More Bells, Clappers, and a Re-Do

For these bells I made the beech leaves red. At first I brushed them with yellow but the color looked washed out. We'll see what happens using red over yellow stain. I've also made extra beads and wind sails to use with the bells. It's taking me quite a while to make enough work to fill up the kiln with the smaller footprint of bells rather than platters and bowls. But I must admit I think these bells are the most of one type of item I've made. I seem to be bell crazy right now. Perhaps it's the anticipation of how the bells will sound that's keeping my attention.

Hoping to hear one of my bells ring, yesterday I fashioned a clapper for the table top bell with some steel washers. I was pleased to hear the wonderful sound it produced. I don't think new steel washers are aesthetically pleasing to see as a clapper on the interior of the bells so I am wondering what other metal I can use for a clapper. Any ideas? The metal seems to produce a nice tone. A rusty piece of metal would appear better to my eye.

I also tried the same washer type clapper with a larger bell but the leather cord kept pulling through the top hole. I've got some wooden beads to use to keep the string from pulling through till I can get some of the ceramic beads fired. I'm also trying to figure out how to get my camera to take a video hoping to let you 'hear' how the bells sound. Perhaps there are ready made clappers I can find (like the photo above borrowed from the next) or maybe I can fashion some clappers from various metal parts and weld them. Figuring out a clapper for the bells and stringing it seemed like a simple task but it's proving to somewhat tax my ingenuity.

Meanwhile I made another morel mushroom cheese board since the first one had a crack. Hope this one fares better than the first one. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.