
Coast Chimes designer, artist, craftsman Tim Kline works with glass, copper, beach stone, and driftwood creating beautiful one-of-a-kind wind chimes and suncatchers. Inspired by nature. This blog focuses on his art, his materials, his inspiration.
Sunday, August 02, 2009
Blue, Beautiful Blue

Saturday, July 18, 2009
Large Freestanding Double Wind Chime

Friday, June 19, 2009
Colorful Wind Chime

Saturday, June 13, 2009
Wind Chime, New Design

Thursday, June 04, 2009
Wind Chime, Beach Glass Inspired, Blue and Green

Thursday, May 21, 2009
Wind Chime, Mixed Media

Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Wind Chime, Hammered Copper

Monday, May 11, 2009
Wind Chime Sale!

Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Suncatcher, Beach Glass Inspired

Friday, May 01, 2009
Peanut Butter Pie, Blog

Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Wholesale Wind Chimes, Price Reduced

Monday, April 27, 2009
Apple iPod Touch Review: e-Book Reader and More

After dreaming of owning an e-book reader for several months, I finally snagged an Apple iPod Touch a couple of weeks ago when they went on sale.
When thinking of an e-book reader, an iPod Touch is probably not what comes to most people’s mind. But having researched readers extensively on the web, I was impressed by how many favorable reviews I came across.
I chose the Touch instead of a Kindle because the Kindle is not available in Canada, I find it unattractive (ugly), and it is too big for my pocket— I might as well drag along a book.
I couldn’t be happier with my choice.
While there are several book reader apps available for the Touch (including Kindle), Stanza (free) is the one I have so far been using. It’s wonderful! With the touch of a finger you can change the size of the font, colors, background, and all sorts of other stuff to make the page look just right for you, and for the current light conditions. There are a ton of classics available for free, and some contemporary works too. Connected via WiFi, it takes just a couple of seconds to download any book.
While I had been skeptical that the small screen size would provide a good reading experience, the sharp screen means the letters are very clear, so you can use a small font, and, besides, simply touching the side of the screen turns the page— not exactly onerous. The iPod Touch is a far better book reader than I ever imagined it would be. It remembers your place in a book, and just takes a second to turn on, so the upshot is I have been doing a lot more reading.

Bonus: I got the Touch to use as a book reader, but it turns out that I am using it for far, far more.
I had no idea of all the cool stuff you could do with an iPod Touch. There are about 30,000 apps available. Granted, the majority of those are games, which hold no interest at all for me, but there are also many that I have found very useful. Here are a few of my favorites.
Email. Being a compulsive email checker, the Touch is saving me tons of time and energy. I used to wake my computer far too often to check. Now I pick them all up on my iPod, where ever I am, even all the way out in my workshop.
Internet Browsing. The Touch comes with Safari, and again I find the small screen oddly non-bothersome. You just pull your fingers across the screen, which expands any website for easy reading. And with an app called Instapaper (free), you can save web pages to the iPod to read later when not connected to the internet.
News and articles. Being something of a news junkie, I am thrilled at the numerous apps dedicated to various news services and magazines. My favorites (so far) are the Huffington Post, Maclean’s, and the Globe and Mail (all free). You can update these before leaving home and then enjoy catching up even out of a WiFi zone.
Skype. I’ve used Skype for several years on my home computer. It turns out it works even better on the Touch. (I am guessing this is because of no interference from whirling hard drives etc.?). To use it on the Touch, you need to buy earphones with a mic— about $30 from Apple.
There are around a dozen other apps I use frequently. Everything from movie reviews and trailers (Flixster) to shopping lists (ShopShop).
Aside from all those cool apps, after a several year hiatus the iPod Touch is turning me back onto music. There are many fabulous podcasts (free), for example I have become quite addicted to the NPR Live Concert series.
Also, I have found that I can borrow audio library books online~ pretty sweet!
One final real benefit of the iPod Touch. I love watching films, however I do not like going to the video store, especially to return videos. For quite a while I have been renting videos online. Previously this meant lugging my iMac downstairs and watching on its barely adequate 20 inch screen. Now I just transfer them over to my iPod and plug it into our large tv (requires an adopter). The picture quality, by the way, is great.
My iPod Touch? One word: Awesome.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Suncatcher, Beach Glass inspired, Hanging

