Something Beautiful, Something Durable: Gifts That Last

 

Too many gifts provide fleeting pleasure and end up soon discarded, broken, in the landfill. What a shame.

This year, consider a well designed, low impact, long lasting gift. Coast Chimes uses recycled / upcycled materials, natural materials, and materials that are valued by the recycling industry. 

Best of all, each item has been carefully designed to last a long time. For example, the large wind chimes have only copper (even handmade copper hardware), and a small amount of weather resistant cedar. There are customers still enjoying their wind chimes after 20 years!

Shop Coast Chimes for long lasting, beautiful, meaningful gifts.

Full Moon Glass and Copper Outdoor Wind Chime

 Heavy, thick, frosted glass full moon wind chime with 7 handcrafted polished copper chimes: so cool!

When my friend offered me this giant circle of glass, I knew immediately what I would do with it. And it turned out just as I envisioned.

Visit this full moon wind chime at Coast Chimes to learn more, or to purchase.

Full Moon, 7 Copper Wind Chimes

Edge View, 1 Inch Thick

Exceptional Christmas Gifts

Coast Chimes has a selection of high-quality beautiful wind chimes guaranteed to please everyone on your shopping list.

These skillfully designed one-of-a-kind works of art are built to last. It's a crime, all the junk that gives momentary pleasure only to end up in a landfill far too quickly. Not Coast Chimes. The large chimes have all handmade copper hardware (no nylon, string, cord) providing many, many years of enjoyment.

Visit Coast Chimes. Free, fast, expert shipping to the USA and Canada.

Kaleidoscope Copper Wind Chime

Cobalt Glass Beach Stone Chime

Glass and Copper Wind Chime

Copper Natural Beach Stone and Driftwood Wind Chimes

 

Driftwood and beach stones just go very nicely with Coast Chimes copper wind chimes. And they fit so nicely into any landscape: a gorgeous focal point!

It is a bonus that part of my job is to hike local beaches looking for exceptional driftwood and the perfect stones. This involves a lot of long walks, but they are so enjoyable, especially when I find good materials to work with!

To see all the original wind chimes, and to learn more, visit Coast Chimes now.

Everyone Loves Copper — Beautiful Gift!

The thing about copper is that it is beautiful. Other metals are often treated with paint or a powder coating to make them look nice, but that is a temporary finish that will flake off, fade, crack. Over time, copper just looks better and better. That's one reason Coast Chimes' wind chimes are a great choice. They won't be headed for the landfill in a few years.

Coast Chimes' wind chimes are designed for beauty, for sound, and for durability. All the hardware is handmade from copper: the rings that attach the chimes to the cedar roundel, the hooklets, even the wire that holds the beach stone clapper.

When looking for the perfect gift, consider something that will last, that is unique, that is clearly built with attention to detail and great care.

Go to Coast Chimes to see the selection. As of today, there are 113 items, but that count will be going down fast, and production is pretty much finished for 2021. For the best selection, don't delay.

Natural Pacific Zen Beach Stone Wind Chime

Kaleidoscope Artist-made Sea Glass Wind Chime

Beach Zen Stone & Driftwood Wind Chime

Beach-combing, Sunshine Coast BC

 

Many trips by bicycle to local beaches these days. I have several favourite beach-combine beaches; one for beach stone clappers for the large copper wind chimes, another for larger stones for Zen wind chimes. I just huge order of diamond ball bits delivered, so between trips to the beach to collect stones (and driftwood), lots of time cutting holes in the stones I bring home.

Visit the Beach Stone section of my website to view all the new works. I will be adding more in the weeks to come. All these works are terrific outside in all weather-- the stones look even nicer when wet from the rain.

Zen Pacific Beach Stone Wind Chime, 7 Copper Chimes 

Wind Chimes, Beautiful and Built to Last

Beach stones make fantastic wind chimes. They are naturally smooth and rounded (such pleasant shapes!). They always look great, and then they look even better when it rains. When wet, they often get quite shiny, and more colours are revealed. So cool!

They are also durable, which is great, since my wind chimes are designed to last, and last, and...

All handcrafted copper hardware, no string, no nylon, no wearing out or breaking down from UV. They take a lot more time and skill to make than simply tying a knot in fishing line, but we should all push back against the throw-away society. You know, buy cheap, use a short time, toss to the landfill. Spend a little more, buy quality, enjoy for years.

See all my large copper wind chimes at Coast Chimes.

Handcrafted Wind Chimes Coast Chimes

 

It has been super busy at Coast Chimes. A good thing. But it has been a struggle to create enough new wind chimes and suncatchers, while keeping up with shipping and website work. 

The past few weeks I did manage to make a whole new batch of kaleidoscope wind chimes, as well a quite a few really nice beach stone chimes. Check out my website soon to see these terrific works... before they are gone.

