Garden Grows Wild

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Foxglove next to my workshop

About three months ago, I wrote a brief blog entry rejoicing at the first little bit of color (other than our year round green) in our local forests. The post was about the first salmon berry blossoms, and I call it A Little Color (other than green!) is Nice. Well look what I have next to my workshop now— Foxglove galore!

Very pretty, but also very poisonous. From the Wikipedia: "The entire plant is poisonous (including the roots and seeds), although the leaves of the upper stem are particularly potent, with just a nibble being enough to potentially cause death."

It's not all bad, though. First, it is simply beautiful. Many of the plants stand around seven feet tall. Secondly, the bees just go nuts for these blossoms, as do the humming birds. And finally, while poisonous it is also it is used for making a heart medication, digitalis.

It's worth both looking at the flowers from a distance where they create a landscape of their own, and close up as the details are pretty neat.

New Smaller Works

Click on the picture to see it larger

Beach glass inspired cobalt blue suncatcher
with three handcrafted copper chimes

A month or so ago, I realized that my new website could give me the option of placing a few less expensive works online. That has not been an option with eBay, for me, for quite sometime, both because of the fees, and because of the US dollar now being worth less than the Canadian.

See, back in the good ol' days (yes grampa), I could put something for, say, $65 on eBay, and when I traded in those US dollars they would magically turn into $100. Now I would get maybe $60.

Anyway, people really seem to appreciate having some less expensive works available, and I suddenly realized that almost everything on both my under $75 page and my under $100 page was marked sold. That's a drag, if you are shopping!

So I've just made some neat new works this week, and this morning got them all put on the site. Fresh start. Enjoy!

Windsails, Cold Forged Copper

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Cold forged spiral windsail on my mixed-media
beach glass inspired kaleidoscope wind chime.
See all my work on my website: www.coastchimes.com

Sometimes I feel almost as though I am verging on craft rather than art. This happens primarily when I make a series of some standard popular wind chime, like my kaleidoscope style. I know crafters, and they are perfectly happy making the same thing day in and day out, year after year. I consider what I do art, because there is no way I can stand still and just let a design be. I always need to play with it, from small changes to big.

That's what got me working on my cold forged copper windsails: something different, something that changes the whole look of the wind chime.

It's fun to play with elements, to explore. For me, change is not just good, but essential.

Windsails

Click on the image to see it largerNew Windsails!
This mixed media beach glass inspired wind chime
is this weeks (june12) featured sale item
on my website.

Usually $187.50 -- now $145

For a long time I have been planning to design some new style windsails. Nothing at all wrong with the tung nut oiled red cedar sails I have been using for years. But I thought it would be fun to explore some other directions. I've cut a tone of cedar windsails-- time for a bit of copper.

So I have several new styles made from cold forged copper, and I plan to develop a few more in coming days. I think the ones I have made so far are pretty jazzy. I won't be discarding the cedar style, though-- those are tradition.

Iron Chimes, Wind Chimes

Pacific Natural Beach Stone
Smooth and Rounded
With Heavy Iron Chimes ~ Beach Stone Clapper
Details Here (my website)
(you may also click on the picture to see it larger)

The more I make, see, hear these large iron chimes, the more I like them. And I started out really liking them! They are heavy, solid, sound absolutely beautiful, and they look gorgeous. What more can I say?

Well, recently I started a Craigslist campaign. This has worked pretty well. I've had for the first time quite a few people coming to my home to see my work. I never advertised or pushed for local sales before, so this is a new experience. Everyone so far has really liked what they see and hear, and everyone has bought at least one work, and often several.

It's enjoyable meeting customers face to face. And interestingly enough, most often they choose the rusty iron chimes. Of course, copper is terrific— very beautiful. But there is something about the iron that is truly stunning. And they are so heavy, they have a nice, solid feel, too.

Wind Chime, Coast Chimes, Featured Sale

Kaleidoscope Beach Glass Inspired Wind Chime
Five Copper Chimes
Beach Stone Clapper

This weeks featured sale item on Coast Chimes

Each week I feature one wind chime on my featured sale item page. This one is usually $177.50, on sale now for $137.50. Why not take advantage and add something special to your home, garden or yard this Spring?

Last week, the sale wind chime sold in hours. So don't wait too long!

New Designs?

(FYI, the new featured sale has started on my website: one week only or until sold: Sale Page )

Click on the image to see it larger.

Click Here to visit my website, and read about this wind chime, or to buy it.

After all these years (twelve) of making wind chimes from copper, stone, driftwood and other interesting materials, sometimes I wonder if I will ever come up with a new design. I always do, so far.

I have no idea where the inspiration comes from. While all my works are each unique, many are built on a theme that does not vary all that much. But every once in a while I will go out to my shop with the intention of putting together some kaleidoscope wind chimes, or maybe a driftwood or beach stone piece, and will suddenly just feel the urge to do something really different.

That happened yesterday. The result was a large, cold forged copper spiral. It adds some pizazz. It's cool. And my wife noticed it and commented very favorably, and that is always a good sign. When my teenage son also noticed and gave some indication of appreciation, I really knew it must be good!

It's always a nice to come up with something new and exciting. I like that.