Saturday, April 11, 2009
Suncatcher Chime Fancy, Inspiration

Friday, March 27, 2009
Wind Chime, Freestanding, Beach Stone and Copper

Monday, March 23, 2009
Bird Feeder Art Wind Chime Makeover

Saturday, March 14, 2009
Another 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!
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Birdbath

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.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
New Snazzy Wind Chime Windsails!

Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Wholesale Wind Chimes and Art
Left, center and right, several of my suncatchers hanging in the window of the Full Moon and Candle Company, in Sequim Washington.Some of these easy order selections are even suitable for individuals, who may want to order a larger selection for their home, yard or garden, or as gifts. There is even an easy order cold forged copper earring page, which would be a great way to get all your friends something unique, beautiful, and for an amazing price.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Neat Suncatchers
Beach Glass inpspired
Suncatchers
Click on the pictures to see them larger
I've just added several really nice beach glass inspired kaleidoscope suncatchers to my website.There is a hanging style, and a freestanding style. These are really fine for any sunny window. As the sun shines through the glass, the colors come alive producing a beautiful display.
Despite being extremely well made with eco-friendly tung nut oiled red cedar box frames and extra-thick plate glass, I have decided to place these in my Under $75 section— and the price includes postage and insurance for the USA and Canada!
Why not have a look now? Click Here to visit them on my website. Enjoy!
Friday, February 06, 2009
Bosch Table Saw Dead
Beach glass inspired kaleidoscope wind chimeOn sale for $127.50 instead of $177.50!
Visit the Kaleidoscope Carousel Gallery of my Website.
my Bosch 4000 table saw broke— again. It's dead.
Several years ago, just shortly after the warranty expired, the bearings burnt out and I had to ship it to Vancouver, wait about two months, and pay a small fortune to have it repaired. Since then, it has worked pretty well. But now it does not even hum when I turn it one. Ominous.
I'm going to look at it today, to see if I can figure out what is going on. But most likely I will end up getting a new saw. This time, it will be a DeWalt. That will be cost about $700, so I will be looking to sell quite a few items in the next few weeks, which means great deals for you!
I just lowered the sale price of my kaleidoscope wind chime to $127.50, including Expedited postage to the USA or Canada (other countries, email for a reduced postage quote). I also have a super beautiful flowing copper wind chime on sale.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Beautiful Blue ~ Beach Glass Inspired Scultped Wind Chime
Sculpted red cedar with blue glass and copper. Beautiful. For more information, or to purchase, visit my website.Finally, most of the snow is gone. This is great, as taking pictures with a snowy background is a real drag-- messes up brightness and contrast. However, a lot of my supplies are still buried under deep snow behind the house, so it will be a while before certain project can be tackled. I'm looking so forward to spring, and especially summer!
Monday, February 02, 2009
SD Cards Jump in Technology
My first digital camera had some small SD card that I would constantly fill, have to empty into my computer, and go back to taking pictures of my stuff. Then I got something like a 512 MB card, and things were easier, But I would once and a while still fill it during one session (I take a lot of pictures of my work!). So just recently I saw the price on 2GB cards, and bought one right away-- less than $30!
Well, recently announced, in the near future there will be 2 terabyte cards (SDX) available. 2 terabytes? 2000 megabytes! Enough memory in a postage stamp size card to hold 600-1000 HD movies. Or over 160,000 images. Guess I wouldn't be running out of memory with one of those puppies! It boggles the mind (at least my mind) that so much data could be stored in such a small thing.
The first of the new cards should be out later this year, but these will be 64GB.
My guess? Watch for a change in how your local video store rents movies.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Barbecued Dog
These cold days, the wood stove is nice and toasty, but Yukon proves falling asleep in front of it is not a good idea.We all like to spend some moments in front of it, warming our back and front sides. No one likes this more than Yukon. Last night we were all upstairs when suddenly we smelt something burning. Turned out to be dog fur. The hound had been sleeping a little too close, for a little too long, and he started to toast. I guess his heavy fur coat insulates pretty well, and he never felt how hot it was, until it was too late. Talk about a 'golden' retriever! I noticed he is not sleeping in front of the stove this morning, so maybe he's figured that out.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Beach Glass Inspired Kaleidoscope Wind Chimes!
Beach glass inspired kaleidoscope wind chimeNow on sale on my website!
It does indeed continue to be unusually cold here on the Sunshine Coast. Last night it was minus 6C, and the forecast is for snow tonight and tomorrow. Unbelievable. We still have snow on the ground from before Christmas. This makes for very pretty hikes up on the mountain, but uncomfortable days working on my projects. Thank goodness for my somewhat heated workshop-- the first year I have this luxury. Still, there is a lot of stuff that has to be done right out in the open, and I can hardly wait for spring!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Cool Freestanding Suncatchers
Freestanding Beach Glass InspiredSuncatcher Chime
Natural Pacific Beach Stone ~ Naturally Beautiful!
I've just completed a series of freestanding natural beach stone sculptures, some with handcrafted copper chimes, some with double sets of chimes, and othres with glass and no chimes. These are truly unique. The glass and copper go so nicely with the natural stone and the tung nut oiled wood. Very peaceful.
To see the full series, visit the Gallery Page of my website. You can learn all about them, and, if you wish, buy one. Even though these are large and heavy to ship, there is no postage or handling charge on my website prices for the USA or Canada. If you are in Canada, you may wish to ask for an invoice in Canadian funds. Enjoy.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
New Reverse Painted Double-sided Wind Chimes Series

