If you read my post about the Nicholas Sparks The Choice movie night I hosted you might recall that I spoke about a wind chime my guests and I were trying to make. At that time I didn’t have the directions for it, so we were confused by what we had to do. There were seven of us and none of us could agree on how it should be made. Each of us had our own ideas. Because it was getting late and we hadn’t watched the movie yet we decided to forgo the wind chime craft for the time being.
I finally received the directions and I was able to make it on my own.
The wind chime was inspired by the film The Choice, which is now available on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD.
You can read my review, as well as read about our movie night experience, in this post – Nicholas Sparks’ The Choice Movie Night.
For this lovely craft you’ll need the following.
- Embroidery Hoops in two size (one large, one small)
- Paint (optional)
- Sea Glass (available at most craft stores)
- Wire (the kind you use to wrap jewelry with)
- Clear string (like fishing line)
- Scissors
- Crazy Glue
And ideally, someone to help you out so that you tie the strings on correctly (a mistake that I made).
First and foremost you can get rid of (or re-purpose) the outer rings on the embroidery hoops. You only need the inner ones.
Paint the hoop (optional) any color you want. I received white and gold. Initially I painted them gold but then I went ahead and “white washed” them with white paint. I wanted to give them a beachy/weathered look.
This is not a clear picture (I cropped it) but I wanted to show how I combined the colors to give it a washed out look.
Let them dry for at least an hour and DON’T rest them on paper towels – they will stick to it (lesson learned the hard way).
While the hoop are drying take the crafting/jewelry wire and wrap it around the sea glass. Try and wrap it tightly (use a needle nose pliers if you have one). If need be you can add a dab of Crazy Glue to keep the wire in place.
I wrapped an assortment of colors, shapes and sizes.
One you have wrapped as many piece as you want, string the clear string through the wire and tie it to the sea glass. Cut the strings in a variety of lengths.
When the hoops are fully dried (if you painted them) you’ll need to use the clear string to attach them to one another. The directions I have tell you to make the smaller hoop go on top (over) the larger hoop. I did it the opposite way because I had envisioned the wind chime to resemble a chandelier. I would think either way would work, depending on your preference.
My mistake was to do this on my own. I didn’t attach the smaller hoop to the larger one with equal length string, causing it to go more to one side than the other. I figured I could counteract that by putting heavier sea glass to the other side so it would balance out OK.
You can also use a dab of Crazy Glue on the clear string to keep it from slipping.
After I put it together I realized that I needed to re-do the hoops because they are clearly not centered properly. For that reason I haven’t put all the sea glass on it as of yet. So at this moment in time it’s a “work in progress.” This weekend I am going to assemble it a bit to do it the right way. Then I’ll attach the remaining sea glass that I had wrapped in wire and tired to the clear string.
These pictures didn’t turn out so good, but hopefully you get the idea.
I know that I can fix it so that it look a lot better.
None the less, I had fun with it and I am looking forward to the final result.
I’ll update this post with the final project once it’s completed. In the mean time, this would make a fun family activity. I could see this being done with sea shells too. I love the idea of using shells and sea glass you and/or your family finds on the beach, that way every time you look at it you’ll remember your summer by the beach.
What do you think of this craft idea? Do you think you’ll try to make one of your own?
Have you seen The Choice yet?
Kimberl
*I received the items to make this project for free. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own and not influenced in any way.
