Making Mobiles & Windchimes Easily . . . by Anna Meenaghan
Whether you like mobiles or windchimes they are probably something we all own at some time in our lives. Not only can you use them in your home they can also be used to great effect outside too In the garden or in porches etc. particularly when they jingle.
Of course you can make them in a variety of ways they leave plenty of scope for a bit of improvisation on your part You will need to save a lid for this from something you use at home. Preferably a plastic one to have a base to work from as you will need a circle to hang your items from.
This then will need to have the centre cut out so that you have at least one to one a half centimetres remaining. This ring you may find is the hardest part to do. Once you have achieved this use a hole punch or anything you can manage to make holes with to make evenly spaced holes round your ring.
You will need four main ones for your hanger. Now at this stage you can paint your circle with some acrylic paint on the top of it then let it dry. Then repeat this on the other side. Silver or gold would be a good choice.
So now what you need next is your 4 main strings to hang this by. Cut 4 lengths the same. The length of these being long enough to allow you to hang items under the ring plenty at the top to join with the three other strings knot loop the top for the hanger.
You still should have more holes left on the ring. My guess is at least another four. So with your cord cut strings the same length from your ring as your main four attach these now. From each one of the original four strings attach a large bell to jingle Whilst on the remaining strings attach smaller jingly bells.
If you think this is may be too plain you can always decorate these by painting the bells in other colours use gaudy cords. Nail varnish colours would do the trick or some metallic paint or any acrylic.
By now you will have the general idea so you can adapt this accordingly. So here are just a few ideas for you You could use old keys to hang in between the bells. They still could be painted in bright colours or you could even do a whole mobile like this.
However it may be that you actually live in or near a seaside town. In this instance you could scour the beach for nice shells which would be very effective. If this is out of the question you may be in luck if you visit a local art craft store as these sometimes stock shells mainly for craft work. Failing this small stones would go on strings if they are glued properly.
Coloured glass beads could be threaded on the cord. At Christmas time you could use the silver gold strings of decoration beading. Simply use cut lengths of these for the danglers you could still add a bell at the bottom with fine string. You can have a lot of fun if you free your imagination
The writer of this article Anna Meenaghan runs an interactive internet art community where artists art lovers alike have a meeting point. Here you can find more or less everything about art from canvas art through to abstract paintings as well as vast amount of "How To" guides for budding future artists. Making Mobiles & Windchimes Easily . . .
