This the longest entry I've ever posted. While doing general home improvements I often do small plumbing repairs. Copper pipe is expensive and leftover short pieces are generally kept by plumbers and those like myself who do the occasional repair. Probably anything longer than 12 inches is kept for future fixes. After seeing how wind chimes are put together I began to make my own. I put together a few sets of wind chimes with these shorter than one foot pieces of copper and gave most of them away. Then I happened on some 1 1/2" steel tubing that had been the pole for a TV antenna. I cut it to lengths for a very large set of chimes. Copper and brass have a superior tone but steel sounds fine. I measured each length to correspond to a note in the C scale and gauged their notes with a guitar tuning gadget I have. I ended up with four lengths that together made a C major seventh chord, the longest more than five feet long. I used a discarded pulley wheel for the striker. I used 30 and 60 lb test nylon fishing line to hang everything. I took care to hang them so they turn in the wind and that you don't hear the same one or two chimes sounding all the time. The big chimes turned out well. They are so big that they don't 'tinkle' ... they 'bong' with what, to me, is a pleasant background sound. You can adjust how much or how little wind it takes to get them going by varying the size of the 'flag' which catches the wind and swings the striker. I'll post a video with audio of them tomorrow morning. My business idea is to get set up to make these large chimes for sale to people who already like wind chimes and might want a big version. I've not seen large ones like I would construct for sale anywhere. I already have all the tools I need to construct them and I obviously have the skills to do so. My question to SO members is - what do you think of this idea? It takes a good amount of time to build them. They could be custom painted to match house siding or trim or else blend into the background of the tree they're hanging from. What would you pay for a nicely made set of wind chimes of the size I'm speaking of?
I've seen extra large ones for sale before but I don't have room for them where I live. I live in a condo and my neighbors might not appreciate the sounds as much as I would. We're bunched up pretty close. But I did see these on Amazon. I think that there's definitely a market but it may be more of a niche one.
It sounds like something that you would enjoy doing, @Dwight Ward . Maybe , if you take pictures/video of the one you have made and then advertise on Facebook marketplace, Craigslist, or someplace like that (where it is free) you can see how much interest there is, and then take orders to make them as people ask for one. If you have a farm and garden store near you, with a bulletin board, you could put a picture with information on the board, and people who live in the country (and have room for a large hanging chime) would see the advertisement and contact you.
Jack, thanks for your reply and the link. I looked at it briefly and will check it out thoroughly later. From my short look, my chimes are even bigger than the ones pictured. The longest chime is over 5'. Sorry for the blurry picture. My camera pics are sometimes sharp and sometimes fuzzy with me doing everything the same. I don't have the neighbor issue. With myself as the only exception, my neighbors keep their home shuttered up for both heat and AC and probably can only hear the loudest of outside sounds. I couldn't stand that and have my windows open and the doors opened to the screen doors whenever the outside temp is bearable. I use fans as much as possible before using the AC. I need to breathe.
You're giving me new ideas, Yvonne. I hadn't thought of selling them to ship to other parts of the country, but only placing them in local shops, possibly on consignment. Also, the idea of adverting them at Southern States or like stores is excellent. It's kind of annoying when women make me think. Here's a short mp3 of how they sound:
Looking at Jack's site again I notice the price of 76$ for wind chimes smaller than mine. I can deal with that. Also, the chimes are aluminum in the featured item. Aluminum is the easiest to work with and sounds fine but without the long ring of steel or copper, copper having the very best sound but is also the most expensive.
@Dwight Ward But yours will be handmade and as such, you could command a premium price. I bet the ones from Amazon are made overseas. You'd be an artisan and that translates into extra $$$ Then too, you'd have to consider the cost to ship them unless you only sold them locally. It seems like if you kept them limited in quantity they'd be worth more too.
These are all good ideas which hadn't occurred to me. Here's an extreme idea - make very expensive custom ones out of silver or gold chimes for Soros, Bezos and Billy Boy. Soaking the rich appeals to me.
This also follows your paradigm, Jack. I could do custom sizes of what ever size and metal the customer desires and such would command an even higher price than the stock I already had made. Super ideas. Wow.
30 or so years ago I bought a set of chimes like your large one. I paid about $100 sand really enjoyed them. I gave them to 1 of my son's when I got tired of taking down and putting up in weather changes
@Dwight Ward "You've got to have a dream cuz if you don't have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true?" Fr Happy Talk
I'd agree with this. And people seem to be big into "buying local." I'd set up at farmer's markets & such. You might get requests for custom orders that way, and you would not be competing on such a large stage. (To me, and easy customization might just to be a change in the object you use as the striker.) Even consignment shops might be one step too far removed from the artist to be marketable. I'd start with the local markets. When you build a name and a following, then you might let folks know your stuff is available at consignment stores during their operating hours, rather than them trying to catch you by chance at a Saturday market. The best thing to do is to jump in and then change course as required.
Hi, Al. Here's an idea I haven't tried but I will pretty soon. The hanging sail (I call it a flag) that pushes the striker around can get too much wind and make the wind chimes make too much noise, right? Hows about making the flag detachable with a clip of some kind. If a storm is forecast just remove the flag. The wind will still push the striker around but much less than if the flag were there.