Quality vs. Junk

Thick beach glass inspired artist-made glass with aged copper chimes and a beach stone clapper. All copper and glass construction. The copper chimes have been weathered for over three years. A wind chime that starts out beautiful, and becomes even nicer with time. For more information, or to buy this wind chime, CLICK here.

After several years, a well designed wind chime should not be an eyesore~ it should look more beautiful than ever...

Poor quality is depressing. A chain store down the road has it's own brand of tools. Cheap stuff but junk. Especially when on sale, the price is so low that several times I have made the mistake of buying something. Hard to believe, but even the screwdrivers are junk-- how can they possibly go wrong making something as basic as a screw driver? The depressing thing is that so much of this stuff surely ends up in the landfill very quickly. Quality stuff cost more~ sometimes a lot more. But it is so much more enjoyable to use, and so much more durable, that it's well worth the price.

Over at friends the other day, they had several wind chimes on their deck. Every single one looked horrible. They had aged poorly. The chimes were of the painted variety, and rust was taking over~ the paint blistering as though the things were infected with some horrible tropical desease. Ugly!

That's one reason I love working with copper, glass and stone: materials that are either stable or sure to look better and better with time. After four years out in the sun, rain, snow and wind, the three sets I made for myself look better than ever. The copper has all turned a lovely old penny color. The copper connections are as strong as the day I made them. The glass is just as pretty as ever. It makes me proud to know that my work is not for one season, or two, but designed to last for years and years, and to look better each year.