Bears and Sale

A local Big Guy ~ Photo courtesy of Tella
See more of her images at her website, and also
see her husband's amazing artwork there.

For the past year I have gone on a daily hike with my pup, Yukon. Rain or Shine, or Bear(!), we go. Almost daily for the past couple of weeks, we have run into at least one, and sometimes two, bears. Or the bears have run into us!

My theory is that there are not more bears, but that the bears are less afraid. In past years they would hear us coming, or smell us, and take off. Now they just stand there, curious and clearly not afraid at all. That makes me (a little) afraid.

My dog, the most non-aggressive animal imaginable (typically flopping on his back in total submission at the approach of even the smallest toy dog), for some reason goes nuts when it comes to bears, and chases after them like they are chipmunks. When the bear and the dog get in the heavy rain forest where I can't see them, and I only hear a tremendous amount of crashing around, it's pretty freaky.

I'd be more alarmed but a week ago my dog starting charging towards one of these creatures, and the bear didn't feel like moving. The dog stopped quite a distance away, and they had a staring match. The bear somehow got through the dog's thick head that he didn't feel like being chased, and the dog backed off. That was a good thing to see-- that the dog is not totally crazy.

Many days I have kicked myself for not having my camera along. So when my friend Tella showed me her bear pictures from her property, I asked if I could use one. Now you can see what we see everyday.

The introduction of my weekly featured sale wind chime is a success! This week, the wind chime was snatched up within hours. The next sale wind chime will be posted to my website sale page on Thursday late afternoon or early evening (depending on you time zone). Thank you to all those who are visiting my website-- and for all the lovely, positive comments. I'm very happy to see so much activity!

Wind Chime, on Sale, a Really Good Deal!

Kaleidoscope Mixed Media
Beach Glass Inspired
Copper Wind Chime
Sale #2
Click on the image to see it larger.
Click Here to visit my Sale Page.

The stunningly beautiful art wind chime pictured above is featured this week on my website sale page.

As promised, each week I will be rotating one of my works onto the sale page, where it will be featured either until it sells, or until the week is over. Even better, this week I lowered the price significantly more than last week: $137.50 marked down from $177.50.

A really good deal! Enjoy~

Coast Chimes Sale Page, Introducing

This Weeks Featured Sale Item
a beach glass inspired kaleidoscope wind chime
five copper chimes with a beach stone clapper
Coast Chimes Sale Page ~ Click Here

I've decided to add a sale page to my website.

After pondering this, I decided it would be fun to pull something different each week from my other pages, and have the sale run for just one week. If it sells, no more sale until the next week, and if it does not sell it goes back into my regular stock at the non-sale price, and I replace it with a new piece.

At least for this time of year, when I actually have considerable trouble keeping up with demand at my usual prices, I won't be discounting a very large percentage. But, hey, every little bit helps, right?

And even though it is a sale item, I will still be including a complimentary set of my cold forged copper earrings. People often email how much they love these earrings.

So why not check out this week's sale?

Wind Chime — It's all Art

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Isn't this a pretty wind chime? I couldn't quite decide what color the glass is: pink or purple? My wife had no trouble at all— it's lilac. For more information on this beach glass inspired all glass and copper wind chime, or to buy it, visit my website.

I hardly throw anything out anymore. Blue glass is a prime example. It is by far the trickiest to work with and back in the old days, when I had a piece with a small fracture, I would throw it away. Now I know how to grind that fracture out. If for some reason that does not work, I can recycle it into one of my kaleidoscope wind chimes. No more garbage.

Often the stuff that a few years ago I would have tossed produces the most exciting results. The stunning lilac wind chime pictured above is a case in point.

I had bought that glass for a completely different purpose. As it turned out, it did not work for the intended purpose. My wife, always striving to keep order around the yard, was about to throw it away as it had been lying around for over a year. But I knew I could find a use for it. And so I did: one of my most beautiful wind chimes ever.

When I started out over ten years ago, I used to feel some guilt at the amount of waste produced by my art. Now, there is virtually no garbage. It's all art.

$200+ Wind Chime at 99 Cents? Crazy.

Cick on the picture to see it largerStarting price of 99 cents. No reserve. I must be nuts!
Click here to see the eBay auction

For months I have run one auction a week on eBay— always sticking to my 'kaleidoscope' style wind chime. It's pretty, and pretty popular. But for some strange reason, I decided to list one of my fabulous cobalt blue all glass and copper wind chimes last night. Even stranger, I decided to stick with my 99 cents starting price.

You need to understand that the blue glass (along with frosty white) is by far the most challenging to work with. It is tough achieving nice, large pieces, with a pleasant shape. Even drilling the holes is much riskier (I used to constantly fracture the blue glass). Because of the challenge, I do enjoy making them. But I just never have that much blue glass.

This wind chime is 100% glass and copper. No string. No wood. It should last pretty much forever, and just look better and better as time goes by. I've had three of this style on my deck year round for the past ten years.

Usually I put these on my website and stick firm at between $227 and $275 (depending on the glass and the copper on for the chimes). Sooner or later (often sooner), they always sell.

So to put this at .99 cents is just... nuts. Well, maybe if it doesn't start taking off, I will cancel the auction. Maybe not. We'll see.

