Adding Beauty to Your Outdoor Environment

Large Beautiful Glass and Copper Wind Chime
by Coast Chimes

It's clear: from the number of orders pouring in, the wintery areas of the USA and Canada have thawed out, and people are turning to their yards and gardens, deciding to add some decor.

Why Coast Chimes? I designed with three main elements in mind.

First, appearance: my wind chimes and suncatchers must be beautiful.

Second, durability. My works are designed to last: Coast Chimes is the environmentally right decision in what is far too often a throw away world.

Third, for the chimes, they must sound fine, and not annoying. I worked on the sound until satisfied that they sound great: pleasant, not too loud, blending with the natural environment so as not to intrude on ones peaceful moments in the outdoors.

• Beauty
• Durability
• Lovely sound

These days, with the price of copper (I just invested in more raw stock), they are also frankly a good deal. Back when I started, I hardly paid attention to my copper, as it was not very expensive. I pay attention now! And while the price of copper has increased several 100's %, I have not raised my prices in years. So enjoy a good deal!

Visit Coast Chimes and choose something amazing for yourself or for a friend?

Back from Holiday, Galloping Goose Trail, Vancouver Island

Galloping Goose Bike Trail
Vancouver Island Holiday

Enjoying a Peaceful Break

Specialized Turbo Vado
First Long Bike Trip

It's hard for me to take time off from making wind chimes and suncatchers: I love my work! It is especially hard at this time of year; as the USA and Eastern Canada thaw out, and people turn to decorating their outdoor space, and it gets busy here at Coast Chimes. But everyone needs a break. A bike trip proved ideal, especially on Vancouver Island which turns out to be very bike-friendly. From downtown Victoria to the Galloping Goose nature trail, bikes often get priority on Vancouver Island— very different from most of the Sunshine Coast! My new Specialized Turbo Vado performed flawlessly, and the Buzzrack Scorpion H2 car rack was a real treat to use.

We meandered, enjoyed nature, enjoyed the gorgeous weather, saw new things (Bouchart Gardens— worth it!), and also had some fine meals out.

Now back to it. I have a very long to-do list, starting with firing back up my website and Etsy, and immediately producing many sets of copper and brass chimes (I am definitely behind!). Oh! I'll still take time each day for a nice walk / bike ride— that's just he way I work.

Specialized Turbo Vado to the Post Office

Specialized Turbo Vado e-bike
Coast Chimes Orders Headed to the Post Office

Most often in the past, I would put an order inside my large backpack, and strap the others onto the outside, sometimes during the busy seasons also having to add a large garbage bag or two, and hike the kilometres to our local post office. It was easy if the car happened to be home to do the simple thing and drive.

These pretty spring days, it is a pleasure to use my new e-bike. We have many really steep hills here, and I never felt like using a regular bike much-- just too hard on my knees. The e-bike lets me choose just how much assistance I want. Loaded down, steep hill, I can get a lot of help, making even the steepest hill no problem at all. Pleasure riding, or on the flat areas, I can basically turn off the assistance and get some work out.

The only issue is all the narrow, twisting roads we have here, or narrow roads with high speed limits. If there happens to be a bike lane, it tends to be a fairly narrow strip, no barrier, full of sticks, stones, or worse, and also frequent uneven pavement. It seems biking is becoming ever more popular, and I hope everyone puts pressure on the government to improve this situation. I myself plan to advocate for improvements.

I feel great getting some exercise, not contributing to the traffic and air pollution with an ICE. Customers or Coast Chimes may appreciate that I constantly do all I can to reduce, reuse, recycle. Also, I design and build all my creations to last, unlike cheaper stuff often designed for a season or two and to be thrown away.

Bicycle Riding, New Passion

Specialized Turbo Vado, New Passion

It's been a very long time since I've ridden a bike. As a child and teenager, I lived on my bikes. Then I had a pretty terrible accident on the way to school, and never really felt like getting back in the saddle.

Moving to the Sunshine Coast, BC, my wife REALLY enjoys biking around, and has frequently urged me to join her. We have hills here, A LOT of hills, and narrow roads, and well... I did not feel like doing that at all, with memories of my bad crash still haunting me, too.