I've finally completed a new series of my original reverse painted double-sided art wind chimes. These are cool. All the color is on the inside, well sealed between two plates of very thick glass, so they are just fine outdoors in all seasons, all weather.
This series I made somewhat more complex than in the past, more glass, and a bit larger, too.
Here are detail pictures of the glass from each of the three sets of wind chimes. These wind chimes have a different painting on each side, so it's almost like getting two wind chimes! You can see full pictures and read more information on my website Gallery page, by clicking here.

Thursday, January 15, 2009
Earrings Now Offered Wholesale
Click on the picture to see it larger, or, better yet, visit the 'Earring Wholesale Page"on my website.So if you have a store and would like to sell these cool, handcrafted copper earrings, this is a simple way to order wholesale.
Hey! This would also be a great way to order fabulous (but inexpensive) gifts for a party, or some friends. They need never know what a great deal you got!
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Wind Chime in a Customer's Yard
At its new home in Arizona
I particularly like the way this customer has hung the chime. I've seen these large black forged hooks before around here, and even thought about buying some and selling them along with my chimes. But they are just too large to ship. Besides, I believe they are widely available and very reasonably priced at around $15. That's less than I could ship them for. They are certainly well suited for my work. She got this just right, with the sun behind the glass.
See more of my wind chimes and other work on my website.
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Wholesale Packages Now Available, Coast Chimes
Three different wholesale sample packagesnow being offered at Coast Chimes!
Visit the Wholesale Page for Details
Thus is born the quick and easy wholesale packages that I now offer. There is a small sample package for trying my work out, or for a small shop, a medium one, and a large package which includes two large wind chimes.
This is an easy way to try Coast Chimes out in your store or gallery. It is also a good starting point for those who want to add in some other items. If you own a retail space, why not check out Coast Chimes' new and improved wholesale shopping section?