Cool Chimes for Less

Everything is getting more expensive.
Except for my stuff.
Now I am making some less expensive works.
Totally handcrafted and only $47.50?
Click here to go to my under-55-dollars page.

I'm surprised I have any socks left at all. I don't shop a lot, but when I do pretty much each time my socks get knocked off! I mean, the price of stuff!

I just got a little order of supplies I use for making my wind chimes, and the price had almost doubled from the last time I ordered. Grrrrr. It seems that way with everything I use. Each thing on its own is not so horrible, but add it all up and it's a shocker.

So I certainly understand why perhaps more people than ever before are hesitant to spend on something many might consider non-essential: a wind chime: "Let's see, gas for the car, food for the family... or a wind chime? Hmmm... guess I will get the chime!"

Because I am well aware that so many are watching their budgets these days, I decided to make some much less expensive, but still very nice, chimes. From the copper hooks to the glass to the copper chimes, completely handmade. Completely beautiful. And totally under $55.

Enjoy a little beauty in your life without breaking the bank.

Made in China Blues Rant

The business end of a pressure washer in action. I don't think that this is an electric, Made-in-China, budget electric pressure washer. Why? Because it seems to be working.

Talking to the two fellows working on my new cedar deck the other day, one thing we all agreed on was that made in China 'bargain' tools are junk. That's been our experience. And yet, it's sometimes hard to resist the eye popping low prices, and at other times it is hard to find something not made in China.

With the old deck ripped out, I noticed just how scummy the side of the house was, and also, with the price of red cedar these days, I determined to take great care of the new deck. So I decided to get a power washer.

The options were either a serious gas powered machine, or an electric cheap thing. Against my own better judgment, I went for the cheap thing. I can pretty much guarantee that if I wanted to send a box that size to China, it would cost way, way more than the price of this machine. So shipping, and no doubt a hefty store mark-up, profit for the manufacturer and likely one or two middlemen, and still it sells for just over $100? To good to be true, huh? Gosh, I bet the guys and gals working in the factory putting these things together are living high off the hog.

I also picked up a Made-in-China new hose, one the label claimed to be 'anti-kinking.'

Foolish me.

First off, the hose does not work with the machine. How is it possible to make a hose that does not work? Skill is involved there. Second, never have I seen a hose kink up like this thing! And it is a really heavy hose, so the multiple kinks are harder than usual to de-kink. Third, the impossibly cheap pressure washer works for about twenty minutes, and then... nothing. Totally dead. Not even a low hum from the motor. Zero. Could that be why the store where I bought this piece of trash stressed (and even handed me a special flier) that they offer only a ten day return policy on these things? I guess they pretty much know just how great these machines are!

It was a pain packing all this junk back up-- especially that hundred foot kinking hose was a treat. But happily the store was okay with accepting it all back for a refund. From what the clerk said, they are used to these pressure washers coming back.

Later, checking some web forums, it sounds like basically a coin toss whether these super cheap pressure washers work for a while. It's really kind of distressing to think all all that energy and all those resources going into this trash that is basically... well, trash. Like the landfills aren't full enough?

Thinking about that, it occurred to me there is a connection with my own work. Go to any garden shop or home decor store, and see all the wind chimes and knick-knacks. All made in China, and all soon destined for the local landfill. The only guarantee on this stuff is that it will look shabby in no time at all, and likely fall apart before one season has passed. But oh so cheap! What a deal.

So my work is not exactly cheap, because I always choose the best materials I can find, irregardless of price, and because I take all the time that's needed, and care deeply about the quality. High quality or no quality, that's my motto. Besides, I insist on earning more than $5 a day. My tools probably use more than that in electricity.

And then there is the soul of the thing. Seeing the displays of generic junk, I shudder at the coldness of it all. Each set of whatever is identical. No soul. Not a single one of my works is the same as any other, and that's some of my soul going into each piece. If you are the least bit sensitive, I believe you can learn something about me from whatever you buy. All you can learn about the person who made the generic stuff is that they must have one heck of an unhappy life. How would you like to live on an assembly line, dipping low quality metal into toxic chemicals for few pennies?

So after yet another rotten Made-in-China tool experience, I vow to redouble my efforts to buy North American, and avoid at all cost this disappointing junk. I've wasted far too much time packing it all back up, and standing in the returns line-up. Enough.

Scam Artists

Who is this victim?

Aside from a couple of nasty, lazy, inconsiderate people who attempted to copy my work and sell the poor 'replicas' on eBay (one of whom even emailed my customers saying he was selling 'the same things' for cheaper), I've had very few problems selling online. Those copycats were not much of an issue: anyone could see from the pictures that their work was vastly inferior. No contest.

Back in the early days, when I was a little green, I did also have maybe two or three people rip me off. Back then, I was shipping before payment, and just asking for trouble.

Aside from that, no problems.

But that's changed.

Lately I have been doing some advertising and selling on Craigslist. It's been worthwhile, but, welcome to the wonderful world of scam artist! Craigslist has a lot of information on these guys, so I guess the problem is widespread.