But then I looked into e-bikes. I do love technology. In fact, my love of technology, and the thought of effortlessly defeating our local steep hills, lead me to getting my e-bike. Never looking back (well, I do have a rearview mirror!), as I quickly discovered it is a lot of fun to explore on a bike.

Above, reaching my destination on an early morning ride. It turns out early morning is a great time to ride, before there is much traffic on the roads. My one gripe is that the Sunshine Coast is very poor, as far as road biking. If there happens to be a bike lane, it is narrow, and generally full of gravel, branches, trash. Most often, there is no special bike lane, and the secondary roads tend to be curvy and narrow-- not ideal. I'm pretty cautious (yes, memories of that accident...), and hope to enjoy this new hobby without incident. The bright green swimming noodle on the back of my bike is an idea stollen from a cyclists in Toronto: it makes me more visible, and encourages cars to keep some distance when passing. I do notice a significant improvement since attaching it.

My Early Morning Route from Yesterday

Abbotsford Tulip Festival, Bicycle Holiday

Abbotsford Tulip Festival, 3 million Tulips

After 50 years of not riding a bike (very bad accident soured me on the whole biking thing), my wife, who adores bicycling, finally convinced me to get back on the saddle. Oh! Also, I love technology (not so much hills) and I decided I might like e-biking. I do!

I got a Specialized Turbo Vado 2.0, and find it so much fun to not break my legs going up our numerous steep local hills. I also researched and found a car bike rack that could support her heavy step-through steel frame comfort bike and my even heavier step-through e-bike. The Buzzrack Scorpion H, available in Canada at the Bike Zone with free shipping, is an absolutely brilliant rack, extremely stable, that locks on the hitch, and locks the bikes on the rack-- truly a great deal at $329 CAD. If you live on the Sunshine Coast, I can not over recommend Elphinstone Cycles for bikes: they know their stuff, and are so nice and helpful.

So I put the bikes on the back of our car, and off we went for our short biking holiday. The Poco Trail was such a pleasure! Next day a biking trail in Fort Langley (the Fort to Fort trail) was even more fun. Kilometers of trails with no traffic made me realize how impoverished the Sunshine Coast is, as far as road cycling. Here we have world class mountain biking with rugged trails galore, but to go anywhere urban is fairly risky, with cars kissing your handlebars: A little too anxiety producing. So to get away to these purpose built biking trails was a real treat.

A short stay in the city at a very comfortable Airbnb, excellent meals out, great biking, fun tulip festival, made for an enjoyable break. The ease of securing our bikes on the car means I am already looking forward to another biking holiday in the near future.

Below is a picture of me, on my e-bike, after so many years away from biking. I like it!

Yours Truly, Clearly Enjoying My E-bike

Urban Backyard Organic Garden

Backyard Organic Food Garden
Coming Back From Winter 

Counterintuitively, when we had acreage we found we could not really do that much with it, as it was just too much land for us to manage, especially with young children and work. Moving 5 years ago to a very small lot, the difference is remarkable. I think when we had acreage, it was frustrating because even spending a full day on it did not show much impact. Now, a few hours and you can see progress.

One thing was certain: when we bought the land and built the house, I said no grass, none, ziltch. Having spent 20 years mowing hilly acreage with a push mower, I had had more than enough! Also, I hated the noise, the stink, the seeming pointlessness of it-- especially in spring, you cut it, and it grows back so fast! So yes to no grass. What a great decision! I get to lie back in my hammock with a good book and the sound of neighbours firing up their mowers hardly even bothers me, smirking with no grass to cut! (Actually, the noise does still annoy me...)

So instead of grass, we have food. Lots of food! The first year, when from one of those large raised beds I harvested in one day 3 1/2 large colanders of french green beans, and from the side, buckets of raspberries, blueberries, I realized you don't need much land to grow an amazing amount of food. I had to buy a freezer!

From fairly early spring to late fall, this small backyard provides the majority of our fruits and vegetables. And, with the freezer, on into the winter.

I wish more people would move from lawns to food. You can do it on a small scale without that much effort and money, and you will save a lot at the grocery store, and eat better.

Driftwood, Beach Stone, Glass, Balanced.

