Why would anybody want that level of noise pollution in their yard?
Joyce

I saw some wind chimes about that big at Tyson Store. Price was about $500.

We made some wind chimes using PVC pipes,spray painted with gold metallic paint,gold chains,ect. It is beautiful hanging in a tall pine tree. But alas, it makes no noise.So I call it my "Wind MIME"!

I have a set very similar to those, and I have to say it's one of the best investments we ever made (although nowhere near $500.00). Contrary to what you might think, mine have a beautiful, soft, sweet tone to them. They have been carefully tuned and are not loud or annoying at all. Because they are that large it takes a good breeze to make them chime, and then it's mostly a soft, barely there kind of thing. I hung mine next to my bedroom window because at the time it was the only spot. We laughingly said the things would probably clang like a railroad crossing and drive us AND the neighbors insane.

Completely the opposite! My neighbors can't hear them at all. The chimes act as a natural source of relaxation. I go to sleep much faster and sleep better because of the light, soothing tones they produce. Taking a nap in the afternoon with the window open, breezes blowing feels like an indulgingly decadent, spa-like experience. I wouldn't trade my huge wind chimes for anything! :)

Velvet Sparrow, thanks for the testimonial. All I could imagine was the sound you described as railroad crossing. lol

Oobadooba what are you gonna do with that wooden kiyak in your pics? We have a guy down the steet from us here in Chico also that has those huge wind chimes... I think he must have made his...Dottie

some people may call them noise - but i love wind chimes! thanks - those look super easy to make.

:)

emtnest, the center section on the kayak is bad so I'm planning to cut off the ends and use 'em as climber cages on some small tufa planters I'm planning to make. Maybe some ivy, with some small something amidst the foliage.

Things are on hold,though, while I look for a job ("work?, work?, WORK?" he said in his best Maynard G. Krebs voice). I'm getting serious about it, now. Even cut my hair. My freak flag flies no longer, alas.

The chimes may be the same. These are on Palm, where are your guys'?

Thanks,

I've been trying to figure out what to do with my 70's brass bed (LOL). I'll post the results on the Garden Junk forum.

Deb

Oobadooba... the ones on our street are on the corner of East ave. and Nord Ave. just before the rr tracks..Dottie

I'll Chime in too. Found Loverly ones at walmart for $20. Hand tuned in the key of "E". So pretty. Soft sounding. Then on vacation I picked up a set of the Corinthian Bells. Oh my! Those are in the key of "A". Have to find the perfect spot for them. If anyone knows what kind WOULD drive neighbors insane. please give me a heads up./ Would love to drown out there barking dogs 24-7-365/

I also love chimes. I make glass windchimes for indoors. I love the sound of glass. I have other chimes outside too. I made a chime [thats not really a chime] for outside using a fancy iron corner bracket. I used lots of sparkly beads and little square mirrors. I hung about 15 lines of beading wire covered in nylon so the will not break. It looks beautiful and does it ever sparkle.

I have some chimes that are probably twice as big as the ones in your picture. They are tuned to the key of "D major." The larger the chime, the more mellow the sound. I love them and they were worth every cent that I paid for them. The ones I have bought that are smaller have a totally different sound than these. I like them too but these are very mellow and relaxing. They wouldn't be that tough to make if I ever got ambitious.

Connie

I bet it takes a HUGE WIND to make them chime !

We have two large windchimes from made by Magesty Bells. One is "Freedom Rings" tuned to the scale of G and the other is "Peaceful Melody" tuned to the scale of D. They are one of the best investments we've made in our gardens!! The smaller one "Peaceful Melody" is about 18" long and is hung on a long iron hook outside our bedroom, it is so sweetly musical!! We love to lie together and listen to the soft tones.
"Freedom Rings" is pretty close to 5' long and sounds like churchbells!! We have it hung on the west side of our house, above our corner rose/fern garden and it takes a pretty good breeze to ring it. It is beautiful to hear, not at all intrusive or overbearing. We had my family over for the holiday and we enjoyed the chimes as light background music.
Personally I would reccomend them to anyone who would like nice chimes. I'm looking to buy "Cavernous Echos" and "Joyful Refrain". We have also discovered that after having tuned chimes buying ones that aren't is a disappointment!! We love the rich deep music and hope to get the whole scale!!

Krystal & birdy, where did you find your chimes? I have "grace notes.com" but would love to add more deep notes to my wind symphony

Hey you guys, the giant wind chimes in the picture were made in the garage behind the yard where they are hanging, just up from 7th. Ave. on Palm in Chico Ca. They're made from quarter inch thick 6 1/2" aluminum pipes.The longest one is about 9' long and the short one is 6'. They weigh about 400 lbs. I've been trying to get approval to hang them in our city park. They're perfectly tuned to a pentatonic scale in D, and the neighbors come over all the time to ring them and take pictures. Let me know if anybody has seen any bigger ones anywhere that actually work. Gregg.

Wow! I want some!

I reside in the house where Gregg Payne's chimes are suspended from the large tree. The sound of the chimes are so soothing. It is such a treat to have them wake me at nite (with a generous wind for our area!) Its fun to see how many people stop by to gawk, take photos, ring the door bell to ask about the chimes, and see kids have fun ringing them. Gregg is a great artist and I encourage him to sell these to people who would enjoy such a spectacle in their neighborhood !

