seashells from dropping off of the coffee can lid.  If the children are quite young, it is often best if an adult punches the necessary holes in the coffee can lid to prevent any unnecessary injuries.

When you have tied all of the seashells to the plastic coffee can lid, add two additional holes to the lid, opposite from one another.  Push the final piece of ribbon in through the top lid and pull it up through the other side, making sure that the ribbon runs along the underside of the lid, tie the two ends together.  Your wind chime craft is now completed.  You can take the wind chime outside and hang it up for everyone to see, a perfect presentation of your family’s seashore vacation.

The History Of The Wind Chime Sounds Good

People have always liked to make noise. People have always liked to have some control over forces they cannot understand. The history of the wind chime is closely entwined with the history of our species. Wind chimes are not only beautiful, but they were once thought to scare away evil spirits and pacify good spirits. Since modern wind chime owners find the chimes soothing, perhaps there is still truth in this superstition.

“Of The Bells, Bells, Bells…”

Edgar Allen Poe’s poem, “The Bells” keeps repeating the word “bells” in an almost maniacal chant. You can kind of get the impression of why evil spirits would be frightened of the sound of bells. This is why churches have bells – to scare away demons. The history of bells is also the history of the wind chime, as they are more or less the same instrument, just in a slightly different design. Both instruments are based on the sound of one thing (the clapper) hitting another thing (the clapped). Wind chimes just let nature ring it while you have to physically move a bell.

Because nature moves wind chimes, it is often thought that benevolent spirits are the ones moving the clapper, reassuring you that they are nearby.

East And West 

The history of the wind chime is best recorded in the East, where wind chimes have always been part of the household or village temple. In China, the ancient art of Feng Shui was developed, and is gaining much popularity in the West in the last twenty years. In Feng Shui, a balance of natural energies is thought to bring a happy and lucky life and business. In order to get the natural energies balanced, certain items need to be rearranged. Wind chimes are often a popular method of drawing or balancing energies, like lighting to a lightning rod.

But the history of the wind chime is also recently been the history of weather forecasting. Man used to be completely at the whim of the weather, and so knowing when to plant and when to keep low was essential for survival. And there were no radars or satellites then. One of the ways they could tell where and how strong a storm was coming was to hang wind chimes up.

But now in contemporary times, the history of the wind chime finds wind chimes in a balance between a tool and a form of worship. It is now art. Many keep wind chimes for the sheer pleasure of their looks and sounds.

The Benefits Of The Bamboo Wind Chime

Long before we began to use metals and ceramics to build wind chimes, the bamboo wind chime was hanging outside many homes and in many gardens, producing a serene and calming sound to benefit anyone who walked past. They were also believed to attract good spirits and ward off bad ones.

Even now, the bamboo wind chime can be more appealing than wind chimes made from modern materials. They are far quieter, even in windy conditions, and are said to be lucky for those who own them.

Choosing The Right Number

The bamboo wind chime is popular because of the luck factor, but certain numbers of tubes – such as three for example – will make your bamboo wind chime lucky in specific ways.

The number three relates to general happiness, so if you select a bamboo wind chime which has three pipes, it will attract happiness to you. Definitely something you want to have hanging in your garden!

Don’t forget you can also have a collection of wind chimes hanging in the same area, each one made from a different number of tubes. Not only will this bring different kinds of luck to your home, it will also produce a medley of sound as the wind blows through them.

Looking After Your Wind Chimes

It may sound obvious but it is important to remember your bamboo wind chime is made from wood. For this reason it is advisable to make sure you buy wind chimes that have been weatherproofed to repel rain and snow. This treatment will make your wind chimes last much longer.

If you are making your own bamboo wind chime you can buy it already hollowed out. All you need to do is buy a clear stain that is intended for outdoor use to protect them. Apply a couple of coats to each pipe and make sure they are thoroughly dry before assembling the wind chimes and hanging them outside.

If you want to create a bamboo wind chime that is truly unique, try using a different colored stain on each tube.

Experiment with cutting the bamboo to different lengths as this will produce different sounds. The longer the tube of bamboo is, the deeper the sound will be.

