The Christmas Bell.

Bradley Cross’ cast bronze wind bells and chimes aren’t the only things that ring during the holiday season.

The long-time Ann Arbor bell maker and owner of Harmony Hollow Bell Works rings up rising sales during the gift-giving season.

“People think of bells at Christmastime,” Cross said. “There are church bells ringing and carolers ringing bells. That helps when it comes time to think about gifts.”

Distributed to craft galleries and up-scale garden stores across the country, Harmony Hollow’s holiday bell orders begin around Thanksgiving. The pace continues until just days before Christmas.

With a couple of leaner years behind him, Cross said sales are looking brighter this year.

Harmony Hollow has been quietly making nationally distributed wind bells and chimes, along with a host of other metal garden décor, in facilities west of downtown Ann Arbor off of Jackson Road, since 1978.

The handmade bells and chimes are sold in 1,500 galleries and outdoor accessory shops across the country. Last week, Cross shipped a holiday order to a retail outlet in Hawaii. Locally, he said wind bells are sold at Downtown Home and Garden in downtown Ann Arbor, and Cross travels to about a dozen art shows around the Midwest each year, including a holiday show last week. 

But most of the company’s sales — about 60 percent — are wholesale. Another 15 percent of sales come from the Internet, which peaks during the holiday season, and the remaining 25 percent from shows, Cross said.

While the holidays remain an important part of annual sales — they account for 20 percent of annual revenue — how the holiday unfolds has changed in the past 20 years, Cross said.

Harmony Hollow Bell Works owner Bradley Cross shows one of his products - which are sold nationally - inside his Ann Arbor headquarters.

Janet Miller | For AnnArbor.com

“In the early 1990s, everyone would order in early October. But that’s shifted to Thanksgiving. Mom and pop stores don’t want to take on the risk of (larger) inventories, and I deal mostly with mom and pop stores. It’s all tied to timing. I ship to them shortly before they sell them, so when my bill comes due 30 days later, they’ll have the money.”

Harmony Hollow was founded in Arizona in 1969 by Cross’ brother, Jeff, who died in 1977. Bradley Cross took over the business. Today, Harmony Hollow has three employees.

While Harmony Hollow’s story card bell series commemorates a number of occasions — from weddings to housewarmings to peace — the angel wind bell is the big Christmas holiday hit, Cross said.

While his wind bells are meant for hanging outside, bells are still a natural for Christmas, Cross said. The Christmas movie classic “It’s a Wonderful Life,” which coined the seasonal refrain of “Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings,” is referenced on the gift tag of the Christmas bell, which features a trumpet-sounding angel hovering atop the bell. The red gift tag along with the green patina of the bell lend a Christmas look, Cross said.

In addition to Harmony Hollow’s gift bell series, the company also makes copper wind spinners, wind chimes, garden stakes, large bells that sit on poles, even doorbells.

With dozens of motifs used in bells, chimes and garden stakes — from hummingbirds to Native American petroglyphs — along with 25 different bell sounds, there are a nearly limitless number of possibilities for custom orders. There are five cats, six dogs, 20 choices of birds (from pelicans to peace doves), a Christmas tree and a reindeer design.

And the bells come with a 350-year guarantee, Cross said. That’s how long ago Europeans first brought bells to the New World, he said. 

“The point is," he said, "They don’t break down.”

Janet Miller is a freelance writer and a frequent contributor to AnnArbor.com.