DIY Network

Bell, Bead and Wire Wind Chime Learn how to use heavy gauge wire and beads to create a unique wind chime. From "Craft Lab" episode DCLB-121

Guest Marty Stevens-Heebner joins host Jennifer Perkins to create a beautiful wind chime by using heavy gauge copper wire, coins and bells.

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	Guest Marty Stevens-Heebner creates a wind chime using copper wire and decorative coins and beads.
	Figure A
	Figure B

Project designed by Marty Stevens-Heebner.

Materials:

30" piece 8 awg bare copper wire
6" piece 8 awg bare copper wire
20-guage copper wire
beads
all-purpose pliers
round-nosed pliers
needle-nosed pliers
wire cutters
heavy-duty wire cutters
bells
craft scissors
masking tape

Bell, Bead and Wire Wind Chime

1. Wrap the serrated tips of the all-purpose pliers with the masking tape to prevent marring of the wire. Using these pliers, make a closed loop approximately 1" in diameter in one end of the 30" piece of 8 awg copper wire. Continue winding the first 11" of the wire with the pliers and your hands to form a flat spiral. Repeat this procedure to form another loop in the opposite end of the 8 awg wire.

2. Grasp a spiral in each hand and fold the two spirals in toward one another. Continue bending the wire all the way around to create a loop in the middle of the wire, between the two spirals. This will be the top of the wind chimes (figure A).

3. Cut a 4" piece from the 20-gauge wire with the wire cutters. Grip the wire 1/2" from the end with the round-nosed pliers to form a loop. Hook this loop around the bottom most part of one of the spirals from step 1. Now use the needle-nosed pliers to wrap the remaining 20-gauge wire two to three times beneath the loop to secure the loop. Trim any excess wire with the wire cutters, if necessary.

4. Slide five beads onto the 20-gauge wire, then make another wrapped wire loop in the opposite end of it using the same procedure as in step 3.

5. Repeat step 3 but, this time, attach the wire to the loop made in step 4. Leave this wire bare and simply form a wrapped wire loop in the opposite end.

6. Cut a 3" piece from the 20-gauge wire. Form a wrapped loop in one end, hooking this one through the bottom of the wire from step 5. Add a single bead to this wire and form a wrapped loop at the bottom of it.

7. Repeat step 3 but attach this wire to the bottom loop from the previous step. String one bead onto it and form a loop in the opposite end. Thread this wire through the top of one of the bells (figure B), then wrap the wire two to three times atop the loop to secure it. Trim any excess wire as necessary with the wire cutters.

8. Repeat steps 3 through 7, hooking the first piece around the bottom loop of the top pieces, other spiral.

9. Repeat steps 3 through 6, attaching the first piece to the center loop of the top piece. Add another bare wire to this third string, followed by a wire holding five beads. Finish off this string of wires with a bare wire. Hook the bottom loop through the top of a bell and wrap the wire above the hoop two or three times. Trim any excess wire away as necessary.

10. Grasp one end of the 6" piece of the 8 awg wire with the all-purpose pliers. Bend the wire into an open loop approximately 1" in diameter. Repeat this with the other end of the wire, except bend it in the opposite direction so as to create a hook in the shape of an "S."

11. Slip one side of the "S" hook through the center loop of the top piece, between the two spirals. Now find a ceiling hook in a breezy place and hang the wind chimes there.

RESOURCES :

Tealight Candleholder
Website: www.ikea.com

Bells and Coin Replicas
Fire Mountain Gems
Website: www.firemountaingems.com

Aluminum and Copper Wire
Home Depot
Website: www.homedepot.com

GUESTS :

Marty Stevens-Heebner
Half the Sky
Website: www.half-the-sky.com