How to Make Mason Jar Chimes

[pinit][pinit]

It was only a matter of time before I tried out my bottle cutter on a mason jar.  Today I am sharing how I pulled off this mason jar to wind chimes upcycle, just in time for spring and outdoor decor.  This project is a great stash buster for those beads and charms you’ve been stockpiling.  There will be some cutting and drilling of glass, but don’t fear, you can do this!

SUPPLIES:

Mason Jar with lid

2 eye screws

piece of scrap wood about 1/2 inch thick and smaller than lid

fishing line or other clear string

scissors

beads, chain, charms and connectors of your choice

Bottle cutter (Creator’s Cutter used in this tutorial)

Butane micro torch or candle and lighter

Dremel or other Rotary tool – I used Beads Landing Rotary Tool

measuring tape

Shallow container with cold water for drilling your jar (this will make sense later)

Bucket of cold water deep enough to submerge jar

Protective mask and goggles

E6000

Diamond Bits for glass; I used a bit from this set

Permanent marker

Medium Grit Sand Paper

Glass beads or wine bottle rings (see my Wine Bottle Rings tutorial)

TUTORIAL:

I place the mason jar on the cutter (My wine bottle cutting tutorial has a video on using this specific cutter).

Mark the jar so you know when you have made a complete rotation.

Once the score line is made, it is time to apply heat/cold to it.  I like to do this with a butane micro torch while rotating the bottle on the cutter jig.  I have moved the blade out of the way and am just using the cutter jig to hold the bottle and give me a way to rotate it easily with one hand while holding the torch with the other.

If you are using a torch, one minute is plenty of time for applying heat.  Sometimes this is enough to break the score line.  If not, submerge jar into cold water, covering score line.  That is all it took for me on this mason jar.  If yours doesn’t separate, repeat the heat/cold until it does.

If you are using a candle, watch the video linked above for instructions.

 This is what my break looked like.  Not bad!  Now it is time to sand and smooth the edges.

Sand lightly with medium grit paper.  Get the inner and outer edges of the break.  This is pretty quick.

You will notice after a minute or 2 of sanding that the edge is smooth to the touch and won’t cut you.

I measured the diameter of my jar and it was 12 inches.  I marked every 3 inches for drilling a hole.  This gave me 4 holes evenly spaced around the jar for stringing beads and charms.

Before drilling, put on eye gear and mask!!

Place jar in shallow container of cold water.  I use a square baking tin.

To begin drilling, come in at an angle to start an indentation.

Once the indentation is started, move drill to 90°.  Every 30 or so seconds, stop drilling and rotate jar so that hole gets rinsed out and glass where your were drilling gets cooled.  This prevents the glass from breaking due to high heat.  Continue until you have drilled all the way through.

Do this at each mark around the jar.

Use fishing line or beading string to string various beads, charms, found objects and chain to your liking in each hole.

I wanted to use the old lid that was on this jar in the design, so I needed to have a way to hang the chimes by it.  I used a hammer and small nail to make a hold in the top center.

Next I screwed in the eye screw as pictured.

I screwed into the wooden disk and screwed the remaining eye pin to the other side as shown.  I later added E6000 to the wooden disk on the side that contacts the jar lid for added strength.  It gets pretty gusty around here in the spring!

I cut a length of fishing line to the eye screw and tied the other end to a wine bottle ring, tied another ring to that one, and another ring to that one for a total of 3 hanging down from the middle of the jar.

To finish, put the lid on the jar and add chain to the eye screw on top for hanging.  Hang and enjoy!

For more mason jar crafts, visit our Collection of 75+ Mason Jar Projects

For more DIY Chimes, visit our 20+ DIY Chimes post!