Dan and I went to Dahlonega a few months ago for a wedding. We decided to make a weekend of it and rented a fabulous cabin tucked away in the mountains of North Georgia. We spent our extra time sampling wine from many of the local vineyards and visiting the numerous antique stores in the little town. At one store we saw several wind chimes that were made from old flatware and tea cups. Again, I thought to myself, I can do that! I thought it was a super cute idea and set out to make it happen.
While visiting my friend Kaelan a few weeks ago when she was in town from California, we chatted with one another and I glanced into the dining room of her mom's house and saw the tea cup and saucer chandelier that her mom had made a few years ago. It sparked my idea about the wind chime! When I began telling them about it, Kaelan's mom not only offered a set of old silverware to me to use for my project, she also said she would flatten it and drill the holes. I immediately accepted thanking her for the help- I don't exactly know how I would have managed that part without her (I am still very slowly growing my craft and tool collection).
The next item on my list was a tea cup and saucer to use as a base for the hanging utensils and I really lucked out when I found this one! I knew exactly where I wanted to search for it, too- Queen of Hearts Antiques. The Queen of Hearts is a new antique store in Buford and it is absolutely fabulous. The selection they have is endless and the prices are unmatched to any similar store in Atlanta. The saucer already had decorative holes around its edges which would be perfect to tie each chime to. Once more I was glad I didn't have to come up with a way to put holes in the china.
First I glued the cup to the saucer with a strong adhesive glue. Then I took fishing line from my craft drawer and secured each piece of silverware. Next I strung chunky beads that I have collected over the years to each string then I tied them to the holes around the saucer. I decided to use the large serving spoon as the middle chime and suspended it from the middle of the saucer with a separate piece of fishing line. I pulled the extra fishing line that was left from tying the chimes to the saucer up around the cup to act as the support for hanging.
I was able to replicate the look I found in Dahlonega for a fraction of the cost. The price of the tea cup was just $16 and the rest of the materials I already had on hand. I'm really excited about it- I think it turned out just perfectly! The silverware makes a distinct chime when it blows in the wind and the beads catch the light beautifully.
