Up-Cycling Housewares Into A Fun Windchime

Our Prima Bead assignment this month was to use their products in a non-jewelry craft project.  As soon as I received my box of goodies, I knew what I wanted to make, but had to figure out exactly how to make it.

For a few years now, I've been collecting wind chimes that I hang in the huge tree outside my workshop window.  I love the colors that bounce around when the sun shines through the glass, and the sounds they make are so soothing.

For Christmas my good friend Penny gave me the coolest wind chime that was made out of old silverware, and when the wind hits it, the sound is absolutely beautiful.  I loved this idea, and wanted to build on it for my project by using more beads and kitchen items.  

What I came up with is this up-cycled housewares wind chime:

To make the wind chime I used the following materials:

One antique colander

4 antique / vintage / mismatched forks

Lots of 14g copper wire and 19g steel wire jump rings

A huge assortment of Prima beads and charms

10 inches of copper chain

Trying to get a great photo of the wind chime just wasn't in the cards, but I think you'll get the idea if I include some other pictures here (it is warm here in Phoenix, but a bit windy at my house, making it a little difficult to take a non-blurry outside picture):

Here's a close-up of the curled fork tines and the fun beads and charms.  I also used an antique key on the longest fork, keeping with the vintage feel of the piece:

This was such a fun piece to make - it may become my new favorite!

As always, thank you to Prima Bead for their generosity!

** Necessary Legal Stuff: I am honestly reviewing the products above which I have received free of charge from Prima Beads, and I have not been paid for my endorsement as it pertains to them.

More October Prima Beads Projects

I've been playing with my beads from Prima Beads again and wanted to share the rest of my projects from our October bead box.  In my last post, I used beads in the blue and green color families.  This time I focused on using the reds.  

The first necklace is made using the red swirl glass beads.  I have had a black and red heart focal in my stash for a couple of years now, and these beads were absolutely perfect with it:

Aren't these beads perfect?

I used 14g copper wire that I annealed to make it easier to work with.  Annealing is a process where you heat up the copper wire to a low orange color, allowing the heat to physically change the make-up of the wire.  After the links were made, I gently flattened them with my chasing hammer and re-hardened them in my tumbler.

I finished the necklace off with a double length of black leather.

  I really love this one and can't wait to wear it!

The second piece I made using my red beads is an upcycling project using my son's old black jeans:

I call this design "Industrial Faith"

I used my Red with Silver glass beads and charms from Prima's Cross Culture Collection to make a layered wrap bracelet.

I liked the bracelet so much that I made some matching earrings!

This is a really cool set, and the stretch denim is very comfortable to wear.

Then I was digging through my bead box and found another focal I've had for a while and decided to make one more piece:

I went back to the blue/green family to find beads that would have enough visual weight to carry the gunmetal ceramic focal.

The beautiful Teal and Black glass beads add drama and sophistication to this design.  I added two different gunmetal-finished chains and an antique clasp from my stash.

That a fun month of creating - I can't wait to see what's next!  As always, a big thank you to Prima Beads for their amazing generosity!

** Necessary Legal Stuff: I am honestly reviewing the products above which I have received free of charge from Prima Beads, and I have not been paid for my endorsement as it pertains to them.