Wind Chime, Freestanding, Beach Stone and Copper

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Wind chime, Freestanding

Natural Pacific Beach Stone with Copper

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I have a passion for beautiful smooth rounded beach stones, and for copper. So it is only natural that I love creating freestanding wind chimes from these materials. I just finished making the one pictured above, and consider it a real success. It's an organic, lovely piece.

The only problem with these is that they are large, and heavy. That's a problem because I not only make them, but I ship them; trust me, they are not so much fun to pack and the postage is not so much fun to pay.

Whenever I get a notice that one sold, first my heart soars with the thrill of another sale, and then sinks with the realization of the task ahead. But over the years I have perfected the art of packing these, and it's not all that bad anymore. Bad, but not that bad.

And from the enthusiastic emails customers send after receiving this style, the effort is worth it.

Bird Feeder Art Wind Chime Makeover

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Deluxe Bird Feeder Wind Chime

Delicious

I've made a lot of deluxe art bird feeder wind chimes over the years. They are without a doubt one of the most labor intensive creations I make. So many precision saw cuts! About a year ago, when I made several, I thought that I had perfected the design beyond further improvement. Wrong.

I'm not sure that the room for improvement ever completely vanishes. While the look is almost the same, this latest design incorporates several significant enhancements.

For example, instead of resting on top, the cover now actually fits over the feeder. This is not only more secure, but also more water tight, and more attractive. The perches are a little longer, and I am sure the birds will be sending plenty of thank you notes for that one. Also, the seed bin is larger. So my 'perfect' design got a considerable makeover, and is that much closer to actually being perfect.

You can find the feeder for sale on my website, right here: Feeder

It is also available with impressive iron chimes, right here: Feeder Iron Chimes

You can also buy this amazing feeder without any chimes at all, if you like. Just scroll down the website page, and there is that option on the PayPal submit form.

Another Birdbath

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Above, reflection in the bath. Look at that beautiful old copper!

Below, the medium-size birdbath.

My last posting showing the large driftwood birdbath drew a number of enthusiastic comments. So I though I would go ahead and post a couple of pictures of my other birdbath creation.

I like them both, but if I had to choose I would pick the great big old fellow. This smaller one is neat, though, in that there is a big stainless steel threaded fitting up into the wood, and then right through a big natural beach stone. It's bolted to the stone. So you just bury the stone in your garden, and that's a nice stable bath.

The big root bath is now featured on the special order page of my website.

And that reminds me! I just invested in a sparkling new template for my website, and after working many hours I've now uploaded everything. New, and hopefully improved. You probably will not notice too much difference in appearance, but things should work even more smoothly. Why not check it out? Besides, I lowered a bunch of prices!

Birdbath

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Pacific Root Driftwood
With a Large Old Copper Sink
Birdbath

I mentioned a while back that I was working on a birdbath, as a potential custom order. I'd never made one before-- the idea had never even occurred to me. And when a customer asked if I could make a birdbath, my initial thought was to say no. However, I suddenly remembered a big old pounded copper sink someone had given me last summer, and realized that maybe this could be the bath.

Driftwood is always a passion of mine, and so that aspect of the bath was a natural. It was not so simple or quick to find the piece of wood that matched my plans. Then, all the technical aspects of fitting the bath into the wood, and securing the wood to the earth.

I'm happy with the results, though. Perhaps I will be adding birdbaths to my lineup of home and garden designs. In the meantime, check out my website for all the neat things I already offer. You can always visit my Special Order page, too, to read about requesting something different.

The night after taking the photographs above, it snowed. So here is a fun image of the same feeder snow covered.

New Snazzy Wind Chime Windsails!

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New snazzy windsail design: Hammered copper

I constantly strive to improve my designs, and to dream up new ideas. Innovation often arrives through indirect routes.

Recently a customer asked if I could make a birdbath for her. Never having made one before, my initial reaction was to decline. But then I recalled an acquaintance had long ago given me a very large, beautiful old round copper sink. After much thought, I decided this could be a very cool birdbath, using a huge, upside down driftwood root. More on all that in another post. The thing is, I had to buy some thick copper to patch the drain hole in the sink. That in turn led to my inspiration for a new windsail design.

The new windsails add, I feel, an elegant twist to my wind chimes. My chimes are still mostly going to be offered with the tung nut oiled red cedar sails, but there is now the option (for a small fee) to upgrade to this new copper style.

For those who have previously purchased a wind chime from Coast Chimes, there is also the opportunity to order just a windsail (or a replacement cedar sail, if yours has gotten worn over the years).

Check out my the Windsail Page on my website.