Coast Chimes

Etsy Coast Chimes

Natural Pacific Beach Stone Wind Chime

$87 at Coast Chimes

Free Shipping

Kaleidoscope Wind Chime

$97 at Coast Chimes

Free Shipping

Happy New Year, from Coast Chimes

Looking Forward Towards Brighter Days
Sunshine Coast BC Forest Hike
December 28, 2020

Happy New Year, and a BIG thank you to all the friends and fans of Coast Chimes for making 2020 a pretty darn great year, despite all the challenges.

It was super frustrating and sad to cancel the annual Art Craw in October. The Sunshine Coast Art Crawl became a major high-point with so many people visiting and inflating my ego, but I simply could not see it working well for Coast Chimes in the midst of a pandemic. On a bright note, online sales jumped dramatically, and it was fantastic to see so many returning and new customers. Deeply appreciated!

The new year starts; time to reflect, take extra-long hikes, and rebuild stock that took a major hit. I've already made good progress-- the hugely popular anniversary copper wind chimes are now back in stock, as shown in the picture below. Soon I will focus on kaleidoscope wind chimes and free standing kaleidoscope suncatchers... maybe  have some by the end of the month.

Best wishes for 2021!

 

Christmas Gifts Shop Early Warning

 

Warning: coming up to Christmas, and this year is different. In the past, customers could shop up until about the 15th of December, and still have a good selection, still expect to get their order in time. Now the post office is much, much busier, shipping times are already delayed: this will get worse. Covid-19 has caused online shopping to take off like crazy, and Coast Chimes has struggled to keep up, and to keep stock.

Some popular items are already sold out (like diamond-shaped freestanding kaleidoscope suncatchers). Stock is limited, and becoming more limited. There is currently a wonderful selection of awesome wind chimes and suncatchers, but it may be slim pickings by early December. I am hoping to have time to still make more works, but that all depends on how much packing / shipping I am doing. So no guarantee.

In short, to avoid disappointment shop early.

Sunshine Coast Art Crawl, 2020, Coast Chimes

 Kaleidoscope Wind Chime

by Coast Chimes

It's always been an exciting part of the year: the Sunshine Coast Art Crawl. And Coast Chimes has always attracted a lot of visitors. Despite Covid 19, the Crawl is still happening this year, albeit in a much reduced and limited way, with various safety measures in place.

I decided to skip this year, as I could too easily envision things getting out of hand (Coast Chimes has traditionally been a very popular place to visit). It's a shame, as I so much enjoy showing my work, and my process, and people seemed to enjoy visiting and shopping. But safety first.

The good news is that my entire stock, everything you would have seen in person, is available with pictures on both my website-- Coast Chimes -- and in my Etsy store. Free shipping anywhere in Canada and the USA, and you can also shop and have me ship to your friends and family. If you wish me to enclose a personal gift message card, I am happy to do that.

Coast Chimes Inspiration, Design

 Copper Wind Chime

$145 Free Shipping

at Coast Chimes

If you listen, customers can be a wonderful source for ideas. Thirty years ago, it was a customer who first gave me the idea for making wind chimes! From way back then to now, my designs have been inspired by nature, by trial and error, by dreaming, and by customers.

Most recently, a potential customer emailed to ask if I could make a round wood windsail for her, instead of the antiqued hammered copper diamond I use. I put that together for her, and, I must say, I like it!

When I get caught up on my fairly long to-do list, I will probably make more of these, and offer some of my wind chimes with that round windsail. I like to offer my customers as many options as possible, but whatever I offer has to be high-quality and beautiful.

See all my current stock at Coast Chimes.

Wind Chime, Outdoor, Large, Copper, Frosty White Glass

Frosty White Glass and Copper Wind Chime

at Coast Chimes with Free Shipping 

Frosty white glass really stands out against most backgrounds— nice contrast! The glass is from clear glass bottles, which, once given a mat finish, turn frosty.  Very cool!

Visit Coast Chimes to see all the different colours and designs. Everything ships free to the USA and Canada, with reasonable postage to other countries.

Beach Combing, Sunshine Coast, BC, Canada: Coast Chimes

Beach Stone Hunting

Sunshine Coast, BC

There are shorelines along the ocean here full of stones, such as the one below my home, but not the sort of beach stone I like to use. I really want rounded, smooth stones, and after about 30 years of using them, I now where to go.

During the warm summer days, I love to jump on my bike and ride to the best beach for the smaller flatter stones I need for the clappers, or strikers of my copper wind chimes. It's not that far, but some very steep hills. Beneath the sun, one gets pretty hot walking slowly up and down the beach finding the perfect stones, so after half an hour or so, it's time to jump in the water. Lovely!