I've seen huge chimes like that too and they were about $500 or I would have owned a set several years ago! If I ever have $500 to spare, you can bet I'll have those giants. The tone from the ones I saw was a base tone and God it was gorgeous--such a deep, melodious sound and so soothing. I would love to have a set or find plans to build some.

maybe it's just the perspective, but something about that picture doesn't look quite right...

There are metal scrap dealers that often have piles of aluminum or copper pipes 4 to 6 inches or more in diameter. The larger, thicker pipes will have the lower, more mellow sounds. All you need is one. Use a small-link chain to suspend it mount a sail and striker on the inside of the pipe to let the wind ring it. Or do without the wind sail and ring it yourself whenever you need to unwind. There is an online group on Yahoo! that may be able give you help if you need it. It's Windchimeconstruction group.

Deb, you said you have them hung near a r.r.crossing...then I understand why they are not loud to you...ha ha...our neighbor has some and goes out when it is windy and ties them up cause it keep them awake.

Dottie, a thought, I have all kinds of metal bed pieces, and metal tables..might make a bid dinger...one that is in the key of this old lady g grandma...ha ha.

I love wind chimes, but I just wanted to say that I personally don't know if I would hang such heavy chimes hanging over my car. LOL

Anyone have any good windchime resources in Canada ?

Those are amazing, or at least amazingly BIG! I make my living designing unique art wind chimes (and other things), and sometimes I like to go really big. I need to watch the size and weight, because I ship everything I make. It is true, though, that big does not always mean loud.

Beachglass, I had to laugh when I read your post and question (because of your forum name). I use a lot of beach glass (and my own beach glass-inspired glass) in my work, and I'm in Canada (Sunshine Coast, B.C.).

I do many different beach glass styles, but here is one you might enjoy seeing:

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:689}}

can't see original photo but tskdesign, if you made that beachglass windchime its awesome

thanks for the pic

Hi gardeber64,
Thank you! Yes, I make wind chimes and home and garden art for a living. Appreciate the compliment! Tim~

Here is a different style, if you would like to see:

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:690}}

I took this picture while vacationing in Texas (where else would you expect to see something "bigger and better") I asked someone to stand in the picture to give scale, but it's still hard to see that the chimes were about as big as the man standing nearby.

{{gwi:691}}

We refer to the large windchimes (made out of little British car axels) made by my husband as "hurricane chimes." If you hear them ringing, you probably should run for cover! They have a very pleasant, albeit, industrial sound.

I hate to make myself look stupid, but I have seen some of the largest longest wind chimes ever in a garden shop in Oklahoma City. I swear these chimes had the longest tube at about 14 feet and 8 inches in diameter. They also had a very large copper wind spiral spinner about 10 ft in length and 8 to 10 ft wide. I saw these in 2003. The garden shop was near 23rd and May ave. in Oklahoma City, OK. Don't know if they're still there or not. I live 180 miles from there. I think they were priced upwards of 800.00 John

I got a set of "tenor" pentatonic chimes from a company called Music of the Spheres a few years back for about $350. Absolutely gorgeous sound.

One problem I have is finding a good way to mount them in the yard. (So I have them mounted to a 4x4 that was conveniently already attached to a corner of the house -- though a little disturbing when these brusiers bang against the house in a heavy wind!)

They need about 8' of vertical distance from hook to bottom of windcatcher on the clapper. I fear they are too heavy, and will generate too much force and torque in a heavy wind for the kinds of hooks I see in the stores, which are designed more for hanging baskets. The only overhanging tree limbs are too high (i.e., big chimes hanging on a 20' cord would make for a deadly pendulum in a 40 mph wind). A tallish arbor might work, though they would bang against the wood and potentially break the latticework, and might twist the arbor in ways it was not designed for.

Given that there are several companies out there that make chimes this size and larger, I would expect to find stands made for this purpose, but so far my searches have turned up empty.

Has anyone found a good mid-yard mounting solution for their big chimes? Maybe my worries about the "obvious" solutions one sees in garden stores are unwarranted...if anybody has tested them out, please do post!

Here is a link that might be useful: Music of the Spheres site

Sheesh & I thought mine were big at approximately 4' for the longest tube!!!

I don't know the keys (long forgotten), but mine, when they were in one piece (they fell to an untimely death), were mellow too. They reminded me of church bells so I call them "St. Anthony's". LOL

Hubby has to fix the cap that holds the tubes. When the wire broke that was holding the set the tubes hit cement & split the cap in two. =(

Posted by tigertail5432 z8 WA (My Page) on Sat, May 8, 04 at 12:20

We made some wind chimes using PVC pipes,spray painted with gold metallic paint,gold chains,ect. It is beautiful hanging in a tall pine tree. But alas, it makes no noise.So I call it my "Wind MIME"!

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LOL Tigertail - that is great!!!!! I might have to make some!!! ;)

I think that is great providing the neighbor's don't mind.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wind Chimes

In my garden I have no fewer than nine wind chimes of various sizes ranging from tinklers to almost Gong sounding. They are very relaxing, most hardly make a peep. However, they do turn a dismal storm into a symphony.

Mihai
Resident Romanian Gardener

I love the sound of these and would like to find some instructions to make one. I like the low soft ones that sound like organ music. I saw some in holland Michigan and they had such a wonderful relaxing sound. Not the high pitched tinkling.