Bamboo wind chimes are actually a traditional handicraft products as outdoor decoration to get magical sound from the wind blows. They are mostly hung in the patio or gazebo. If you adjust the sound well, the will yield beautiful sound along with the natural wind.
In creating your own bamboo wind chimes, you need to prepare some tools and materials. They are handsaw, sharp knife, yarn or string, drill, a piece of hard wood as heater and material for header like coconut shell, board or wooded statue. Here are some steps in creating your own bamboo wind chimes.
Step 1: Cut the Bamboo with random length
Select some bamboo in good level of humidity, old enough, hard and thin. Cut them in several different sizes for instance 20 cm, 25 cm, 30 cm and soon. Remember to keep a shoots in the a part of each bamboo, and give some spaces out of the shoots to provide enough area for the hanger. The different length of the bamboo will yield different sound.
Use handsaw to cut the bamboos and do it carefully to avoid crack. Decide how many different sound you want and cut the same number of bamboos and remember in different sizes.
Step 2: Adjust the sound of the bamboos
Slice half part of each bamboo from the middle of their length. Be careful in slicing them because there are some part of them have sharp edge. Slice out the sharp edges smoothly. You could adjust their sound by slicing the end part of the slicing area. Slice each are a little bit and try to hit them to know its sound. This method is applied to adjust bamboo music instrument in Bali as well. Picture bellow will give you the detail.
Once you get the desirable sounds, then get ready for next steps.
Step 3: Drilling the Holes in the bamboo shoots part
Use your drill to make holes across each bamboo so that the yarn can be threaded through. Drill the holes out side of the bamboo tubes. After all the bamboos drilled, now they are ready to paint. Implement your own design to paint them in the desirable colors as well. Dry them under the sun shine and get ready to string them together.
Step 4: String the bamboos together
To string the wind chimes, you have to have a header for them. You may use a half circle of coconut shell, board in your own shape’s design or a nice wooden statue. The size of header should be consider based on the bamboo size and number to give them enough spaces when you string them.
String the bamboo tubes together on the bottom of the selected header. Make some holes on the bottom of the header to hang them. Make sure the bamboos hang as a circle. And put a long string in the middle of the circle to hang the beater. Put a small piece of bamboo in the end of the string.
To hang the header perfectly, assemble a couple of strings of the top of the header and adjust the balance of it.
Step 5: hang the wind chimes
You can add a metal hook to hang it easily in the desirable place. Make sure it hang on the open area to get natural wind flow and enjoy the magic sound it can make.
This article is only a guidance in making bamboo wind chimes. You may use your imagination to make your own designs. Here are some samples for your references:
Bamboo wind chimes is one of home decor item which is still on demand now days. Make some of them in your own design, hang them around your home and enjoy the random music they can make when the wind flows.