Silverware wind chimes

The first question everyone asks about these wind chimes is “How did you twist them?”

Brute strength and determination.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

The flatware belonged to my grandmother and bears her monogram. I have plenty of my own silverware, so when I got this set, I intended to make it into craft items.

Four years later, my brother and his family moved into a new house. For sister-in-love Stef’s birthday and housewarming gift, I made these wind chimes. She got to be my guinea pig.

I found instructions at CraftyGal.com.

Taryn says to flatten the flatware on a “large flat rock or anvil.” Since I had access to neither, I used an old 2x6” board instead. I clamped the handle to the board to hold the fork or spoon still while I beat the tines or bowl with a mallet.

I poured motor oil over the handle before I started drilling each one’s hole with a bit made for drilling metal. To protect my workbench from drill holes, I clamped the other end to the board I had used for pounding. I drilled through the knife’s blade. That was much easier than trying to get through the handle.

The hardware store didn’t have a chamfer bit or counter sink in that size. The owner suggested I remove the metal filings with steel wool. That worked up to a point, but I had to take a needle-nose plier to remove some of them.

Taryn says to get a friend to help you twist the handles. Hubby was asleep and my friends were busy at the time. I decided to twist them myself. If this had been a stainless steel silverware set, I doubt I could have twisted them alone. The silver was just malleable enough for me to twist, although Twist No. Three was pretty difficult.

Twisting the handles wasn’t nearly as difficult as twisting the “hanger fork” tines to hold the other utensils. Next time I make these, I’m heating the fork for greater malleability. I would have liked a smoother curve on the tines, but was afraid to be too aggressive. I was afraid I might break one or more tines if I worked too hard on them.

Next time, I’ll tape the ends I clamp and the tines to minimize scratching.

I cut the fishing line to the lengths Taryn specified, but they were too long. The silverware didn’t contact each other enough to make a sound. I had to shorten the line for it to work. (Because of our windy climate, I bought the strongest fishing line the store had.)

Taryn’s instructions didn’t say how to hang the chimes in its final location. I attached a carabiner to the fishing line for a hanger.

I was concerned how my chimes would sound. When I clinked the flatware together before stringing the chimes, I thought they sounded flat. When I hung them up for this picture, they sounded wonderful.

I enjoyed passing on a family heirloom in a different form.