Ryn Gargulinski

Creativity on Fire

upcycled goodies

Wheel of the Year: Celtic Calendar with Pagan Holidays

wheel of year

Dang Celtic catalog.

As with most folks, I end up on a bazillion mailing lists and receive about 46 pounds of printed catalogs every week. Some I recycle without thinking, but something made me look through the Celtic catalog of goodies.

And now I’m hooked.

While I have yet to actually buy anything from the specific company that sent the catalog, I feel in love with several items — like the crystal ball, a delicious leather carrying pouch, and the Wheel of the Year.

Wheel of the Year Explained

The Wheel of the Year is a calendar that depicts the four Celtic fire festivals/holidays, with the two solstices and equinoxes.

  • Samhain: Oct. 31
  • YULE: Dec. 21, Winter solstice
  • Imbolc: Feb. 1 (or 2)
  • OSTARA: March 21, Spring equinox
  • Beltane: May 1
  • LITHA: June 21, Summer solstice
  • Lughnasad: Aug. 1
  • MABON: Sept. 21, Fall equinox

You can clearly see the link to holidays like Halloween, Easter, May Day and even Groundhog Day, especially if you like Imbolc being on Feb. 2 instead of Feb. 1.

A variety of Wheel of the Year versions are all for sale all over the web, but none had the exact je ne sais quoi for which I was searching. So I made my own.
wheelyr2-sm

wheelyr3-sm

Materials:

  • Antique steel wagon wheel found on eBay
  • Sheet metal
  • Wire and glue
  • Paint, paint and more paint: Matte black, hammered black, hammered copper, aluminum and hammered silver, and paint markers in black, white, metallic gold and silver.

wheelyr5-sm

Love the style? Check out more rynski artski on Etsy.

Creepy Crawly Crab: Upcycled Sink Wacky Yard Art

Add a bright red splash of funky color and fun to your yard with this creepy crawly crab, made from an upcycled bathroom sink.

Lightweight metal sink is graced with cheery cherry red paint, two cut-out metal eyes, two sets of scampering metal legs and one big, fat claw made from an upcycled pair of tongs.

Weatherproof for indoor and outdoor use, additional features include small holes drilled in the basin so water can drain instead of collect and help mosquitoes breed and stench build up.

See? This crabby guy thinks of everything. Crabby metal sink measures approximately 24 inches wide by 20 inches long by 12 inches deep. Metal held in place by strategic bending and clamping, so he can be disassembled for easy transport – just in case you want to take it to your mother-in-law’s house or something.

SOLD!!! to a lucky woman in Georgia – thank you!

Much thanks to Deb’s neighbor Rose who generously donated the sink while wondering what the heck I’d end up doing with it.

Want custom art or a different piece of crabby work? E-mail inquiries and requests to ryngargulinski@hotmail.com

Snake Hiss Upcycled Art Collage: Harry Belafonte Album Back Cover

Coil your brain around this imaginative and creative Snake Hiss collage created from the back of a Harry Belafonte album cover.

The Snake Hiss College is part of a series of art created for the Bookmans Green Fest upcycled art contest. Artists were asked to come up with works using discarded books, CDs, record albums and other miscellaneous debris from the store’s recycle bin.

For some reason there were several Harry Belafonte albums in there. We know he would be proud of the masterpieces he has become.

The total collage set stands at five: Bumblebee Buzz, Moo Cow, Cat Meow, Dog Bark and Snake Hiss. The only one that did not use a Belafonte front or back album cover as the base was Moo Cow, which instead used the soundtrack album of some musical I have since forgotten.

Paint, CD parts, glue, lettering from book covers complete the handmade works, each containing a lot of creativity and a little bit of love.

It’s hard to love a Calypso face too much, after all.

Each collage comes framed in a special record album frame, metal with a clear, thick plastic front, which fits the exact dimensions of the album size of 12 inches square.

Love it?

Buy it on Etsy.

Want a lizard instead or other custom art? E-mail inquiries and requests to ryngargulinski@hotmail.com.

Moo Cow Collage: Upcycled Album Cover

Don’t wait until the cows come home to add this stunning Moo Cow collage to your home décor collection, an original piece of upcycled art created from an recycled album cover.

The Moo Cow College is part of a series of art created for the Bookmans Green Fest upcycled art contest. Artists were asked to come up with works using discarded books, CDs, record albums and other miscellaneous debris from the store’s recycle bin.

For some reason there were several Harry Belafonte albums in there. We know he would be proud of the masterpieces he has become.

The total collage set stands at five: Bumblebee Buzz, Moo Cow, Cat Meow, Dog Bark and Snake Hiss. The only one that did not use a Belafonte front or back album cover as the base was Moo Cow, which instead used the soundtrack album of some musical I have since forgotten.

Paint, CD parts, glue, lettering from book covers complete the handmade works, each containing a lot of creativity and a little bit of love.

It’s hard to love a Calypso face too much, after all.

Each collage comes framed in a special record album frame, metal with a clear, thick plastic front, which fits the exact dimensions of the album size of 12 inches square.

Buy on Etsy

Cat Meow: Upcycled Cat Collage from Harry Belafonte Album Cover

Capture you or your friend’s love of cats with this captivating collage made from a Harry Belafonte album cover.

The Cat Meow College is part of a series of art created for the Bookmans Green Fest upcycled art contest. Artists were asked to come up with works using discarded books, CDs, record albums and other miscellaneous debris from the store’s recycle bin.

For some reason there were several Harry Belafonte albums in there. We know he would be proud of the masterpieces he has become.

The total collage set stands at five: Bumblebee Buzz, Moo Cow, Cat Meow, Dog Bark and Snake Hiss. The only one that did not use a Belafonte front or back album cover as the base was Moo Cow, which instead used the soundtrack album of some musical I have since forgotten.

Paint, CD parts, glue, lettering from book covers complete the handmade works, each containing a lot of creativity and a little bit of love.

It’s hard to love a Calypso face too much, after all.

Each collage comes framed in a special record album frame, metal with a clear, thick plastic front, which fits the exact dimensions of the album size of 12 inches square.

Buy now on Etsy.

Bark Dog Collage: Harry Belafonte Upcycled Art

Bark until you drop – or until your neighbors complain – with this striking collage that was once a Harry Belafonte album back cover.

The Dog Bark College is part of a series of art created for the Bookmans Green Fest upcycled art contest. Artists were asked to come up with works using discarded books, CDs, record albums and other miscellaneous debris from the store’s recycle bin.

For some reason there were several Harry Belafonte albums in there. We know he would be proud of the masterpieces he has become.

The total collage set stands at five: Bumblebee Buzz, Moo Cow, Cat Meow, Dog Bark and Snake Hiss. The only one that did not use a Belafonte front or back album cover as the base was Moo Cow, which instead used the soundtrack album of some musical I have since forgotten.

Paint, CD parts, glue, lettering from book covers complete the handmade works, each containing a lot of creativity and a little bit of love.

It’s hard to love a Calypso face too much, after all.

Each collage comes framed in a special record album frame, metal with a clear, thick plastic front, which fits the exact dimensions of the album size of 12 inches square.

Buy now on Etsy.

Want a custom collage or artwork? E-mail inquiries and requests to ryngargulinski@hotmail.com