Bamboo Chimes: Behind the Design

Bamboo Chimes: Behind the Design

Glass Bamboo Chimes can add a nice sound to help create your own restful environment. 

Each piece of our bamboo chimes is made individually over a hot torch and then assembled by hand to create a beautiful hanging objet d’art.
First we cut a glass rod into five 10 inch pieces. Then we introduce each cut piece into a flame where we manipulate it into its bamboo form by pressing and pulling the glass while it heats up. This compression of the glass creates little disc-like shapes called Marias. Each of our bamboo pieces has two Marias which represent the solid joints found on bamboo stalks called nodes. After the chime pieces have been formed we anneal them in our kiln at 1050 degrees Fahrenheit. In our studio we work with 8mm diameter rods of borosilicate glass, more commonly known as “Pyrex.” Depending on the thickness of the rods, different sounds are achieved. The sound that our Bamboo chimes produce is a ”sweet” one, despite it being the hardest glass out of our chime collection. 

The harness was designed to hold five glass pieces and is laser cut in Elora from stainless steel. We chose an organic swirled form for the harness to fit the natural form that resembles the bamboo parts of the chime. Each disc of stainless steel is cut into two, a positive and a negative, so there is no waste. 

The positioning of the bamboo stalks is designed in a way that they hang close to the harness and therefore not tangle in stronger winds.
We have been making kiln worked wind and breeze chimes for many years and wanted to add a flameworked chime to our selection. The design of this chime was inspired by some of our travels to Asia where bamboo is seen everywhere including many areas of calmness and serenity.

Each chime is adorned with 6 small glass beads which are made in the Czech Republic on the famous Glass Road. All the colours we offer were chosen by Gisela to complement the work and style of Hanscomb Glass.  

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