DIY Wind Chime

Looking for a gorgeous decoration for your front porch or backyard? There’s nothing quite like sitting outside and enjoying a nice breeze with the background music of a wind chime.

Wind chimes can get expensive when you buy ready-made ones. Making your own is much more affordable, and you can customize it to your tastes. Follow along with this tutorial to learn how to make a beautiful wind chime for your yard.

DIY wind chime

All Photos Credit: Amy Boyington

How to Create Your Own DIY Wind Chime

Tutorial overview

  • Total Time: 3 hrs
  • Skill Level: Intermediate
  • Estimated Cost: $30

Wind chimes are spring and summer staples to have outside your home, giving you relaxing noise with every breeze. This coastal-inspired DIY wind chime uses sea glass and wooden beads for calm, gentle music. Try this project now to ring in the summer!

DIY wind chime materials

What You’ll Need

Equipment / Tools:

  • High-temperature hot glue gun
  • Craft scissors

Materials:

  • 1 6-inch terra cotta pot
  • 9 1 ½-inch terra cotta pots
  • White spray paint (optional)
  • 11 wooden beads
  • Mixed sea glass pieces
  • Thin jute twine
  • Illusion cord

Tips for Choosing the Right Materials for a DIY Wind Chime

Choosing the right materials for your DIY wind chime can make the difference between a project success and a DIY flop. Here are a few tips that’ll help you make yours:

  1. Make sure your large terra cotta pots have a hole at the top and holes around the sides to attach your twine to. Each small terra cotta pot should have a hole in the top as well.
  2. If you choose to spray paint your terra cotta pots, choose spray paint that’s made for outdoor use. It should be marked right on the can. Outdoor spray paint holds up to the heat of the sun and wet weather, so your wind chime can look great all year long.
  3. Feel free to use different size pots than what our craft expert used, but make sure you adjust the size of your wooden beads and jute twine to accommodate. Larger pots that hang down should have larger beads to make noise in the wind, and you may need thicker twine to fit through their holes. For this project, our craft expert used 20 mm wooden beads and 1 mm twine.
  4. Look for decent-sized shards of sea glass rather than tiny scraps. They’ll work much better as noisemakers and will be eye-catching on your wind chime.
  5. Use illusion cord that’s at least 0.30 mm thick to ensure that it can carry the weight of the sea glass.

DIY Wind Chime Instructions

Gather your materials, and get started! Our craft expert suggest doing your painting at least one day before you start the rest of the project. This gives them plenty of time to dry and see if you need to add another coat before continuing.

1. Paint the pots

Place your pots in a box or on top of cardboard or newspaper to protect your work area. Using a sweeping motion about a foot or so away from the pots, spray them with the spray paint, turning them as needed to paint all the way around. 

Painting the pots

Allow the pots to dry for several hours. If you need another coat, apply it the same way.

2. Prepare the twine

Take one end of the twine and fold it over to make a loop. Stick the looped end through one wooden bead.