Packing and Shipping Headaches

Very Large Freestanding Double Wind Chime
by Coast Chimes

I used to make quite a few of these extra-large wind chime with beach stone bases: they are really beautiful! But shipping them is not a lot of fun! The beach stone base on the one pictures weighs over 33 pounds. The copper support is over 4 feet tall. The 2 glass strands are somewhat fragile. Packing this to ship is, in one word, nightmarish.

I have taken apart a shipped a fair number of these, and have thus learned some tricks to simplify the process. Even so, ugh! Yesterday when I packed it, I still made some novice mistakes. For example, I spent a long time cutting out 2 pieces of thick cardboard to seal the copper support, and then wrapped that completely in heavy paper. So far, so good, but I forgot I should have measured it before neatly wrapping it in shipping paper. When I measured it, I found it to be oversized, meaning the postage, just on this one part, would have been nearly $300! So I had to get my sharp knife and carve up my neat package, and use a lot more tape and time. In the end, I succeeded, getting it down to a size where it could ship as a normal parcel ($55), but tons of extra work, and a package that did not look quite as neat as I would have like.

Second mistake was wrapping the glass, chimes and copper support, before weighing the beach stone base! It could easily have been overweight, making the whole process a waste. How lucky that the stone came in below the maximum, and thus shippable (for almost $100). 

To top off the whole hassle, the buyer of this wind chime discovered it through Etsy's new offsite ads, so they charged me over $80 extra. I am happy the ads work, but wow, that's a pretty hefty fee! (That's on top of the usual seller / listing fees).

Oh well, it's shipped off now, I hope that it arrives in great condition, I hope the customer loves it. Probably in a few weeks I will get the itch to make some more of this style. Pain is quickly forgotten?

Driftwood and Beach Stone Beachcomber's Wind Chime by Coast Chimes

Beachcomber's Wind Chime
Driftwood and Beach Stones, Five Copper Chimes
By Coast Chimes

One of the best parts of my work is having to walk over to the local beach, or ride my bike to a more distant one, and spending an hour or two beach combing. Even better when luck is with me, and I find a nice piece of wood, or some special stones.

All the materials forming the top section of the above wind chime where found within the last few weeks. Look how well they all came together!

See all my wind chime and suncatchers by visiting my website: Coast Chimes  where everything ships for free.

Classic Copper Wind Chime, Coast Chimes

Classic Coast Chimes Copper Wind Chime
with a Beach Stone Clapper
$135 with Free Shipping at Coast Chimes

The gorgeous classic copper wind chime by Coast Chimes is not only beautiful, but also made to last. All the hardware is handmade copper: there is no string, or fishing line, to break down under UV light. The red cedar roundel is so much better than the usual plywood used by so many wind chime companies, as it will never delaminate.

While copper is gorgeous (the one metal that most agree looks better and better over time), the trick is that copper is a relatively soft metal, making it challenging to achieve a pleasant sound: it tends to sound flat. The very hard beach stone clapper, or striker, is not only ultra-cool, but also the perfect hard material to resonate nicely against the copper, creating a pleasant, peaceful sound.

This wind chime is popular with everyone, but it is especially appreciated as a 7th anniversary wedding gift (copper is the traditional metal for that milestone).

It is also possible to request a short message be engraved on the side of the longest chime, such as the date of the anniversary with initials, perhaps a small heart symbol. There is no extra charge for this.

To see great wind chimes and sun catchers, visit Coast Chimes.