After cooling off, it's great to sit in the sun for half an hour with a good book. Then time to load up the bike with the treasure, and ride back home. Below are some of the treasures brought home yesterday. And a detail picture of one of this type of stone on a copper chime.

You can find all the larger copper wind chimes with beach stone clappers on my website:

Beach Stone Clapper, or Strikers

Beach Stone Clapper

(the stone is very hard, so it resonates nicely against the soft copper)

Inspiration from Customers

Custom Order

Coast Chimes

It's enjoyable to hear from customers who have something special in mind, and working with them to achieve it. 

I started stocking the seven copper chime wind chimes a month or so ago, selling just the chimes with a hook to hang them, no top section. This is aimed at those who are about to celebrate their seventh wedding anniversary (copper), and it is very popular, it turns out. But it didn't take too long for someone to ask if I could maybe put a top section on it. They were thinking of maybe a beach stone.

That's a great idea! And I worked with them to choose the perfect stone, as you can see from the quickly snapped picture above. Yep, I really like that look! 

Yesterday I chose a 'daily walk / hike' to a beach where I know there a some stones similar to the one pictured above. I didn't find too many of them, but I did find several. When I get time, I'll likely make a few similar to the above wind chime for my store. It's not unusual for customers to send me in a new direction-- I have some really creative customers! I'm sure most stores, crafters, artists, do have ideas bounced off them: one just has to listen.

Indigo Blue, An Unusual Colour for Coast Chimes

Kaleidoscope Wind Chime

With Inky Indigo Blue Copper Wrapped Glass

3 Antiqued Brass Chimes

$95, Free Shipping, at Coast Chimes

Although I love all the colours of my artist-made sea glass, since it all comes from bottles (mostly wine), the colour pallet is limited. I get pretty excited when I get a hold of some unusual colours, such as the inky indigo blue of the piece of glass below the framed glass, pictured above. Being different, somehow it is always very special.

It's interesting how the glass from all the different wine bottles just sort of naturally goes well together. It's hard to go wrong! 

Check out Coast Chimes to see all the fantastic wind chimes and suncathcers, wonderful for you deck, your yard, your garden, or as a gift for that special friend.

Beachcomber Wind Chimes

Beachcomber's Wind Chime
Driftwood and Beach Stones
Copper Chimes
Available at Coast Chimes

Lately, I have been concentrating on driftwood and beach stone wind chimes, sometimes with the addition of artist-made sea glass, or perhaps a half oyster shell. These are really nice materials, and very durable for those living in high-wind, heavy rain or snow areas. Glass looks so great in the sunlight, beach stones and driftwood look at their best in the rain!

There is something about driftwood and beach stones: they just work so well together! Naturally beautiful!

The antiqued copper of the large chimes, or darkened brass of the small chimes, look great with these materials too!

Beautiful is the word, durable, and a light, peaceful sound. Really great for any garden, yard, or deck!

Too see all the fabulous designs, visit Coast Chimes now. Free, fast, expert shipping to the USA and Canada, reasonable postage to other destinations.

Driftwood and Beach Stone Chime
Antiqued Brass Chimes
Available at Coast Chimes

Natural Materials, Naturally Beautiful Yard Art

Natural Driftwood & Beach Stone
Copper Wind Chime
available at Coast Chimes with free shipping

Somehow nice driftwood with rounded, smooth beach stones just go together. There is something soothing about the combination. Add in a set of Coast Chimes pure copper antiqued with chimes (with a beach stone clapper / striker!), and the picture is perfect. Ideal for year round outdoor use— the driftwood and beach stone look even nicer when wet from rain!

Visit now to see all the fantastic wind chimes available at Coast Chimes.

Wild Berry Picking, Sunshine Coast, BC

Local Sunshine Coast Wild Berries

While there is certainly no shortage of the invasive Himalayan blackberries (nearly every road is lined with this fast growing plant), there is a native blackberry that ripens earlier. The berries tend to be smaller, but I think tastier.

Take a drive up logging roads, find a fairly recently logged area, and venture forth. These areas that were logged a couple of years ago tend to be rich with not only native trailing blackberries, but also raspberries, huckleberries, salmonberries. Munch away, and bring a bucket or two home with you.

A Mix of Trailing Blackberries and Raspberries
Picked from a Recently Logged Patch

Red and Purple Glass with Copper Wind Chimes

Red and Purple!
Wild Fun Color with Free Shipping at Coast Chimes

Using my own artist-made sea glass is what I pretty much stick to, but I do get a lot of requests for purple and red, and sea glass just does not come often in those colors. To break the routine, I occasionally use a bit of commercial glass, and I do enjoy seeing my works 'pop' with eye-catching bright color.

I will never give up on my sea glass, but I will play with color from time-to-time. It's fun! And there are quite a few customers who appreciate the option.

Visit Coast Chimes to see all my designs!