A bamboo wind chime should form an essential part of your daily relaxation routine. Hang them somewhere you like to sit and relax, and make that space sacred for you. You’ll soon find you feel far more at peace and ready to face anything that comes your way.

Basic Instructions For Bamboo Wind Chimes

The instructions for bamboo wind chimes are shampoo-simple if you buy the bamboo wind chime ready-made.  Hang it up where there is a breeze and where it won’t fall down a lot.  Rinse.  Repeat if necessary.  The instructions for bamboo wind chimes that you make yourself are a whole different gust of wind.

Gathering Materials

Wind chimes have been around for thousands of years.  One of the reasons is that they are relatively easy to make.  Bamboo was the all-purpose building material in the Orient, so bamboo was a natural choice for wind chimes.  These instructions for bamboo wind chimes can also be adapted for other materials like metal, pottery, wood and even shells.

You need sting or wire, at least four varying lengths of hollow bamboo, something to serve as a clapper (what hits the bamboo) and a disc at the top to hold the lot together.  You might want the clapper made out of bamboo, a light link chain with a knot at the end or another substance.  It has to be heavy enough to survive multiple impacts but light enough to be moved by a breeze.

You might want to paint or decorate the bamboo tubes, but test them to see if that significantly changes the sound.  You might want to put a kind of waterproof coating on the bamboo tubes or leave it alone.

Put A Lid On It

You’ve seen wind chimes.  If you don’t have instructions for bamboo wind chimes in a craft book or printed from a web site, you can pretty much figure it out for yourself.  You need a disc of some sort –flat or a cone – that you can attach all other the wires, chains or strings to.  You might need to drill holes in it.  It does not have to be bamboo.  Thread wires through the bamboo lengths and the clapper and then trough the disc holes.  Tie them above or below the disc, whatever works better for you.  You might want to try to pull all the wires a few inches through the disc and then tie them all together so you can immediately hook the chimes over a branch or a hook.  Or you might have another attaching device in mind.  The instructions for bamboo wind chimes are not set in stone (no pun intended…heck, I lied.  Pun was intended).

The hardest part will most likely be determining where the clapper should strike the bamboo tubes.  Try tapping many areas of the bamboo tubes to get the right length of chain or wire for your clapper.

Antique Chime Clocks

What You Need To Know About Antique Chime Clocks Perhaps you received a Grandfather clock as an inheritance.   Or perhaps you want to collect an antique art form that does something more than just look pretty.  Or perhaps you found a broken antique chime clock and wonder if it’ll ever chime again.  There are as many reasons people want antique chime clocks as there are people.

What They Are

Antique chime clocks need to be at least fifty years old in order to be considered an antique.  Some places in America consider anything over twenty-five years antique or “classic”, but it’s usually fifty.  In Europe, antique chime clocks are “antique” after 100 years have gone by since it was made.  They were made in America and Europe.

Antique chime clocks don’t just tick and BONG out the hour.  They also do tunes, sometimes on the hour, sometimes on the quarter hour.  Many popular tunes in antique chime clocks are Westminster Bells, Ave Maria and Parsifal.  Working chime clocks are obviously worth much more than broken antique chime clocks.  They can be small mantle clocks or huge Grandfather floor-to-ceiling behemoths.  They usually cost thousands and need to be treated like a Ming vase.

How Much Is This Worth?

The National Association Watch and Clock Collectors (yes, they exist) is loaded with all sorts of information about how to tell a genuine clock from a fake, what is for sale and the current value of antique chime clocks.  There are also many clock collectors on line that have whole websites devoted to their passion.  They are valuable reference tools for identifying your clock.  Another valuable reference tool is a website called ArlingtonBooks.com.

Most reputable antique chime clock dealers will not sell on online auction sites like eBay.  You have to find them through antique magazine publications or through an online search engine.  There are just too many chances of being scammed for such high-priced items to risk an online auction house. Antique chime clocks are usually watermarked by the dealer as being genuine and need to have special shipment.  Also, many reputable antique dealers will give references and show you what member ships they are proud members of.  You can also ask the Better Business Bureau if your chosen clock dealer has ever been in trouble.

