How To Make a Rain Chain

The idea behind sustainable gardening is to work with nature’s resources, not against them. An easy resource to utilize is rainwater.

There are a number of ways to re-channel rainwater for use in the garden. Perhaps the most widely used method for trapping rainwater for use in the garden is by virtue of a rain barrel. This is basically a storage container or whiskey barrel that stores water from your houses gutters.

But how do you get the water from the gutter into the rain barrel? There are a couple of methods, but by far the most attractive are rain chains.

Rain chains are widely used in Japan and combine form and function. They can be purchased and are sometimes rather ornate and expensive, but with just a few materials, you can make your own rain chain.

Here’s what you will need:

• 10x 2-inch aluminum funnels
• 8x foot long galvanized chain (small enough to fit through funnel but large enough for bolt)
• Drill
• Paper
• #6 nuts (3 per crossbar)
• 2 ½ inch #6 bolts (1 for each crossbar)

Trace the funnel and find its center point on the paper. Use that to mark where to drill on the funnel so it hangs straight. Drill two holes on opposite sides of each of the 10 funnels.

Now you are going to create the crossbars, which take 1 bolt and 3 nuts. Thread a bolt through the hole in the right edge of the funnel, then screw on a nut (#1). Thread the bolt through a link in the chain and add another nut (#2). Then, thread the bolt through the left-side hole of the funnel rim and tighten end with remaining nut (#3). Continue making the rest of the crossbars with remaining nuts and bolts.

Use the 2 center bolts to keep the chain in the center of the crossbar.

That’s it!

You’ve now made your own rain chain simply and inexpensively. Now that you’ve got it down, sounds like a great DIY gift for friends and family that would like to conserve water in their sustainable garden.