This afternoon I was cleaning, recycling, designing and decorating all at the same time. While cleaning the house gutters, I did some pruning on the large eastern red-cedar tree which lives on our yard (half-way anyway). This tree always has a tendency to load up with ice, so the minor pruning was preventative to keep branches off the shingles later.
Anyway, the bonus was that these nice coniferous trimmings can be made into a decent, if a bit scraggly, wreath.
Here I'm getting the branches trimmed up into shapes that will fit together without looking too weird. I just tied it all together with twine as it shaped up.
The finished product hanging on the house, with bow and lighting upgrade.
When I said I was recycling, I wasn't just talking about re-using the tree trimmings. I figured out right away that the branches I had were far too thin to hold a circular shape when hung from a single point. Remembering I had some old used road tires in the garage, I found a ready-to-use core for the wreath. Additionally, it turned out that I'd unknowingly made the initial wreath shape the exact diameter of the tire so no modifications were needed.
This tire is a
Maxxis Detonator wire-bead size 28C, 310grams. I've also got some Continentals I could try next year, but they are 600grams. I'd hate to reduce wreath performance with extra weight, but the additional puncture protection might be handy.
