This week's project and the subject of my first blog is called Baby Moon. At my shop we sell tires. That means we accumulate many, many used and worn out tires.
Disposing of these critters is expensive and in my opinion, wasteful. There ought to be something we can do with them...
Looking at the finished product I admit this is not what I originally envisioned. I had first thought of a man cave/motorcycle type of thing which would be black and chrome studded, kind of a leather themed tough guy thing. But as I began cutting and piecing it together it morphed into a retro whitewall/sunflower mirror for the home or garden. So use your imagination. You never know what will spring out of it!
To do this you will need a sharp knife and a can of elbow grease (industrial strength). Begin by finding a used tire with tall sidewalls like a 225-75-15. Then take your sharp knife and cut the sidewall out of the tire right at the point where the tread joins. This is the part requiring the extra-strength elbow grease. Women, ask a man whose fingers you do not particularly value to do this for you! Then do it to three more sidewalls and cut off the "bead" or part that seals against the wheel because you are going to need to make smaller rows of petals out of them.
Cut slits around toward the center to make the flower petals. I chose to mount mine to a premade round table-top from a building supply center although I think it would be nice to make a square panel from pallet wood to mount it on after painting it. After attaching the large outer ring to the round back with roofing nails I then added three more inner rings, progressively smaller, cut from the remaining 3 sidewalls. I then painted it with multiple colors of chalk paint and sealed it with polyurethane. For the mirror/hubcap I chose a 8" convex truck mirror and attached it to the backboard with epoxy. While it will withstand years of outdoor weather this looks equally good placed in a garden, porch or indoors. These are for sale through my Etsy store BarrettJacobs for $200 plus shipping. Have a great 4th of July! (I might want to try making one in Red, White and Blue!)
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