Tutorial: Wind catchers

We are in the midst of the most amazing wind storms.......    Leaves are blowing from the trees.....ferries are cancelled.....birds are flying backwards (ok, maybe that is an exaggeration but the ones gathering on my balcony at the feeders have their feathers billowing).......    The post below is from 13 years ago.   I could make one now, a small one,  put it on a windowsill - indoors! - and  use breath to make it twirl.  The song Mariah comes to mind.  

 (re-post)

I  became aware that pinwheels could work horizontally and that certainly expanded my use of them in the house and in the garden.  This one is made from the foam-like paper you can get at the dollar store;  the cork base is glued to a beach rock.  It sits on the deck railing for the moment and twirls in the wind and mimics the clouds.  There was the thought to write words on the mills but I was reluctant to mar the whiteness.

  I can imagine a garden party or a wedding with small pinwheels like this in the top of bottles.  Or decorating  a cake.  Or stuck on the ends of branches in a tree. Or.....

The way to make them is simple: take a square (this is cardstock but I also am experimenting with a heavy gauge clear plastic and a nubbly plastic meant to line drawers) and draw lines from corner to corner to get the center.  Mark dots as shown.
Make a dot at the center as well.  This will be considered the top (the side with the markings); the other side will be the bottom.

Now cut from each corner in toward the center and stop a little more than 1/4 inch from the center dot

Make a small hole at the dots in the corners and a hole in the center with a paper punch or a knitting needle or an awl or a darning needle or what-have-you.

Now take a T pin and put a small bead on it. You could cut a thin straw in lengths and use these in place of beads - straws come in wonderful colours.

Poke the T pin with its bead through one of the holes in the corner coming from the bottom side and turn in toward the center.

Bring the next corner up and put the T pin through the hole again coming from the bottom and again turning in toward the center.  Repeat with the final two holes in the final two corners.

It will now look like this. Turn it over....

....and put three more beads on the T pin.

Push into cork.  I forgot to hold the beads onto the T pin the first time I turned it over to push it into the cork.

  Amazing how beads can scoot across a floor...under a frig....surprise a bare foot in the middle of the night....  Hold onto beads when turning pinwheel over!Adjust the depth of the T pin in the cork so that the blades of the pinwheel move freely. Ignore the piece of paper that escaped my notice while photographing this shot and which confused me until I realized it was a scrap and not part of the pinwheel.  Once you have the pinwheel twirling merrily with your breath as the power source, take it outdoors and introduce it to the wind.

Here is the completed cardstock pinwheel.  At the top is the one made from plastic drawer lining - or so I was told this was its use - got it at a garage sale - it  has a lovely nubbly texture.  Next to it is the one made with clear heavy gauge plastic which would be quite stunning in a tree and spinning against leaves and sky.  The bottom one is again of clear plastic with two sheets of origami paper, back to back, put on top of the plastic and cut along with it.  I can imagine using a lacey handkerchief or a piece of  colourful fabric or maybe burlap in the same way as the origami paper.  Or painting on the plastic first. A nail could be used instead of the T pin.  Or a pipe cleaner if you wanted to tie the pinwheel onto something.  Or  knitting needles poked into florist foam for a 'bouquet'.  Have fun!

Posted on July 01, 2008 at 04:44 AM 

 (re-post)

I  became aware that pinwheels could work horizontally and that certainly expanded my use of them in the house and in the garden.  This one is made from the foam-like paper you can get at the dollar store;  the cork base is glued to a beach rock.  It sits on the deck railing for the moment and twirls in the wind and mimics the clouds.  There was the thought to write words on the mills but I was reluctant to mar the whiteness.

  I can imagine a garden party or a wedding with small pinwheels like this in the top of bottles.  Or decorating  a cake.  Or stuck on the ends of branches in a tree. Or.....

The way to make them is simple: take a square (this is cardstock but I also am experimenting with a heavy gauge clear plastic and a nubbly plastic meant to line drawers) and draw lines from corner to corner to get the center.  Mark dots as shown.
Make a dot at the center as well.  This will be considered the top (the side with the markings); the other side will be the bottom.

Now cut from each corner in toward the center and stop a little more than 1/4 inch from the center dot

Make a small hole at the dots in the corners and a hole in the center with a paper punch or a knitting needle or an awl or a darning needle or what-have-you.

Now take a T pin and put a small bead on it. You could cut a thin straw in lengths and use these in place of beads - straws come in wonderful colours.

Poke the T pin with its bead through one of the holes in the corner coming from the bottom side and turn in toward the center.

Bring the next corner up and put the T pin through the hole again coming from the bottom and again turning in toward the center.  Repeat with the final two holes in the final two corners.

It will now look like this. Turn it over....

....and put three more beads on the T pin.

Push into cork.  I forgot to hold the beads onto the T pin the first time I turned it over to push it into the cork.

  Amazing how beads can scoot across a floor...under a frig....surprise a bare foot in the middle of the night....  Hold onto beads when turning pinwheel over!Adjust the depth of the T pin in the cork so that the blades of the pinwheel move freely. Ignore the piece of paper that escaped my notice while photographing this shot and which confused me until I realized it was a scrap and not part of the pinwheel.  Once you have the pinwheel twirling merrily with your breath as the power source, take it outdoors and introduce it to the wind.

Here is the completed cardstock pinwheel.  At the top is the one made from plastic drawer lining - or so I was told this was its use - got it at a garage sale - it  has a lovely nubbly texture.  Next to it is the one made with clear heavy gauge plastic which would be quite stunning in a tree and spinning against leaves and sky.  The bottom one is again of clear plastic with two sheets of origami paper, back to back, put on top of the plastic and cut along with it.  I can imagine using a lacey handkerchief or a piece of  colourful fabric or maybe burlap in the same way as the origami paper.  Or painting on the plastic first. A nail could be used instead of the T pin.  Or a pipe cleaner if you wanted to tie the pinwheel onto something.  Or  knitting needles poked into florist foam for a 'bouquet'.  Have fun!