Cobalt Glass, Beach Stone, Driftwood Wind Chime
$95 with free shipping @ Coast Chimes

I love when everything just clicks, and I end up with a work I feel is so balanced, such as the wind chime pictured above. A little of everything, and it just works.

I particularly like this piece of driftwood. I found a few in this shape this year, and it took me a little while to figure it out. This is the 'in the tree' part of a branch— what would be a knot in a board. The tree part is softer wood, so the ocean washes / abrades the tree away, leaving this interesting, hard, piece of inner branch. Pretty cool!

See all my wind chimes and sun catchers at Coast Chimes.

Zen Garden, Beach Stones, Sea Glass

Zen Outdoor Beach Stone and Sea Glass Wind Chime
by Coast Chimes, $87 with Free Shipping

Love, love, love beach stones! Smooth, rounded, cool! And somehow they just compliment the copper wrapped artist-made sea glass perfectly. Interesting, soothing, peaceful.

The chimes are hand cut brass, polished, treated with a reactive that will never peel or flake. They are suspended from a handcrafted copper hanger with 21 strand nylon coated stainless steel and sterling silver crimps: Quality! Made to last!

See this, and many other exceptional wind chimes and suncatchers at Coast Chimes.

Outdoor Art, Try a Freestanding Wind Chime

Freestanding Glass and Copper Wind Chime
Beach Stone Base
Available at Coast Chimes

Freestanding chimes with a beach stone base are so cool! Put them anywhere: on your porch, your deck, your lawn, or in a garden with a bit of mulch pushed up around the stone.

The artist-made sea glass is smooth with a mat finish, and skillfully copper wire wrapped.

The chimes are cut from raw brass, polished, treated with a reactive (will not peel or flake) to produce such a nice finish, and then strung on a handmade copper hanger with nylon coated stainless steel, and sterling silver crimps. Made to last! Soothing sound.

The flowing copper support is embedded right into the beach stone. The beach stone is naturally beautiful: smooth and rounded.

See the entire selection of freestanding wind chimes at Coast Chimes.

Double Freestanding Wind Chime
Available at Coast Chimes

Kaleidoscope Sea Glass Suncatcher by Coast Chimes

Kaleidoscope Suncatcher
$95 with Free Shipping at Coast Chimes

The snow finally melted enough for me to start taking pictures of my works again; high time! I was totally out of stock online of several of my most popular designs, such as the suncatcher hanging pictured above.

There are now several of these in on my website, and in my Etsy store. Also refreshed are my stock of freestanding suncatchers, and diamond shaped large kaleidoscope wind chimes, as well as small diamond shaped wind chimes. So visit and see all the great new works!

I'll be working on pictures and posting new stock through the next week or so. And then back to making more great works for your garden and home.

West Vancouver Sea Wall Walk

Capilano River, Lions Gate Bridge, West Vancouver
A Different Walk

It is not often that I go to Vancouver: there has to be a compelling reason. I love the slower, less urban environment of the Sunshine Coast, and forget sometimes that Vancouver is only a 40 minute ferry trip away. Yesterday I had to go for car maintenance and for a specialized dental appointment. 

Between dropping off the car and the dental appointment, I found myself with several hours to kill. This lead to a very happy discovery of the West Vancouver sea walk

The Walk, West Vancouver, From Park Royal to about 25th Street

Most people going to Vancouver for the day from the Sunshine Coast take advantage of all the shops and restaurants. I so enjoyed just walking for 2 1/2 hours, relaxing before the dentist. And I was so surprised by how lovely this area is! The river, the views of the bridges, the much clearer ocean than I would have expected, the piers to explore, the houses and apartments along certain sections: so interesting! There were also a number of seals, a popular crab fishing place, many birds. I recommend this walk.

Train Bridge

Lions Gate Bridge

The Seagulls Seem Much Tamer in the City

A Most Interesting Walk

Woodworking, Coast Chimes

Cut and Oiled Cedar Drying at
Coast Chimes

Pictured above, freshly oiled cedar drying in my workshop. Cedar is my wood of preference, as it is local, and also highly resistant to the elements, even without my superior oil finish. It is also absolutely beautiful!

