Thrifting Thursday: Recycled Tea Pot Wind Chime

My poor wind chime finally bit the dust last fall. I say finally because I’ve had it for probably over 10 years.

The old me would have tossed it out and gone looking for a replacement. The new(ish) me can’t do that. 1. I’m on a budget and 2. I really like the sound this wind chime made and 3. My husband bought it for me.

What’s a gal to do?

Originally, I thought I might just sand, paint, and seal the wood pieces and then reassemble it.

But then I found this in last weeks’ Thrifting Thursday Haul and I KNEW it would be perfect!

The circumference of the wind chime almost exactly matched the bottom of the tea pot.

I used the wind chime to make a template. I traced the outside of the disc and felt through the paper to where the nails were that held the old string in place and I marked those spots on the paper.

I used my handy Fiskars Craft Drill to drill holes into the bottom of the tea pot.

(I wrote a blog post about the Fiskars Craft Drill here: Toolbox Tuesday: The Fiskars Craft Drill and a Mixed Media Game Piece Necklace)

I started by using a 3 yard or so length of Fireline Fishing Line and tied a bead onto the end. I then re-strung all of the tubes. I used a bead going down through the hole but when coming back up I missed the bead so that in effect I wasn’t going up and down through the same hole. Plus the beads inside helped keep the line from slipping up and down.

One thing I discovered is that a Darice Easy Eye Beading Needle really helped in threading the fishing line through all of the tiny holes.

I painted the sail and the striker with Patio Paint by DecoArt in Rich Espresso. I sanded them and gave them 3 coats.

I also added a crystal both above and below the striker. You know I just had to have a little bit of sparkle!

And then I added the striker and sail to the center of the teapot and hung the whole thing with more fishing line.

I liked making this and think that if/when I make more I’ll have to add more bling and color. You know how I like my color. :)

Now I just have to find a good resource for wind chime parts. Any ideas?

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