Tutorial: Clay Pot Windchime

I just found out my team came in third place in the Lowe’s Designer challenge I did at the Evo conference, which is pretty great, I think, since the competition was STIFF! In honor of that, I thought I’d share this craft we started there with Lowe’s, which I took home and changed around and did my own way.

They had a bunch of stations set up with different craft projects, and one of the tables was full of these little pots painted yellow and white. They passed out rope and a key that had been spray painted green which was supposed to make up the innards of the wind chime, but when I visited them they needed a minute to figure out how it all went together. Time was tight, so I just grabbed the pots and brought them home. So here’s my own version of the wind chime craft, done to maximize the chiming.

First you obviously have to decorate the pots. I was inspired by the song Atticus is obsessed with lately – Bob Marley’s ‘Three Little Birds.’ The pots came painted yellow and white but the rim got a little banged up in the transit, so I painted a blue line to cover it up. I used masking tape to get as clean a line as I could, and a Sharpie to write on the lyrics.

I had these metal charms in my scrapbook stash, but if you don’t have those than washers will do the trick. I used a piece of cotton embroidery thread and some gorilla glue to hold everything together. Ribbon or yarn or whatever you have handy will work too.

After they all dried I took a bunch of them and tied them together as close to the top charm as I could. I staggered the length so that each charm would be able to hit the pot independently of the others. Maximum chiming.

Then thread that bunch through the hole on the pot, pulling it through until the top charm plugs the hole.

To add the next pot on, thread the yarn you used for the first layer through that whole, then add another bunch of charms just like you did in the first one. You’ll have to play with it a little to get the pot at the right height.

Add the last pot in the same way and once you have all the pots at the height you need, tie a big knot in all of the yarn. You can finish it off any way you want, but I decided to take all those threads and braid them into a rope for hanging.

Atti sings this song every single day. Many many times during the day. I probably don’t need another reminder of it, but I just think it’s too cute. I’ll deal with the earworm.