Wind Chimes Made from PET Bottles

Anyone who looks around in stores will quickly realize: colorful wind chimes for the garden are very popular. But it doesn't always have to be a bought model. Something like this can be quickly made by yourself, even by inexperienced hobby crafters. Recycling art objects for the garden – that's how wind chimes made from PET bottles can be described. There are some deposit-free PET bottles that are suitable for such homemade artworks, such as those from juices, smoothies, drinking yogurt, etc. However, colorful plastic bottles look particularly decorative.

- PET bottles with matching screw caps

- Colorful adhesive tapes or waterproof paints in several shades

- Rust-proof screws with matching washers, alternatively nails with large heads

- A wooden stick that is as sturdy (thick) as possible

- A sharp pair of household scissors, utility knife, or nail scissors

- A cut-resistant surface

- Screwdrivers (Phillips and flathead)

- A hammer (if only nails, and no screws, are available)

- A cordless drill or hand drill

- Optionally a candle

- Paintbrushes

- Possibly newspaper to put underneath (for painting the bottles)

- Round file (if available)

First Step: Applying Decorations
Apply colorful adhesive tape to the individual bottles as desired. For example, applying the colorful tape in a spiral shape works well. Instead of this decoration, the PET bottles can also be individually painted with waterproof paint. To protect your table, newspaper should be placed underneath. After painting, the bottles must dry thoroughly before moving on to the next step.

Second Step: Cutting
Place the bottle on the cut-resistant surface. Use a utility knife or even nail scissors to separate the bottle bottom. Careful work is necessary here to prevent injuries. This also applies to further cutting. Sensitive individuals can protect their hands from the cut edges with disposable gloves. From the cut edge (where the bottom was removed) up to the bottle neck, several evenly sized strips are cut. These are then bent individually. Caution is advised here to avoid kinking the strips. This creates a kind of sun or halo effect.

Third Step: Drilling a Hole in the Screw Cap
To ensure the wind spinner can rotate well later, a hole must be drilled into the screw cap. This hole must have a larger diameter than the screw. There are various, and partly complementary, options for this: Firstly, a Phillips screwdriver can be heated over a candle. The hot tip can then be used to melt a hole into the cap (children should only do this under adult supervision!). Alternatively to melting, or if the hole is still too small, a cordless drill or hand drill can also be used. Frayed holes can be reworked with an appropriately sized round file. This promotes smoother rotation later on.

Fourth Step: Screwing On
The cap is screwed onto the wooden stick with a little play. This is where the washers come into play. If a suitable screw is unavailable, the cap can also be secured to the wooden stick with a large-headed nail. Only then is the bottle itself screwed onto the cap. Now the wind spinner is complete and can be set up.

The wind spinners described above are primarily a visual delight. However, if other senses are to be engaged, the wind can also be made to chime. Such melodious wind sculptures can also be built by yourself from PET bottles. Simply expand the wind chime with a few "resonant elements" – the only limits here are, at most, the laws of gravity.