Many of the cut pieces pictured will be used to make my large kaleidoscope wind chimes, as pictured below. A few will also turn into freestanding kaleidoscope suncatchers. I already cut and washed the float glass to dimension, so once the oil has dried for a few days, I will be ready to assemble. Then I just have to wait for the last of the snow to melt in my backyard, where I take my pictures, photograph them, and post them to Etsy and to my Coast Chimes Website.

Large Kaleidoscope Wind Chime

Bright Hand Painted Outdoor Art

Alcohol Ink: Bright & Beautiful!
At Coast Chimes

My Artist-made sea glass and my driftwood and beach stone wind chimes are missing one thing: bright colors!

I do have a fair number of people requesting red, or purple, so my response is this gorgeous new medium: Alcohol ink. I use it on glass and on tiles to produce awesome one-of-a-kind original art work wind chimes and suncatchers with bright reds, purples, gold, and more.

Making this artwork suitable for outdoor use is very labour intensive, involving many coats of various products to shield the artwork from the harmful, fading effects of UV sunlight. But after much research, and much work, I believe the issue is resolved. I am confident these will provide many, many years of enjoyment-- just like all my work.

Find all my bright hand painted works here: Coast Chimes Paintings

Small Chimes Can Be a Perfect Fit

Small Can Be Just Right
Visit the Small Chime Section of Coast Chime

Small yard, small deck, don't want to hear a louder, larger chime: there are numerous legitimate reasons for choosing small over large. Coast Chimes is well aware that some people want small, so an entire section of the website is dedicated to those.

The small chimes are three hand cut brass chimes, sanded, treated with a reactive to darken the metal, and hung on a handcrafted copper hanger with nylon coated stainless steel, sterling silver crimps. These are designed to be beautiful and also extremely durable.

Small chimes also start at a budget level to allow for the perfect little gift, especially when you remember that shipping is free to anywhere in the USA or Canada.

Check out the wide variety and choose one that's perfect for your space, or for a friend: Small Chime Section

Hibernating Food Garden, Backyard Urban Garden

Hibernating Backyard Food Garden
Urban Organic Crops

My green thumbed wife is the gardener. I, as the most frequent cook, enjoy what she sows and reaps. After five years it still absolutely amazes me just how much food a very small back yard produces. Above is what I think of as its hibernating phase (although there are still a few delicious things that can be dug up from beneath the snow, like purple broccoli.

She is happy, as this cold snap may kill lurking bugs.

Below is what this small garden will soon, hopefully, once again look like. Soon there will be plenty for all meals, the freezer, and lucky friends. Can't wait!

For those who still maintain a traditional grass lawn, I wish you would think of ripping it up and putting in a few raised beds, a few plots. It cost a little to get started, but you will see your food bills dive, and the bees will love you.

From Last Summer, Lots of Food!

Beach Ocean Pollution, EPS, Sunshine Coast, BC, Canada: Take Action!

Not Snow: Styrofoam (expanded polystyrene) Pollution
Ban EPS Now!

It's been a rough winter. Rough weather with multiple wind storms, and rough on the environment, with many docks breaking up. The picture above is not lovely snow on the beach; it is EPS waste from docks where it is used as flotation: nasty stuff!

Large blocks of EPS are used to float docks. Sooner or later, these blocks fall apart, or escape during storms. They then quickly break down into tiny pellets. These pellets are not biodegradable. They will be floating around for generations (some studies say up to one million years). Animals eat the tiny pieces, and have their digestive systems clogged.

There are more environmentally friendly alternatives, so there is no excuse. New docks must not use EPS, and current dock owners must change over. The federal government should have acted years ago, but better now than later. Please email or phone your MP and urge immediate action (it only takes a minute). You can find the contact information for your member here: Contact Your MP

Broken Down Dock EPS, Sunshine Coast, BC Beach

Large Pieces of EPS, Gibsons, BC, Canada

Winter Snows, Sunshine Coast, BC, Canada

Winter Arrives, Sunshine Coast, BC, Canada

After a spring-like December, Winter has arrived on the Sunshine Coast. The car is parked, and we take this opportunity for longer (and much colder!) walks. All the roads are either free, or at least much freer, of traffic, and it is quite lovely to walk through the nearly silent white landscape, flakes of snow covering our shoulders.