Here is a typical email from one of these goofballs:

"You will receive the money order next week but i (sic) have a shipper who is coming for the pick up as soon as you receive the payment (sic) okay,all you need to do is that (sic) deduct your asking price and send the rest to the shipper through western union (sic) money transfer the same day you receive the payment so that they can come for the pickup the next day(sic) okay."(sic)

They actually swindle people with this nonsense? Hard to believe, but apparently they do. I mean, first of all, this scam has been running for so long, and has been so widely posted about, I should think you would have had to have been living in a cave for the past few years not to have heard about it, especially if you sell online. Secondly, don't alarm bells go off in anyone's head, when someone sends them three thousand dollars for a one hundred dollar item, insist they cash the check immediately and use Western Union to send back the extra $2900? "Gosh, can't I just send you cash back?"

Since these scammers persists, I guess they must have some success. I find it very difficult to conjure up any sympathy for those taken in by such a transparent scheme. A fool and his money are soon.... How does it go?

Gotta run... heading down to the Western Union office to send back a large overpayment. Yeah, right.

$46? I don't think so!

Posted on eBay last Thursday, April 17, with a starting price of .99 cents. Five days later, it is at a whopping (joke) $46. See if it has gone up by Clicking Here, or go straight to my beautiful website (yes, I'm proud of this site I made by myself!) and buy a similar one for a fair price, by Clicking Here.

Totally handcrafted, tung nut oiled red cedar, double-brushed heavy copper chimes, a beach stone clapper... $46? I don't think so.

I so pride myself on always going for the highest quality materials, and always doing the very best job I can.

For example, I could save over 50% on the chimes by switching to the lower, thinner tubing. But that's not my bag.

I could slap some nasty cheap finish on the cedar that would look okay for a few months, instead of the $40 a small can eco-friendly tung nut oil. But that's not my bag either.

Or, one more example, I could use the number six copper wire for making the hooklets and so on, and save a couple of bucks instead of the thick number 2 wire (three times the price, and much harder to work with). But that's not my bag either.

All those things could cut my cost a lot, when added together. And, from the pictures, customers would not note the difference. But I would.

While business is good, and I do sell many for the full asking price, when I see something like this auction sitting around at $46, I have to scratch my head a little. Are people just so used to picking imported junk up at the local discount store that they have totally lost touch with the value of some finely crafted work? Perhaps. These days, you just don't come into contact all that often with something not mass produced, where every conceivable corner hasn't been cut to save pennies.

Well, that does have a bright side. I have a lot of customers write extremely enthusiastic thank you emails, after receiving their orders. And they come back and buy again, and again.

Where There's a Will There's a Way

Click on the picture to see it largerCobalt blue beach glass inspired suncatcher with handmade copper chimes
For more information or to see other copper chimes, Click Here.

I'm a believer in that saying, 'where there's a will, there's a way.' The trouble is, it's easy to be lazy and not even try, specially when 'trying' takes a lot of effort.

For years I had access to inexpensive silver-colored chimes. I have sold a ton of suncatchers with those. But it always bothered me. The silver color struck me as out of synch with the copper. It was okay with the cobalt blue, but, I mean, my thing is copper! It also bothered me to use something no doubt mass produced in China. That's not my bag.

It was so easy! Just buy a bunch of the little chimes and have my son tie them onto my handmade copper hangers. Too easy; not good enough.

Several times I did take some initiative and cut my own chimes. First from stainless steel. Such hard metal! It was a real pain to cut and drill, and in the end they really were not much better looking than the cheap aluminum chimes. Then I tried copper tubing. Although I thought those looked pretty good, they didn't sound all that great.

I never really tried. Lazy.

The other day I finally gave this a lot of thought and arrived at what I hoped would be a solution. Where there is a will, there is a way!

Using small diameter rolled copper, I succeeded. A ton of work, but worth it! Here are the steps involved:

Cut the copper

Straighten it

Bore it with a drill

Re-straighten

Cut holes for hanging

Re-bore

Heat each chime to a very high temperature, and quickly submerge in ice water to harden the copper (so it can't bend easily, and primarily to produce a sharper, sweeter sound)

Double brush each chime

Polish each chime

Make the copper hangers

Wait for son to tie the chimes

Is it worth all that work? Yes.

Things Long Gone

Click on the image to see it larger.Mixed-media Beach Glass Inspired Hanging Suncatcher
For more information, or to purchase, Click Here

One interesting thing about selling online is that there is a history. Overtime, that history becomes more and more significant. Little goes away, when you publish something on the internet. People find things that you made, sold, forgot about.

That is what happened with the framed mixed-media suncatcher above. I had made and sold one sometime ago, and then someone found the picture and asked if I could do another, similar one. I made two. None are exactly like each other, but close enough to please the customer who wanted a similar one.

When people find old images or listings, I imagine most just move on. Or maybe some track down something else that they also like, and that is current and available. But quite a few write, asking if it is really sold, or if I have anything similar, or if I can make something like that again.

This has happened three times in one week. As time goes by, I feel it is bound to happen more and more often. The good news is that I can almost always try to make something close to whatever they missed out on. It will never be the same, as all my work is unique, one-of-a-kind. But I can almost always get close enough to make them happy. And that makes me happy.

