Christmas DIY;; Bike Wheel Wreath!

Hey guys!

So the other day I was walking home from a walk with a friend, and I saw this poor old bike just sitting on the side of the road, with its tire just sitting on top of it, stripped bare, right down to the metal and spokes. For some reason I instantly fell in love with it, picked it up and walked it home.

A few days later, I got this brilliant idea to make it into a Christmas wreath!! Look what I made, I love how it turned out!

I felt like leaving the spokes out gave it more of a shabby-chic, trash-to-treasure look. I simply adore it. Click on for a step by step tutorial...

You will need:

-A bike or small wheel (obviously)

-4-5 spools of wired ribbon

-2 spools of organza ribbon (not req'd, but I used it)

-1 box of sandwich bags (I know right?)

-Various ornaments

-Fishing line or some kind of string

-Clip on flowers

-1 tinsel garland

-1 Silver paint pen

So this is the tire that I found at the side of the road. I love it because it's one of those original style tires with all the spokes and the metal track... it's a perfect base for a wreath, don't you think?

Once I got it home, I took some paper towel and wiped off all of the surface dirt and stuff, then got it into the bath tub, sprayed it with a degreaser and let it sit for about twenty minutes before giving it a good scrub down.

I started off by cutting about 25 cm (10")  to 35 cm (14") lengths of various types of ribbon and tying them on at random around the perimeter of the tire to create the look of a wreath with an open centre. I also cut up plastic sandwich bags into strips and tied them on to add texture, shine and to help fill in the bare spots.

My roommate brought home a blue tinsel garland, and as soon as I held it up to the bike tire, I knew it had to go around the outside in the tire track. It was the perfect addition. You can see the bike tire begin to fill out with more ribbon as well...

Next, I took my string, knotted the end and strung on a whole bunch of random blue, silver and white orbs to make the big cluster to go in the corner. It was pretty easy to secure, and if you were to use fishing line (like I didn't, but should have) it would even show if you took some extra lengths and secured the cluster in multiple points to the spokes.

After some more adding ribbon and evening everything out, I added the clip on flowers. I looked at it, and upon some input from my roommates, I decided to take a metallic silver paint pen and paint over the centre mechanisms and spokes to give it a cleaner look. I must say, it finished the entire thing and now I feel it looks truly awesome.

And you're done!

I really enjoyed creating this piece. If you know someone who loves biking and access to wheels, this would be a perfect gift idea for Christmas!

Thanks much for tuning in, and until next time, stay polished! 
Much love,
Dylan