Wind chimes ring in summer season
By Candy WilliamsFor the Tribune-Review
Saturday, June 2, 2007
A backyard garden is by nature a peaceful place. Add the melodic sounds of well-tuned wind chimes and an outdoor sanctuary comes alive with music.
Wind chimes have long been known for their soothing, even spiritual, quality. Early versions date as far back as ancient China and Japan, where they were used for ritual ceremonies. They can be made from a variety of hard substances -- from glass and metal to wood and ceramic. Each material produces a distinctive sound.
Teresa Richardson, of Marshall, Texas, who operates a Web-based wind chimes store, www.itsaboutchime.com, says that even today, followers of Feng Shui believe that wind chimes have the power to redirect energy in a space and help bring harmony and balance to one's home and garden.
"I've always been fascinated by them," she says, adding that she received her first wind chimes as a gift from her grandfather and has been collecting them ever since...
Her sales inventory ranges from chimes that ring out notes from "Amazing Grace" or "Somewhere over the Rainbow," to others that echo the familiar tones of London's Big Ben or a movement from a Mozart piano concerto."I've listened to wind chimes all my life on my front porch," Richardson says. "If no wind is blowing, I have a fan I turn on. Everything in life is so fast-paced. People need some kind of outlet to escape."
At The Urban Gardener on Pittsburgh's North Side, co-owners Joan Kimmel and Lynne Weber sell wind chimes that offer a variety of tones when they catch the breeze -- from the wistful echo of Lonesome Canyon Wind Bells to the brass tinkle of Temple Bells.
Kimmel says an exciting addition this year at their garden center is an assortment of garden bells made by Woodstock, a leading manufacturer of wind chimes. The polished brass bells are suspended in a contemporary hanging musical sculpture.
"They are beautifully made by U.S. Bells Foundry (in Prospect Harbor, Maine)," she says.
One of the artists exhibiting at this year's Three Rivers Arts Festival, Deborah Bloom, of Portland, Ore., creates unusual wind chimes from pieces of obsidian -- a naturally occurring volcanic rock -- that are hung from other objects of nature such as seedpods, branches and driftwood. She and her husband, Richard, gather the materials she uses to make the unique creations.
"Different thicknesses and lengths of the obsidian dictate the sound of the chimes," she says. "Some that are very thin produce a light, glassy sound, and as they get thicker, the sound becomes more metallic. With each piece of rock, you can get a variety of sounds, depending on how they hit together. Because of the variances nature brings, each chime is distinct, both visually and tonally."
The costs for her wind chimes vary from $20-$400, with most in the $30-$100 price range, she says. She will display as many as 500-600 of them at her booth at the Arts Festival from Thursday-June 11.
At the Urban Gardener, wind chimes sell for $25-$100, according to Kimmel. She says there has been steady interest in the garden decor items so far this season and, especially when a breeze kicks up and customers can hear the chimes, "they sell themselves."
Richardson says many of her wind chime customers are men who buy them as gifts for their wives or mothers.
"They're gender-friendly," she says. "They have an alluring, hypnotic appeal. You find the reverberation of the chimes, especially the larger ones, gives you a sense of calm and well-being. Everybody loves wind chimes."