Parts houses for broken antique chime clocks do exist, and they are expensive.  But the artistry of restoring clocks is alive and well in the Western World.

Bell Chimes

The Pleasant Ringing Of The Bell Chime

Bells are very emotionally moving instruments.   Their ringing is used during many of life’s big events.  Cathedral bells ring during weddings.  Clock bells signify the passing of the day.  The Liberty Bell in Philadelphia chimed in to announce the birth of the United States of America.  A bell is more than just a piece of beautiful percussion; it is also a soul-touching instrument that resonates throughout our collective history.

There are few places where a person can implement the pleasant ringing of bells into their daily life, but that doesn’t mean that there are no places to do so.  With the hanging of a bell chime in the back yard, on the patio, or perhaps in front of a window the touching and moving sounds of bells can become a pleasant part of everyday life.  Combining the peaceful feel of the chime with the soulful ding of bells, a bell chime can add greatly to ambience and atmosphere.

Bell chimes, a type of wind chime that incorporates the percussion pleasantness of bells into the design, can be a great way to spruce up an area and add beautiful sounds to a cherished area that is inhabited and loved.

More Than Just A Wind Chime

Wind chimes are pleasant and add greatly to their surroundings.  But bell chimes can do even more.  Adding the well known and well loved form and function of a bell to the wind chime creates a deeper and greater sound than a normal wind chime.  Bells are attractive both in sound and look, and the light ting of metallic bells can broaden the strength and appeal of a chime.  There are few instruments that touch the soul quite like the bell, and having a small piece of that in daily life can be refreshing and renewing in ways that few things can be.

Bell chimes remind people of bygone eras, when life was simpler and slower in pace.  The ancient ringing of church bells to signal familial or community gatherings, the use of bells in ancient forms of music, the ringing of the supper bell to draw the family together for dinner, all of these things can be rekindled in daily life with the addition of a bell chime in your life.  The past can be rekindled daily, and memories of times gone by can be reawakened.

The hanging bell chime is more than just a beautiful piece of home décor.  It is a friendly and pleasant reminder of our wonderful pasts.  We all share a collective past filled with beautiful memories and amazing events, and bell chimes can help us remember these things and draw us all together.

The Ringing Of The Chime

There are many places that a person can go to relax, but few are as convenient as the front porch of your own beautiful house.  Being outside but also being close to the place that means so much to you, a front porch offers you a great chance to enjoy the world around you and clear your mind.  And having a peaceful front porch can add to that feeling.  Nothing makes peace or helps create harmony like a beautiful chime, swaying in the breeze.

Harmonic Beauty On Your Doorstep

The light clanging of a beautiful and refreshing chime adds greatly to the ambience of an already peaceful and relaxing place.  Transforming a porch into a sanctuary from the troubles of the world can greatly increase the happiness of your life.  Sometimes you just need to get away from it all, and a porch filled with a fresh breeze and a gently ringing chime can certainly create that atmosphere.

Chimes can come in a variety of types, but all add to the ambience of a peaceful and serene backdrop for relaxation and stress relief.  Metal of various types can be used to create the splendid and serene sound of peace that comes from a chime.  Tin, aluminum, brass, copper, or steel, all sound beautiful and amazing in the light breeze of the great outdoors.   There is little in life better than being outside on a great day with blue skies and a tiny wind to keep you cool and blow on your face.

There truly is no bad place for the ringing bells of the chime, but the front porch helps add to its peaceful soothing sounds just as much as the bells themselves can add to the ambience of the quiet porch.  The two go together like peanut butter and jelly, a perfect combination of things to create something better than the singular parts.  A porch without a chime is like toast without butter, it just seems to be missing something.  But it doesn’t have to be that way.  Your porch doesn’t have to feel cold and lonely, like a puzzle missing a piece.  It can be whole, and when it is, you’ll wonder what you did before it was.

Sometimes you just need to relax, everyone does.  It is just a natural part of human life, especially in todays fast-paced and high-stress environment.  Finding the proper place to do so can add greatly to the stress relief that comes with the time you spend relaxing.  A nice front porch with a beautiful sounding chime can really do wonders for both body and soul.