Do you like wind chimes? Do you have a rain chain?

[seaglass]

Any favorite type of chimes? What do you think of gongs?

I was so bored at work yesterday I spent two hours listening to online wind chimes here:

http://64.106.200.92/woodstock/public/publicCat15403Home_Chimes.html

The good thing is that I found one I think I will get, it sounds sweet and not too loud - the Emperor Harp-Large.

I also discovered rain chains - never heard of them - they look cool but expensive.

http://www.windchime.com/rain-chains/cup-rain-chains/112+4295026315+4295026316.cfm

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. I have lots of windchimes, but they are all inside except for two, one of which is

a little buoy bell thing. I try to get a set whenever I go on vacation. I _almost_ bought a spinning whimsy this year instead. Maybe next year. :)

Never heard of a rain chain. I will check those out. :)

[seaglass]

2. The buoy sounds cool - how sensitive is it to wind?

I was considering a gong but neither my husband nor daughter liked it. :-)

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Pretty sensitive, actually. My dad has a much bigger one and it can make a real racket but

he lives on top of a hill, so it's pretty windy up there.

I love the sound. I wish I could afford a big one too.

[kentauros]

4. I like pretty much all of them.

I have two from Woodstock, though the little one broke some years back and I never found my receipt to get them to re-string it. That was the "Forbidden City" set (on the same page as the next one here.) The other one is the Chimes of Tuscany

I may just restring the little one myself, since I have that kind of time these days, and I really liked its higher pitch, too.

Seems like the Rain Chains would be fairly easy to make :)


Of course, I'd also like to have one each of the following:

Wind Harp
Singing Ringing Tree

:D

[seaglass]

7. Wow - the Wind Harp!!!! Want one. n/t

[kentauros]

9. There are many designs and designers of wind harps out there

(also known as "aeolian harps") so after looking at the Instructables link below, you might just build your own :D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeolian_harp
http://www.konzak.com/windharp/index.html
http://www.mohicanwindharps.com/
http://www.harmonicwindharps.com/
http://www.soundscapesinternational.com/

Instructables - Build-a-Wind-Harp!

Aeolian Wind Harps
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlmzSp1OknI

[KittyWampus]

11. some beautiful artwork there.

[MorningGlow]

13. +1 on Woodstock

I love those! :loveya:

[lukasahero]

5. I bought my husband a rain chain for xmas 2 years ago

It was an extravagence because I bought a really nice one but he had wanted one for years so it was worth it. :)

Here's where it ended up:


And here's a pic from the web site (close-up):

[seaglass]

6. I REALLY like that, I need to get one. Does it sound like a little

waterfall? I guess you wouldn't really be able to hear it if it's raining?

[lukasahero]

8. In a light rainfall, the sound is very pleasing

Sort of like a waterfall but a trickling one. The copper bowl we have at the bottom affords a slightly metalic ring.

In heavy rains though, yeah, we're not usually out there listening even if we could hear it. :rofl:

It does splash all over the place in heavy rains though (note the bubble in the paint job on the house - grumble grumble.)

[TrogL]

10. Most wind chimes are out of tune and annoying

but there's nothing like a good gong to wake people up.

My favourite gong solo is in Carl Orff's 'Carmina Burana' just before the reprise to 'O fortuna'.

There's an art to playing the gong. You don't just beat on it. You warm it up by tapping lightly on the side of it, enough to get it vibrating but not enough to be audible to the audience. Then when you whack on it (just off centre) you get the maximum effect without wasting any energy on getting it going.

[MorningGlow]

12. They go out of tune if you leave them outside in cold weather

Our neighbors have a big windchime (we're talking 3 ft. metal tubes) on the side of the house closest to us, and it clanks and clonks because they never took it inside in winter. I'll bet it used to sound great back in the day (before we moved here). The same thing happened to some beautiful clay chimes I had on a front porch (before I found out you have to take them inside).

I have some lovely Woodstock chimes that I keep indoors; they never go out of tune, and thank goodness--I love their sound.

[kentauros]

14. Maybe it depends on how cold your winters are...

because my remaining Woodstock chimes have never gone out of tune from the cold. Then again, we don't see temps below the teens and even that's rare. I only take them down when it gets really windy, or like last year for Hurricane Ike ;)

[MorningGlow]

15. Yeah, special rules for the snow belt

I remember reading the "rules" in a set of windchimes I got a while back but couldn't quote it now--there must be some set temperature...and likely the humidity doesn't help...

[kentauros]

17. Humidity is one thing we have in excess here.

;)

I suspect the only thing it really affects is the life of the string-materials...

[DeepBlueC]

16. Jesu. I had no idea of the range of choices

but they all kind of drive me crazy.

[seaglass]

18. I didn't know there were so many either. I like the softer sounding ones,

the only one I have right now is a capiz windchime. I used to have a really big one that was given as a gift but I couldn't leave it outside because it was so damn loud and I didn't want to disturb the neighbors.

[kentauros]

19. And yet, I'd like to have the land

where I could erect a set of chimes made from oil-drilling pipe :D

[seaglass]

21. I still want a wind harp - sadly I do not have the talent to build one.

The oil drilling pipes would be quite a sound. :D

[Manifestor_of_Light]

24. This guy makes bells out of old pressure vessels.

www.gongwiththewind.net

Bill Loyd.

He advertises in Shambhala Sun, a Buddhist magazine. :D

[seaglass]

25. Beautiful work. n/t

[kentauros]

26. At first I thought you might mean really big pressure vessels

like this one: Kettle House, Galveston ;)

I like what he's done with small tanks; very colorful :)

[DeepBlueC]

20. that's the problem

THe only place I have to put one is far too close to the back door that is open all summer. When my neighbors had one similarly positioned I wanted to shoot it down. They were off at work or out all the time and here I was with my skull thudding. And it really got batted around by the wind.

[DeepBlueC]

22. too bad there is no volume control on them lol

once I have modified them to my taste I'll probably have a CD player.. :rofl: Control freak, me.

[KurtNYC]

23. Wind chimes are annoying

or maybe I just prefer the sound of wind in the leaves. But that A-E(flat)-D over and over is like a Phillip Glass composition.