Greetings from Catching Light Studios! We hope you are having a great summer. Today we're talking windchimes! We think that driftwood windchimes are a great addition to any outdoor space, providing light and tranquility to your home's décor. We carefully craft every piece by first selecting the driftwood from the beaches of West Seattle, Washington. After a thorough scrubbing and soak in bleach water, the driftwood is soaked again in plain water and left in the sun to dry. We alternate between the drill press and hand drill, but utilize a 1" drum sander bit to clear away the old rotten junk, leaving the healthier wood underneath. After utilizing a series of finer grit sandpaper, we finally have a smooth finish and can drill the holes that will hold the fishing line and chimes. Often we pair the color of the wood to a specific color of glass. Sometimes we will leave the wood plain, or coat the final product with resin epoxy or beeswax. We cut strips of stained glass (usually 6" long and 1/2 " wide) then use a diamond bit to drill holes through the top of the glass. We then use fishing line (10 lbs) to tie the glass with a multi-purpose Uni knot (often used in fishing lines) and add cute beads to match the stained glass. A piece of hemp rope holds it all together.
There are many ways to customize the windchimes, and sometimes we make them adjustable by connecting the two pieces of glass on each end and the three in the middle to the same strand of fishing line allowing them to be moved up and down. One of our favorite driftwood windchimes is the Chakra Chimes which features seven strips of water glass in the order of the chakras. As you can see by the image above, the overall piece will be unique and made to order. When customers wish to special order a set of chimes, we are happy to text photographs of the available driftwood in our collection. We take you through the entire process of creation from start to finish. Contact us today for variations in size, shape, texture and colors.