Craft An Adorable Windchime Out Of Mini Clay Pots

Few things are better than sitting in your favorite garden chair, morning coffee in hand, with a gentle breeze stirring the wind chimes behind you. Wind chimes are a great addition to an outdoor space to help it feel a little more relaxing, but the ones at the garden center all have the same boring design. If shiny metal tubes aren't quite your style, you can make DIY clay wind chimes for your home using a few miniature pots.

In a TikTok video, creator @RosaOrtiz003 ties small, rounded clay pots onto twine, gathering the strands so the pots dangle close enough to gently tap against one another when the wind blows. Their narrow necks and flared rims give the twine somewhere to sit, while their curved bodies bring a different silhouette from the usual wind chime. She hand-paints details to finish off the design, adding something that looks unique and gives a touch of whimsy to the outdoor space.

This DIY is a good reminder that not all DIY projects that will take your outdoor space to the next level require power tools or an entire weekend, either. It can be completed pretty quickly — even quicker if you decide to leave the pots unpainted. Alternatively, you can use your paint choice to pick up the color of the flowers and accessories already around your patio. For this DIY, all you need is four rounded miniature clay pots, sturdy twine, scissors, and a metal ring to bring the hanging strands together. You'll also need some acrylic paint, clear sealer, and brushes if you're feeling like adding a fun design to the finished chime.

Start off by arranging the four pots and cut a length of twine for each, leaving extra for knots and any height adjustments. The idea here is to have them close enough so they gently knock together, creating noise, but you also want the lengths to be slightly staggered. Wrap the twine around each pot's narrow neck, just beneath its flared rim, and knot it securely. The pots should hang upright, and the rim will help hold the cord in place. You could use more than four pots if you'd like, just make sure the final product isn't super heavy.

Tie the free ends to a sturdy metal or wooden ring, which is what you'll use to hang up the chime. Test the arrangement before tightening your knots, and suspend it from a secure hook in a sheltered spot. If you can't find rounded pots, miniature terracotta flowerpots are a similar alternative. You'll get a different silhouette, but the same dangling-pot effect.

To brighten a patio with the help of old terracotta pots, give them a colorful makeover before stringing them together. If you plan on painting them, it's best to do so before you tie them with the string. You can borrow from Ortiz's floral designs by making a central dot surrounded by smaller dots for petals. She paints the flowers in one line in the center of the pot, but you could stagger them all over or choose a totally different design. Maybe you paint the pots solid colors. Just make sure you finish with a compatible outdoor sealer so it can withstand the rain. Let everything dry fully before hanging, and bring the chime inside during strong winds so it doesn't break.