Wind Chime Custom Work

Eight chimes instead of my standard five. Custom ordered as a birthday gift for a mother who has eight children. It's a pleasure to help people give a very special gift.

Two different people with similar ideas recently approached me regarding custom work.

The first said that for their seventh wedding anniversary (copper), he wondered if I could make a set of wind chimes with seven chimes for his wife. He's going to have something engraved (romantic, I assume) on each chime. What a wonderful idea.

The second asked if I would make a wind chime with eight chimes for his mother's birthday, as she has eight children. Again, what a thoughtful, charming idea. I'm sure his mother will be deeply touched, and reminded of all eight children each time the wind blows the beach stone clapper.

It's nice when people give some thought and come up with a special gift idea. That sort of special order is always a pleasure to make.

Aside from the very high quality and unique designs, being able to request such things is one of the benefits of dealing directly with the artist-designer. You can learn about custom work on my the special order page of my website.

Special Orders are Okay, Sometimes

Pacific driftwood with copper and red cedar wind chime, beach stone clapper.

There is much wood on our local beaches. But to find the 'perfect' piece, especially for a special order, is not an easy task. Seeing the wood packed beach, you think it should take only a minute, but instead it can take hours.

Sometimes people are hesitant to ask about having me make small changes to a completed work, or about special orders. It never hurts to ask. That's why I put information about special orders on my website.

I've done many special order projects. I recall very well the first one, which was a long time ago. It won't be forgotten by me, because it was complex and difficult. The customer mailed a large tube with drawings of what he envisioned, and I did my best to follow his blueprints. It was a challenge!

Since then, there have been many special requests. The vast majority are simply small changes to an existing work, and I complete them without any additional charge. Some I can tell from the start are going to be a ton of work, and I need to charge accordingly.

Other special orders appear at first glance to be simple, but turn out to be a great deal of work. For example, one recent one was a nicely open ended request: a nice driftwood wind chime. There is an enormous amount of wood on the beaches here, especially at this time of year. So you would think finding a suitable piece would be easy. It's not. I wanted to find the perfect piece. You can never find the perfect piece~ especially if you are looking for it!

After four trips to different beaches and many long walks, I found a piece that I quite liked. Now, after drying it by the fire, and doing the work to turn it into a wind chime, I like it even more. It wasn't the 'perfect' piece when I found it, but now it is. I hope she likes it as much as I do.