A Little Color (other than green!) is Nice

The Sunshine Coast gets lots of rain through the fall and winter months, and the forests are lush. It's green, green and more green. I sometimes think a little color would be nice.

Then it's spring, and one of the first signs is the appearance of salmonberry flowers. What a treat for the eye, and soon a treat for the mouth! The bears can hardly wait (I ran into my first bear of the season the other day on my hike-- he didn't want to move, so I turned around).

Windchime, My Favorite

Cobalt blue beach glass inspired, with aged copper chimes. Delicious. For more information, or to purchase, Click Here (my website).

I'm frequently asked which of my many wind chime designs is my favorite. That's a tough one! I wouldn't make a style I did not like. So it is hard to choose.

But if I had to choose, I guess I would pick the one pictured here. I needed to put a lot into this one, and that may partially account for my choice. But there are other reasons.

First, the cobalt blue glass, aside from being stunningly beautiful, is by far the most challenging to work with. It tends to fracture in odd ways, and you need to baby it along every step of the way. So when I succeed, I automatically am attached.

Second, the aged copper chimes (pre-aged on my deck for over a year), I think go just perfectly with the dark blue. I only get a couple sets of aged chimes a year, at the best, so that's not something I can re-produce everyday.

And finally, I just don't think you can beat these all glass and copper wind chimes. I've had three sets on my deck for almost ten years, all year long in snow, rain and wind, and they just look better and better as time goes by. Think about it: no wood, no string, nothing to wear out or break. Just shear beauty.

Sea Glass Inspired Wind Chime | Bigger

Is bigger better? When it comes to the top section of this beach glass inspired kaleidoscope wind chime, maybe. Now one inch higher, one inch wider. To view three of this new larger style, you can visit my Carousel kaleidoscope wind chime section on my website (they are the last three images in the Carousel) by Clicking Here.

One of the great things about selling on the Net is hearing directly from customers (or even from people who are not customers, but who have something to say). That's worth a lot, and you can bet I listen closely.

Most often it is direct, like: Do you have any red glass? (No, red looks brown with a mat finish, but I listened and made red in other ways). Other times, it is simply a matter of reading between the lines, like: Could I special order one with a larger top section?

Making a couple of special orders like that, I saw that it was a good idea. So last week when I ordered plate glass, I got them to cut each piece one inch wider, one inch higher. Presto, the new 'improved' kaleidoscope wind chime. It's surprising how much just two inches changes the look.

Anyway, thanks again to my customers for all their good ideas.

Under 55

New section on my website~ everything under 55 dollars. To see what is available, Click Here.

One sort of email I get quite a few of I read with mixed emotions. These are from people who take the trouble to write, who express real enthusiasm for my work, who often say how much they like this or that, and who also say they wish they could afford it. I know the feeling!

It really makes me feel good that these people write, even though they can't buy. But I feel sorry that they can't enjoy one of my works.

That got me thinking. I used to make a fair number of less expensive items, but overtime, with the increase in the cost of materials (copper!), and also the growth of my skill level, it seemed not to make sense to spend all that time taking pictures and wrapping and shipping for a few dollars. So I stopped.

But these emails have got me going again. I figure if I stick to things that are not too complex to make, and that are not too tough to ship, I can do it. And if I sell them strictly on my website (no eBay etc. fees).

I hope some of these people will appreciate having things that perhaps they can afford without skipping meals.

GardenWeb | A Great Website

Cedar, Cobalt Glass, Copper, and... I do love Rust! To see all my rusty creations, Click Here.

I do love rust. And I see that I am not alone. The GardenWeb website even has a forum with some postings dedicated to rust. That forum is under the heading Garden Junk. I am not sure I am exactly thrilled to have my work mentioned, however favorably, under that heading!

About two years ago, I ran across the GardenWeb, and was very impressed. If you are the least bit interested in gardening, using the word in its widest possible sense, you really should check out this site.

The forums are lively. When some nice person posted about my website, the traffic to my site increased by ten times! If you have questions (or answers!) about gardening, garden design, garden art, check out the GardenWeb.

More Copper Earrings

Aged copper earrings. Just listed on eBay.

I used to make small beach glass inspired earrings, and give a set for free for those with larger orders. But I did not much enjoy using the epoxy to glue the glass onto the caps, and so I looked for something better. I came up with copper earrings, which was ideal since my work always has a surplus of small snippets of copper. I can use some of that for these!

Now I include a complimentary set for all orders, no matter how small the order is. People really seem to appreciate the gift. I get a lot of thank you notes!

Actually I sell quite a few pairs, as well, on eBay.

Today as I worked on finishing up around my new workshop, I found quite a lot of weathered copper wire. It's all old penny color, and I thought what a waste to throw it out. Then I got the idea of making earrings with aged copper. I really like these. I will soon know if anyone else likes aged copper, as I just put a set on eBay.

New Workshop ~ Yippee!

Before and...

After~

My renovated workshop. A treat!

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately!) you can not see much in the picture at the top of how this shack looked before my renovation. But you can see the roof broken and rotting off. Imagine just two small windows, and you can see why we always referred to this shack as the haunted house.

It was full of cobwebs, bats (two jumped out at me as I was ripping out the inside walls), mice, dirt and just plain ugly and unpleasant.

