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Description
Edited to add: You guys are seriously awesome, you really are. A while ago I'd mentioned that I'd e-mail instructions to anybody who'd like to make one of these, and so far a dozen people have asked, I think that's pretty cool. So let's just make this easy: at the bottom of this description are the step by step instructions, feel free to copy and paste them and make your windchime. All I ask is that you send me a picture when you're done, I'd love to see them.

And a huge thank you to everybody who's pinned this on pinterest, that's super cool of you.

When I was a kid I had a fascination with keys, especially the old ornate ones or even the rusted forgotten ones you find by the side of the road. I didn't start seriously collecting them until I was in college, and I'd pick up one or two at flea markets and garage sales. My family started sending them to me after a while too. The whole mess of them traveled clear across the country with me before I finally DID something with them.

And it DOES sound nice, thank you.

Made from floral wire, a piece of plumbing equipment, chain, a teeny bit of puffy paint (to make little ridges so the wires don't slide into each other and tangle) and keys. Lots of keys.

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS

Here you go! The short version is just to hang bigger and bigger keys on longer and longer wire, hang half of them all the way around a circular piece of metal then hang the other half continuing around the circle in between every other one you just hung, that'll make the double spiral.

The LONG version is here:

You'll need: straight floral wire, the piece of plumbing equipment (show the picture to a hardware guy, I don't know what it's called, but it's heavy and round and holds keys well) needlenose pliers, some chain to hang the whole thing from, and (optional) puffy paint.

Decide how many keys you want in the windchime (mine has about 52)

Arrange your keys from smallest to largest.

Get your straight floral wire (not the kind on a roll, the kind that comes pre-cut in a flat package is best.)

You'll want a piece of floral wire for each key, the longest piece will go with your biggest key.

Cut your wire in increments so your longest piece is, say 12 inches. Your next piece is 11.75 inches. Your next piece is 11.5 inches, etc etc, getting shorter by quarter inches.

When you have all your pieces cut, start with the longest.

You'll make a small loop in the bottom to hold the key, and a big loop at the top to attach to the plumbing equipment. (However you want to bend the wire is fine, I use needlenose pliers to bend a small bit of the wire towards me, then you bend it in a circle in the opposite direction to make a loop. Once the key is on the loop you can bend the end of the loop around the main stem of the wire if you like to "lock" it into place.)

Attach all the keys to the wires, the biggest key to the longest wire.

Now this part is optional, but helpful: take your plumbing equipment, and your puffy paint, and on the inside edge of where you're going to hang the wires, make one little ridge for each of your keys, then let it dry. I did that because when I first made it and hung the wires, the wires would slide into each other and bunch up. The puffy paint ridges keep the wires separate.

Once the paint is dry, attach four big chains to your plumbing equipment (I used leftover floral wire to attach it, and then fixed the four chains together at the top to an old keyring) because you'll want the plumbing equipment to be off the ground while you work.

Then start hanging wires. Start with the smallest key and hang that. (Make a loop similar to the one you made to hold the key, but this loop is big enough to attach to the plumbing equipment.) Then skip the next ridge and hang the next size key. You're skipping ridges because if you want that double loop you'll hang half your keys in a circle, then when you get to the end of the circle you'll keep going but put the keys in the ridges that you skipped. That makes the double loop, and also your smallest keys will be right next to wires that they can chime against when the wind blows.

And you're done, the keyring will make it easy to hang it. Careful that you don't drop it, if you bend or crunch the wires sometimes you can't get the kinks out of it and you'll need to recut a piece of wire.

Have fun! And send me pictures!

Description
Edited to add: You guys are seriously awesome, you really are. A while ago I'd mentioned that I'd e-mail instructions to anybody who'd like to make one of these, and so far a dozen people have asked, I think that's pretty cool. So let's just make this easy: at the bottom of this description are the step by step instructions, feel free to copy and paste them and make your windchime. All I ask is that you send me a picture when you're done, I'd love to see them.

And a huge thank you to everybody who's pinned this on pinterest, that's super cool of you.

When I was a kid I had a fascination with keys, especially the old ornate ones or even the rusted forgotten ones you find by the side of the road. I didn't start seriously collecting them until I was in college, and I'd pick up one or two at flea markets and garage sales. My family started sending them to me after a while too. The whole mess of them traveled clear across the country with me before I finally DID something with them.

And it DOES sound nice, thank you.

Made from floral wire, a piece of plumbing equipment, chain, a teeny bit of puffy paint (to make little ridges so the wires don't slide into each other and tangle) and keys. Lots of keys.

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS

Here you go! The short version is just to hang bigger and bigger keys on longer and longer wire, hang half of them all the way around a circular piece of metal then hang the other half continuing around the circle in between every other one you just hung, that'll make the double spiral.

The LONG version is here:

You'll need: straight floral wire, the piece of plumbing equipment (show the picture to a hardware guy, I don't know what it's called, but it's heavy and round and holds keys well) needlenose pliers, some chain to hang the whole thing from, and (optional) puffy paint.

Decide how many keys you want in the windchime (mine has about 52)

Arrange your keys from smallest to largest.

Get your straight floral wire (not the kind on a roll, the kind that comes pre-cut in a flat package is best.)

You'll want a piece of floral wire for each key, the longest piece will go with your biggest key.

Cut your wire in increments so your longest piece is, say 12 inches. Your next piece is 11.75 inches. Your next piece is 11.5 inches, etc etc, getting shorter by quarter inches.

When you have all your pieces cut, start with the longest.

You'll make a small loop in the bottom to hold the key, and a big loop at the top to attach to the plumbing equipment. (However you want to bend the wire is fine, I use needlenose pliers to bend a small bit of the wire towards me, then you bend it in a circle in the opposite direction to make a loop. Once the key is on the loop you can bend the end of the loop around the main stem of the wire if you like to "lock" it into place.)

Attach all the keys to the wires, the biggest key to the longest wire.

Now this part is optional, but helpful: take your plumbing equipment, and your puffy paint, and on the inside edge of where you're going to hang the wires, make one little ridge for each of your keys, then let it dry. I did that because when I first made it and hung the wires, the wires would slide into each other and bunch up. The puffy paint ridges keep the wires separate.

Once the paint is dry, attach four big chains to your plumbing equipment (I used leftover floral wire to attach it, and then fixed the four chains together at the top to an old keyring) because you'll want the plumbing equipment to be off the ground while you work.

Then start hanging wires. Start with the smallest key and hang that. (Make a loop similar to the one you made to hold the key, but this loop is big enough to attach to the plumbing equipment.) Then skip the next ridge and hang the next size key. You're skipping ridges because if you want that double loop you'll hang half your keys in a circle, then when you get to the end of the circle you'll keep going but put the keys in the ridges that you skipped. That makes the double loop, and also your smallest keys will be right next to wires that they can chime against when the wind blows.

And you're done, the keyring will make it easy to hang it. Careful that you don't drop it, if you bend or crunch the wires sometimes you can't get the kinks out of it and you'll need to recut a piece of wire.

Have fun! And send me pictures!