For me, too, it is a reminder of why the wind chime orders normally fall off a bit through the winter. It is easy here on the Sunshine Coast to forget what most people in North America are dealing with through these winter months. These current days are a reminder!

A customer who custom ordered two very long blue glass and copper rain chains just sent pictures of what they look like in a Nebraska winter: Wow! I actually never had this sort of weight of ice in mind when I designed them, and I am very happy to see that they were able to withstand this winter extreme. The picture is below.

Coast Chimes Rain Chain in Nebraska Ice

Winter Finally Arrives on the Sunshine Coast, BC, Canada

Cold Beach Combing!

What a change! It felt like spring through most of our 2018-1019 winter here on the Sunshine Coast, walking with a light coat while reading about extreme cold back east. Now while what just arrived could never be described as extreme cold, it is definitely winter!

The picture above was taken while the snow was still lightly falling. Now there are blue skies, and below freezing temperature: very beautiful. The cold will be hanging around apparently, and perhaps a bit more snow to fall. It's very enjoyable, but I am hoping that a thaw comes before too long, as I can not take pictures of my creations with snow on the ground, and new works are pilling up.

Aside from long treks in the snow, it's wonderful to be snug in my workshop making all sorts of wonderful new works. Pictures soon (I hope!).

Snow Time! Sunshine Coast, BC, Canada

Snow Time!

Actually, I was hoping for at least a little taste of winter here on the Sunshine Coast. It's February, and not a single snow flake! Until now. Temperatures have finally dropped below freezing, and snow has fallen. It looks like it is going to be hanging around for a bit, too.

The best is that I got all caught up on my picture taking for work just the day before. I can't take my work pictures below freezing with snow on the ground, as those don't look great a bit later in the year when people are shopping for their spring / summer yards.

The picture below is one of those I took just hours before the picture above. You can see what I mean!

Now I can work on the pictures, and on some new works in my cozy, warm studio. Oh! And also get out for a refreshing snow walk!

Taken Just Before the Snow
Freestanding Chime at Coast Chimes

Green Eco-Friendly Production at Coast Chimes, Buy Quality Not Junk

Green & 'Green'
Ecologically Friendly Design at
Coast Chimes

How could anyone not understand that we are beyond a time to start caring, and into a time where we need to make major changes to survive as a species? As a daily beach comber, I am all too sadly aware of a major increase in sea pollution, especially plastic and styrofoam. Sad is far too weak a word. And there is an increase in illegal dumping of the most nasty sorts of waste in local forest. Disgusting. Too many have a 'buy it cheap and throw away' mind set, and this is evil.

I look at houses around me a similar size, with the same number of residents, and week after week I see two, or even three, large garbage bins. Really? What in the world are they filling those with? Most often we put one very small bag into our single bin. I'm not at all proud of that-- still seems like too much --but putting out even one full bin, and definitely several full bins, now that is just plain unacceptable.

This all got me thinking about my own work, and evaluating my impact on the planet. I feel good, for several reasons.

All my glass is upcycled, it comes from used wine and liquor bottles. How cool is it to take something that would end up either in a landfill, or having to be trucked far away (and glass is heavy) and using lots of energy to remelt? Pretty cool to turn it into art instead.

I can even feel okay about the copper I use. While no doubt having the largest negative impact (no, I can not argue that mining is swell), copper is not like the vast majority of garden ornaments made from cheap metals, or metals that have been painted with finishes that soon deteriorate, so soon thrown away. My works are designed to be extremely durable. These are works of art to be treasured and enjoyed for many, many years. Not thrown away. And my copper at least does come from Canada where there are more rigorous environmental rules than perhaps some other sources.

Yes, there is a price to pay for non-factory made, non-throw-away, garden and home decor. Durable high-quality materials are expensive, but far, far cheaper from an environmental point of view. When choosing anything, thought should really be given to how your purchase is impacting the planet. Please don't buy so much, and especially so much short lived trash. A little less stuff and a lot more quality, that helps.

Find all my planet friendly designs Coast Chimes