My old greenhouse workshop was an eyesore too, though, with a failing plastic roof. Dripping water, and the wind blowing through. Suddenly it made sense during this particularly cold and wet winter to renovate the shack (with plenty of insulation included, of course!).

Four large salvaged windows and a sliding glass door, a major clean up, built in tables and shelves and, presto, a wonderful workshop. One of the biggest pleasures was recycling materials~ all free, and all saved from the landfill. Good stuff.

There is still some tidying up and table building to do, and I believe my wife is thinking of staining the exterior, and maybe painting the trim some bright color.

Yesterday, I did my first chime work in the new shop, and it was really nice!

Driftwood Wind Chimes

I've added a new section to my website~ just driftwood! If you would like to see it, Click Here.

I see a surprising number of people searching for driftwood, and even driftwood wind chimes. Who would have thought there would be so many other fans of this high-character, low maintenance wood? Well, I love it, so I guess it should not be too surprising that some others do, too.

For this new section of my website, I used a different way of showing the items~ a carousel image gallery. I'm not sure which is better, the other way, from thumbnail pictures to larger pictures with details toa full size image, or this way. There is one less level to navigate here, so I am thinking this may be better. I'll see how it goes, and maybe change the whole site to this method. Decisions, decisions...

In the meantime, I got the old workshop / greenhouse torn down (hard job! It was well built.) and the site cleaned up, and the new, renovated shop now has built in tables and shelves, the outside trim is almost finished, and today I made the first items inside the shop~ it's going to be much, much better! Pictures soon.

Snow! More Snow! Sunshine Coast

Snow sticking to the skylight. Blah!

I guess I deserve this. After doing my little dance, singing my little song, clapping my... well, you get the idea ~ in celebration of an early spring on the Pacific West Coast, look! Snow!

I thought it was cold this morning on my hike. It was the first time in weeks I wore a hat. And I thought it was cold, as I worked finishing up my new workshop. But never, ever, did I think it would snow.

Well, at least the new shop seemed all that nicer, in this cold weather. It's going to be great! Even the dog came in. I guess he has had enough of the cold and snow this year, too.

Glass and Copper Wind Chime, That's it!

Glass, copper, a beach stone clapper. That's it. For me, this is the chime. For more details, or to buy this wind chime, Click Here.

My most popular wind chime is not my favorite. Oh, it's a super nice wind chime~ don't get me wrong! But it is not my personal favorite.

It's a puzzle to me why the style pictured above does not sell more frequently. Oh, I know, it's expensive. But not that expensive! Maybe the equivalent of four tanks of gas, and while the gas might last a month, this wind chime will last for many, many years.

See, it is all glass and copper. Nothing to wear out. Nothing to need refinishing. It's just going to hang there, and look better and better as time goes by.

This is the first style I made, when I started making wind chimes. When I listed my first one for sale, people went wild! At least a few people. Well, I think those people were right. This is a winner.

I have three of this type hanging on my deck. For seven years they have been out there year round, through winter snow storms and fall wind storms, and I can vouch that they only look even better than the day I hung them up.

Now that's a sweet wind chime!

Savary Island, Cottage Website Launch www.savarybc.com

It was a pleasure putting together this new website for my friend, master woodworker Andrew Van Wersch. He is building such a neat cottage on Savary Island (also known as paradise!), a Gulf Island off the Sunshine Coast. To see a lot of neat pictures, including a mini-portfolio of the amazing cabinetry and furniture Andrew has made, Click Here.

I really enjoy making websites. It's very different from my usual work, working with my hands. Website design calls for such intense concentration. But maybe that's just me. I love to see how even a minor change in color can so dramatically change the look of a site.

This Savary Island website was really nice to put together. Working with such beautiful pictures, both of the fabulous cottage Andrew is building, and his portfolio of high-end furniture and cabinetry work, meant that things would look great almost despite what I did in site design.

It still took many hours to put it all together. Plus I have been renovating the shack behind our house, turning it into a snazzy workshop (more on this later). So it's time to get back to work and make some neat wind chimes, before the next fistful of bills comes. It's so much fun to work on these other things, it's easy to forget about business! Tomorrow, cutting copper chimes.

Driftwood Wind Chimes

Teredo Driftwood Copper Wind Chime. Tung Nut Oiled. Beach Stone Clapper.

Aside from this blog, I run my own website. Through Google Analytics, I can see a snapshot of what people search to find my site. I'm intrigued that there are quite a few people who search for driftwood, and driftwood wind chimes. I thought it was just me!

You know, my first memory of being enchanted by the natural world has to do with driftwood. Back when I was a very young boy, my parents took us to a Northern Wisconsin lake. I recall how I found a treasure: A most beautiful piece of driftwood. I still remember exactly how it looked~ long, smooth, and polished by the waves. I took it home, and for a long time it was one of my dearest possessions.

How odd (or perhaps not) that forty five years later I should still be looking for more great driftwood.

Pacific Driftwood, Tung Nut Oiled, Copper Chimes, Beach Stone Clapper

Beach Glass Inspired Suncatcher Evolves

New from old~ it's started life as a freestanding window suncatcher, and now, completely redone, is a mixed media window suncatcher hanging. To read more about this suncatcher, you may visit my website by Clicking Here.

