We're not exactly sure what this is called, but we really like them. We've seen them hanging on porches and in flower beds before. We've also seen them in the store, but we've never bought one. They are probably made out of plastic for the most part, but we thought it would be cool to make one out of resin because... why not?

What you'll need

scrap wood (to make the mold)
contact paper a.k.a drawer liners
Resin (we use Famowood Glaze Coat)
Drill and drill bits
Fishing line and a barrel swivel
Also a saw to cut wood, if needed

Make sure you check out the video, it shows a bit more of each step than the images do. Please enjoy and if you make it or something like it, we'd love to see it. Share it with us on here or on Facebook, Google+, etc.

Step 1: Making the Mold

Making the mold is super easy. We just used some scrap plywood as the backing and some scrap pine for the sides. The main goal here is to make sure the mold is long, rectangular and deep enough to hold resin that will be about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.

Step 2: Lining the Mold

Lining the mold with contact paper will make removing the resin casting a whole lot easier. Making sure it is creased and snug into the sharp crevices will also yield a very nice final casting with nice straight edges.

Step 3: Pouring the Resin

All resins are different, so we recommend following the instructions for your particular brand as far as mixing and curing is concerned. You'll only need enough resin to pour this about 1/4 inch thick. Once it is poured you can pop any air bubbles in the resin by passing the flame of a lighter or torch over the surface of the resin.

Step 4: Coloring the Resin and Curing

We colored the resin, well... because a plain clear wind spiral thingy would be kind of boring. We did this by adding drops of fingernail polish and ink. Then we just swirled it around until we liked how it looked.

After we were happy with the look we had to let it cure. However, this time we didn't let it fully cure. We only let it reach kind of a soft cure state. For us, this was about 10-12 hours. Since the full cure time for our resin is about 72 hours, this meant the resin was hard and able to be handled, but still able to be manipulated.

Step 5: Removing From Mold

This process is a little tedious, but is much easier since contact paper was used. The contact paper will aid in getting it of the mold since you can grab the edges. It will also peel off the back of the casting, but it just takes a little work.

Step 6: Twisting and Second Cure

Twisting the resin casting is just as easy as it sound. Just twist it into a spiral. Then, once it is where you want it. Clamp it or find some other way to hold it in place while it cures for the remaining time. This was about another day or so for us.

Step 7: Making It Hangable

Once the spiral is fully cured you can drill a hole at one end and run some fishing line or some other string through the hole. We suggest adding in a barrel swivel because this will allow the spiral to twist in the wind without the string or fishing line twisting with it.

Step 8: All Done!

That's it. It is a super simple and enjoyable project to make and pretty cool to watch while you're outside relaxing.

We hope you enjoyed this DIY project and the video that goes along with it. If you have any questions or comments please let us know, we'd be more than happy to help you out. Thanks for checking out this Instructable.