Flowing Copper Wind Chime

Flowing Copper Art Wind Chime
Beach glass inspired. Five copper chimes with a beach stone clapper.
Click on the picture to see it larger.
Click Here (www.coastchimes.com) for more information, or to purchase.

My flowing copper wind chime is one of several styles I sold out of during the Christmas rush, and I have been working overtime trying to replenish my stock. Finally I got two flowing copper wind chimes made, one of which is pictured above.

I love this style. The curved copper top compliments the copper wire wrapped glass so nicely. It's peaceful and pretty. Practical, too, since this is a style that can is very well suited to year round outdoor use. That said, I know some people use my wind chimes inside, and that is certainly an unusual and interesting decorating idea.

You can see from the image that we still have a lot of snow here on the Pacific Coast. I don't recall it ever having been so cold and snowy for such a long stretch. What a great year to have finally put heat into my workshop! I don't believe I would be getting much accomplished these days without that. Heat and light, truly a delight.

More Snow Pacific North West

An updated picture from my last posting, which showed the start of the snow. There is more on the way today. According to the forecast, it looks like we will be enjoying a rare, white Christmas on the Sunshine Coast.

Below, some pretty early morning sunlight illuminating the trees. The clouds are rolling in, and the snow looks to start soon. I'm heading out to turn the heater on in my workshop, as I need to finish some copper chimes before taking a couple of days off.

To all my friends and customers, Season's Greetings!

Winter Comes Early to the Pacific North West

December 17 is pretty early for winter on the Sunshine Coast.

There are years when winter never acrtually arrives here on the Sunshine Coast, BC, Canada. But evidently this is not such a year. After several days of much colder than usual temperatures, this morning it is snowing hard. And the forecast for far into the future they is for more of the same, except even colder.

The forecast is predicting minus 14 C at night, a few days from now. I guess maybe I should have ordered seven cords of firewood, instead of six.

Below is a picture of the guy who really appreciates a good load of firewood crackling in the stove. Yukon, my seven year old golden pup, likes nothing more than roasting his hide. This morning, when I cam downstairs, I saw that my son had moved the dog's pillow over near the fire. No complaints about that from Yukon, to be sure!

When I come in from working on my latest neat wind chime, with frozen hands and icy feet, I see Yukon snoozing next to the fire. Most often I have to push him aside a bit to make space for myself. I do think these creatures are clever. After all, part of why I am out there working in the freezing cold is so that I can buy him his next outrageously expensive bag of food. Meanwhile, he sleeps a warm and happy sleep, knowing I'll be dragging in a few more heavy loads of wood to keep the fire going, that his meal will be served on time, that all is right with the world.

I'd write more about that, but I better get back outside to make some more things to sell, so I can be sure to have enough money to buy that sack of dog food.

Yukon, oblivious to the world of cold and work.

Christmas Ornaments

(Click on the image to see it larger.)
Set of five handcrafted beach glass inspired
Christmas ornaments

In past years I always started early making lots of sets of Christmas ornaments, as I knew how popular they would be. This year, I forgot all about them! Probably because there is not enough profit involved to make the time spent making them, and photographing them, packing them, worth it.

That's too bad, because I know how much past customers have enjoyed these. Well, I had one set of accent ornaments available on my website, and I just realized someone might like this set for their tree this year. So I put this set on sale right now: marked down from $47.50 to $29.50 including postage.

You can find them on the 'Sale' page of my website, by clicking here.

US Dollar Rises Fast, Canadian Dollar Tanks: You Save!

Whoa! No one saw this one coming a few months ago!

Talk about early Christmas presents! I could deal with the 300% increase in copper, and all the other materials going up significantly too, but the rising Canadian dollar on top of that was too much. Worse, all the 'experts' lecturing on the radio did not exactly cheer me up, as a few short months ago they predicted a higher and higher Canadian dollar.

The simple math was that when I sold something two years ago for, say, $100, I would trade those US dollars in and get $145, or more. But a couple of months ago I would trade those same $100 in and get $90, or less. Ouch.

So you can imagine how pleased I am to see our Canadian dollar falling. And you should be happy too. Why? Because this change of scene has enabled me to lower almost all the prices on my website. Many prices have been not just lowered, but slashed.

Visit my website, Coast Chimes, with the new, low prices, by clicking here.

Christmas ~ Still Time to Ship, if you shop now

Coming Fast ~ Christmas!
(but, if you order soon, there is still time to shop)
Unique, Handcrafted, Wind Chimes
and other items for the home and garden
Great Gifts!
Coast Wind Chimes

It always gets pretty crazy as Christmas approaches. Sadly, every year too many people wait too long to order. Most of my customers are located in the USA, and they perhaps don't realize that I'm located in Canada, and shipping takees a little longer than what they are used to when ordering online. Once in a rare while a shipment can get hung up at the border, too, which can slow things down a lot.

But the postal system has been excellent, and most orders arrive within ten days. That can be even much faster, if you live near the west coast.

So if you have been thinking of a really special gift for someone, consider a unique Coast Chimes handcrafted wind chime or suncatcher. There is still time, if you order now.