I could count the number of returns I have had on half the fingers of one hand. Not too bad, considering the several thousand items I have shipped. One or two damaged items, and one or two where the customer changed their mind, or whatever. Offering a 100% satisfaction guarantee, I'm pleased not to have had more returns. Generally, I just get a very enthusiastic thank you email.

That said, a few weeks ago I heard from a customer who was upset. She had bought a freestanding suncatcher, and did not like what she received, and even doubted it was the same item as had been pictured. Never before had anything like this happened, so I was puzzled.

I paid for her postage to mail it back, and also completely refunded all her money. When it arrived back, the puzzle was solved. The sides of this large suncatcher had come a bit loose, resulting in a lopsidedness, and also the glass morsels inside must not have been cleaned as well as they should have been, as the inner glass plates looked all dusty. So I fully understood why this customer had been unhappy. I felt very bad for all her trouble and disappointment.

But, when something like that happens, there is nothing to do except to learn and move on. I took the whole thing apart, cut much thicker and stronger sides and bottoms, used much longer brad nails, and put it all back together as a hanging suncatcher. It's strong, it's clean, and it's cool.

Savary Island | Dreams | Paradise

Yes~ away from it all. Savary Island.

Click on the image to see it larger.

Have you ever dreamed of having a place on an island where you can really get away from it all? Your place? Your getaway?

Did your dream feature a beautiful island with sandy beaches, lush vegetation, an amazing house?

Welcome to Savary Island. Welcome to my friend, the five star woodworker, Andrew Van Wersch. Welcome to my new blog, Savary B.C.

If you Google Savary Island, what stands out is the number of entries that feature the word 'paradise.' I'm not surprised. Famous for its sandy beaches, its warm clean water, it's unspoiled beauty, when it comes to describing Savary the word paradise just naturally fits.

If you have ever dreamed of island life, if you like the Pacific West Coast, if you wonder what it is like to build on an island, if you enjoy beautiful pictures, then my new blog will be of interest to you.

I am starting with the island, then focusing in on Andrew and building. I'll be following the construction of the amazing place he is building on this island paradise.

Why not check it out? You can find the blog by Clicking Here.

Soon to be an exceptional getaway

Teredo Driftwood, Rusty Chimes

Teredo worm sculpted Pacific driftwood with large rusty iron chimes. I've added a whole page of rusty iron chimes to my website~ to see these beautiful works, Click Here.

As promised in an earlier post, I have now completed my teredo worm chewed Pacific driftwood wind chime. Actually, the teredo worm is not a worm at all, but a sort of clam. It's clear from this piece of wood why those who own wood boats dread the teredo worm!

I've also just added a whole page to my new website featuring rusty iron chimes. Rust is beautiful! These are heavy chimes, and the rust evenly coats the chimes. Since the chimes are quite thick, it will be years and years before they rust away, so not to worry about that.

Like (almost) all my chimes, these have beach stone clappers. Great sound. Great beauty.

Spring-like Weather here on the Coast ~ Sale to Celebrate!

Snapshot section of my new website. To celebrate what seems like spring here on the Sunshine Coast, I decided to have a sale! Why not check it out? Treat yourself or a friend to something beautiful.

After such a l-o-n-g, cold, wet, dark and dismal winter, suddenly we have warm(er) temperatures and blue skies here on the Sunshine Coast. I can't begin to express how this has improved my spirits! That was one tough winter!

Of course, through much of the country people would scoff at the idea of 37 degrees even being called winter. But there is a dampness and a darkness here that truly can become a drag very quickly. And then it goes on and on until it seems it will never end.

Beside, I do almost all my work outside in unheated spaces. I can tell you that 37 degrees, or even 42, may not sound all that cold, but when you are standing in one spot handling copper tubing without gloves, it is cold.

So with the sun shining down, with the temperature climbing up, it seems like an excellent reason to celebrate. Just go to my website to take advantage of my spring sale. Add some beauty to your environment.

Lower Prices (for a bit)

Beach Glass Inspired Kaleidoscope Art Wind Chime
Price temporarily reduced on my website!

I got a shock the other day in the form of a rather large, unexpected bill. That's life. That's Great news for my customers, as I need to sell a few works fast. I've just lowered the prices on quite a few of the wind chimes and suncatchers on my website, so if you have been thinking about something nice for your home, office, yard or garden~ this is the right time! Prices will go back up as soon as this (ugh) bill gets paid.

More good news is that since my last posting (really just a week ago?) where I griped about the snow, the weather has turned very spring-like here, on the Sunshine Coast. I plan to go into full production~ lots of super neat things coming up fast on the design table. Some wonderful driftwood~ including a fabulous piece of toredo (shipworm) chewed wood. It's going to be So Nice working without having my hands freeze off!

The Snow goes On and On and...

The view out my packing room window. Since I mostly work outside in unheated spaces, it is really not the least bit tempting to go out there and get to work. It is pretty, though, and very nice hiking weather. I have more pictures, including recent ones of the cold snowy landscape, in a slide show on my website: Click here to see pictures of the Roberts Creek, Sunshine Coast area.

