Love that garden art, Bonnie. Very creative what you did with the old tools, the bottles and the orbs.

I love the way the glass plates on the bicycle wheels look. Very pretty!

Thank you! It can all be done so easily and cheaply. The best part is it keeps our landfills from growing so rapidly, it is inexpensive and fun and your garden art is uniquely individual. I have heard it said that one mans trash is another mans treasure. Well, that fits me. My favorite shopping place, other than anywhere that sells plants or plant related items, is the scrap metal yard. smiles

I also loved the plates on the bike wheels, what a neat piece of garden art !

Beautiful, creative, very artistic.
My favorite is the bottles threaded onto the bike wheel spokes.

I collect bottles when out walking the dog; the green and the blue bottles go into the garden, other colors go into the recycling bin.

I salute you Greene for picking up discarded bottles while walking the dog. Some of my bottles are from the roadside I gathered on early morning excursions with a gardening friend. if you live in an area where there is a flea market or thrift shop check to see if they would like to have the bottles you do not want to keep. smiles

Great ideas, Bonnie. I especially like the bicycle wheels. Thank you for the article!

Most of us are in agreement, your bicycle wheels are fantastic.

Yes.

I, too, like the bicycle wheel art. I also like the concrete orbs! I can imagine decorating them by painting them. Maybe turn them into ladybugs or some other garden critter!

Thank you for the positive comments. Yard art is not for everyone and that is great as our differences are what keep us interesting.

The wheels are sooooo easy. Make one and let me see it.

And Becky you can line the glass globe with marbles or flat stones and have a very unique orb. I have also mixed paint with the concrete and created some blue and green ones. If you have a sectioned plastic snack tray shaped like a flower or butterfly use it to put the bits of extra concrete in. when it hardens turn your stone art out and enjoy.

I have things here I can use for a variation on the concrete and plan to try it out when the weather cools down.

Thanks, Bonnie! Some more awesome concrete ideas!

we will want to see pictures, Debra. It is so hard to get an idea and yet the weather not to allow you outdoors to create your art. That is one of the reasons for the wheels. Bike shops need to get rid of them and you can get them for nothing. I have even had groups of gardeners in my home during the winter (and my house is small but once we start learning how to make something beautiful no one notices) and taught them how to take the spokes off without breaking them and how to insert the glass. They go home with something beautiful for their garden, the desire to make more and the knowledge that making something out of 'junk' is not tacky but good for the environment.

I like your garden art the bicycle wheel is a unique idea. I also collect garden art and swap it out from year to year. Several items stay out year round they are two bottle trees my DH made, on the large one we put blue wine bottles, the smaller one has green bottles.

They sound lovely Betty. Homemade bottle trees are the very best. Do you have photos?

Bonnie I never took pictures. Maybe next year I will get around to it nursing a sciatic nerve problem so no picture taking for me.

So how DO you take the spokes off without breaking them? That's where I got stuck. I want so much to make one of these for my daughter who is riding in the 50K Tour de Cure in Colorado next month. It would look fabulous attached to her garden gate, or on her white picket fence!
I plan to go garage saling next Thursday, and I'm coming home with colorful glass plates! Thanks so much for showing us your wonderful projects!

Good question Cindi. The spokes remain stationary and fit through a tiny hole in the rim. A little screw with a tube is threaded over the spoke and tightened. Hold the spoke with a pair of pliers but not to near the rim and use a screwdriver to take the little screw off. Buy flat plates and small pieces of glass to wedge the plates and to fill in the gaps. You can layer plates if you have a plain colored one with a clear one that has a floral or snowflake pattern. You do not need to take many spokes off. I loosen most of them and then take the screws off of three on the same side that are right together. Than I place one plate up and slide it around to the far side. I place the next plate face down and slide it tightly against the first plate. This will allow them to overlap and keep them from moving about. Then I replace the three spokes using the screws I removed. I then turn the wheel and tighten each spoke a little until all are secure. Spokes on most wheels will bend a little allowing you more glass options. If you find any glass lids of old sugar bowls or butter dishes with little knobs on them they look lovely with the knobs sticking out between the spokes. Once you get started you will have fun and be looking for colored glass everywhere you go. Look for saucer sizes as large plates are not the best. If you get started and have trouble send me a treemail and I will respond and we will make a plate wheel. smiles

Thank you! Great instructions!