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.
