Rainbow Heart Windchime

When I craft I want my designs to be as accessible and cheap as possible. Luckily this usually means my crafts are pretty environmentally friendly too- by avoiding buying craft supplies and instead making do with what we have around us we can save money and prevent otherwise "useless" items from going to waste. This craft needs coloured thread and clay; things not everyone has lying around. Instead of turning to Amazon however I encourage you to try DIY-ing it with the tutorials attached which will show you how to dye spare embroidery thread and make air dry clay with household items!

But anyway, here I'll be sharing how I made a rainbow heart wind chime :p

• Air dry clay
• Acrylic paints in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple and white
• Coloured wax thread in same colours as paints
• Piece of driftwood or branch cut to roughly the length of your forearm (size not that important)
• PVA glue
• Paint brush
• Bowl of water
• Heart shaped cookie cutter
• Plastic straw

Start by rolling your clay out to a piece 1/4 inch thick. Use a heart shaped cookie cutter to create uniform heart shapes and press them out just like cookies. Repeat this until you have six hearts. Using the left over clay form six small balls- see the size in the next picture.

Using a little water from your bowl and a finger, smooth out any bumps or marks on the hearts- front and back. Smooth around the edges as well to get rid of any jaggedness. Next use a plastic straw (I used one from an iced coffee which I washed) to create a hole at the top of the heart in the centre. Do the same to the balls.

Now mix your paint- i wanted pastel colours so I mixed a dot of each colour into twice as much white paint, then adjusted until I had a colour I liked. Mix in a big blob of PVA glue, it should be roughly a 1/2 glue/paint mixture (that is, half as much glue as there is paint. Was that clear? I can't tell anymore). Don't worry if it alters the colour- the glue dries clear. Paint the tops of your hearts and the balls. Wait for this layer to dry and flip the hearts over, paint their backs. Apply a second layer if needed.

Cut each colour of thread to whatever length looks best to you- mine varied in lengths to be visually dynamic. Using a double knot tie each heart to the corresponding colour thread through the hole. Then, about an inch and a half up, tie another double knot in the thread. Slide the coloured bead you made onto the thread, making sure it doesn't slip over the knot you just made. Starting with red tie the thread around the left end of your piece of wood and secure with a knot. Continue doing this with each colour in rainbow order at regular intervals going right.

Determine how low you want your wind chime to hang from its hook and cut a piece of white thread accordingly. Using the same method as the hearts tie each end of white thread to each end of the wood so it can be hung by the middle.

Air dry clay is not waterproof, so if you live in a rainy area I recommend using a water proof varnish or spray on the clay parts. I found the branch for this project on a walk and soaked it in water for a few days then let it dry before using it to get rid of any dog pee or other gross stuff :) thanks for crafting with me!