This has been a very cool, wet, snowy winter so far, for this area. Most years, it might snow once or twice, and that usually melts within a few days. Then usually it's back to pretty bearable temperatures. Not this year.

We have lived on the Sunshine Coast, British Columbia for thirteen years now, and I never have seen the snow hanging around this long. It's not a lot; but it's there. Not only does this make it too uncomfortable to do much work, but the white background is not ideal for taking pictures of my work. So things are kind of on hold.

Now I'm starting to run out of chimes, though, so whether I like it or not, and whether it warms up or not, I will soon have to go out and there. I am really hoping for some warmer weather!

Here is my dog Yukon, who has the right idea these days.

vs.5, New Coast Chimes Website

A partial snapshot of the homepage of my new website. vs. 5~ it's been a long haul! Why not take a moment and explore~ it's a pretty site, with pretty things. To see my new site, just Click Here.

As so often happens, what at first seems so easy becomes more and more complex. Why is that? While it was approximately a million times easier and more fun building a website using nice software, it soon became apparent that there were also many neat new things that could be tried, and that brought with it a steep learning curve.

Since I do almost all my actual work (making neat things) outside in unheated space, designing this new website provided the perfect excuse to sit inside, away from the snow and cold. It is amazing to me, though, just how much time and effort can go into a website. Just choosing titles for each page is a major task, not to mention colors, and.... well, you get the picture.

I know vs.5 will not be the end of it, either. But at least I have gotten it to the point where I feel quite proud.

At last~ Decent light!

Beach glass inspired kaleidoscope wind chime. Five copper chimes with a beach stone clapper. For more information, or to bid on this wind chime, Click here.

It's been a long, cold, wet, dark winter. For most of my work, I'm outside in unheated spaces. So it's been hard. If it's not so cold my fingers freeze, it's wet, which makes working with wood very challenging. But the worse is trying to take decent pictures. For that, I need light!

At long last, the sun was shining yesterday and I broke my schedule of going to Vancouver each Wednesday to take advantage of it. The light was really great for only about forty-five minutes, and I can tell you that was a busy three quarters of an hour! I took over three hundred pictures (each piece gets numerous pictures, and then I choose the best of the lot).

It was worth it. There is no doubt that the image is the most important element for selling my work online. So I'm very happy to have been able to get some decent pictures. Now to finish sorting through them all, and to update those on my website, as most are not so great.

My new website is into version 4.5 now. It's getting there. More on that later.

Nice, Helpful People

It's not often that I feel the urge to praise a company. These days of endless telephone waits and know-nothing service reps, my usual urge is quite the opposite!

So when I do run across an exceptional company, I feel I should shout the news.

After resolving to totally redo my website, this time using real software and a real web host, I had some decisions to make.

I already mentioned in a previous post how much I like my choice of RapidWeaver website design software, but neglected to mention how much I like my new web hosting company.

Little Oak hosting is truly a jewel. A small company, where they take the time to answer questions quickly (light-fast, I would say), and clearly. Being a beginner at web design, I am sure many of my questions were rather foolish, yet I never heard them laugh at me once! Also, some of my questions were quite frankly not exactly related to their job~ software questions, not hosting questions ~ and yet they happily answered even those questions. Christopher, my contact at Little Oak, reassured me that it was only by asking such questions that I would learn~ now that's nice!

With hosting packages starting at only $25 a year (!), they are quite the excellent deal, too. All packages include tons of neat stuff, like great statistics on website traffic etc. etc.

I am recommending Little Oak to all my friends. One word: Wonderful!

I Love Rust

A new look for the new year~ Rusty Iron Chimes! Shown with a beach glass inspired kaleidoscope top section. For more information, or to purchase, Click Here.

I love rust! For a long time, I have been longing to get my hands on some iron to make rusty chimes. After starting my new website, coastchimes.com, I got on with this rusty chime project.

The first steel yard I visited here on the Sunshine Coast only had gas pipe, and sanding the creosote-like finish off was not much fun. Fortunately, the second yard had just what I was looking for: pre-rusted heavy pipe. Beautiful!

I have seen painted chimes where the paint has chipped and there is rust where there should not be. Now that's ugly! So isn't it funny how chimes totally covered in rust are so attractive?

And I am not worried about the durability of these. The iron is thick, and it will be years and years before the rust eats them away. The beach stone clapper sounds really nice against these large chimes, too.

So for the New Year, a New Look. I am not abandoning copper. I love copper, too. But it's great to explore new materials.

New Website!

I'm not a huge fan of New Year resolutions. But oddly enough last year I resolved to make a website. I did that. This year I resolved to make a good website. I think maybe I have made progress towards that goal, too, already. Here is a screen shot of the homepage:























It's now called Coast Wind Chimes.

If you ever visited my old, cobbled together site, I think you might enjoy visiting the new site and seeing how much easier it is to navigate, and some of the neat new features, like a slide show.

I would like to thank the folks at Realmac Software for their Rapidweaver web design software. Rapidweaver made putting my new site together such a pleasure, especially after the HTML nightmare of the old site. The forum at Rapidweaver is great, too, with such clear answers from those who know what they are doing.

It's been cold, wet, and windy, and so it was nice to stay inside and work on the website. But now it's time to get out and make some new, interesting things.