CREATION STATION: BEADED WIND CHIME

Source: blog.consumercrafts.com

Make a classic wind chime with beads and personalize it to make it your own!

Materials

• Driftwood piece or wood dowels
• Acrylic craft paint
• Glass or plastic beads
• Painter’s tape (optional)
• Jute or twine
• Small eye hooks
• Beading thread

Directions

• Paint the driftwood or wood dowel. You can give it as much or as little detail as you like. If you need help making stripes, you can use painter’s tape to help section off the areas you don’t want to paint. Once the first layer is dry, you can add more details and patterns with a fine brush and contrasting colours, if you want.
• Add hooks. This is the part that an adult will have to help with. The hooks actually go into the driftwood pretty easily, just mark the spots and start twisting them into place. For a younger child this might be hard to do, but you can always get it started for them and they can finish it.
• Add beaded lengths to each hook with thread. You can make them the length you want – it’s also nice to make them slightly different lengths. When you’ve finished a length of beading, you can use a smaller bead and a knot to keep it in place at the end.
• Attach the beaded lengths to the eye hooks on your piece of wood.
• Add two eye hooks to each end at the top of your piece of wood so you can hang it up with twine. Cut a length of jute or twine, string it through the hooks, and find a place outside to hang your wind chime!