A self-proclaimed womble from Crieff has been making clocks and trees from her husband’s used cycle wheels.
Beth McDowall also turns carpenters’ planes into lamps, makes keyrings from inner tubes and creates hooks out of golf clubs.
The 48-year-old began upcycling four years ago after spending 25 years as an NHSÂ occupational therapist.
“Wombles of Wimbledon was my favourite programme when I was younger,” Beth said.
“They would go out at night and pick up the rubbish that everyone else would throw away and make it into new things.
“And that’s my inspiration. I am a womble. That’s what I do.”
Saved from the bin
Bar a few years in New Zealand and Glasgow, Beth has always lived in Innerpeffray, four miles from Crieff.
She worked for Remake in Crieff, where materials are reused for the benefit of the community.
“So instead of putting their rubbish in the bin they would put it in our container and we would try to make crafts out of it,” Beth said.
Trees from wire
Beth’s husband Guy is a keen cyclist works as Scotland’s sales manager for Continental Tyres, giving her ample opportunity to upcycle.
“He has a lot of bike bits hanging about and he is a great source of rubbish so instead of tossing it into landfill it’s much better to make some stuff out of it,” she said.
On a practical level, many of her base materials need cleaning and preparing before being re-used, such as stripping copper wire out of old electrical cables and de-greasing bicycle wheels.
When ready to be creatively used, Beth uses the wire sculpturally to create a piece of wall art depicting trees within a bike wheel as a frame, or clocks, or a vintage piece of kitchenware as a lamp base, unwanted cutlery as a set of hooks or a piece of waste wood crafted into a candleholder.
The edges of the clocks and trees are made from bike rims, sourced from her husband as well as Stirling’s Recyke-A-Bike.
Her vintage lamps are created using apprentice carpenters’ discarded planes.
Ten per week
Beth sells her work online as well as at the Perth and Pitlochry markets.
On average she shifts 10 copies of her most popular wall-hanging, a copper-clad tree inside a used wheel, every week.
“We live in a society where we are too good at throwing things away so it is better to make things out of other things so there is no such thing as waste,” she says.
First open studios
Beth works from her workshop at home and uses the name The Treecycler.
She is part of the Perthshire Artisans network that creates handmade arts and crafts in the local area.
The group’s professional creatives or makers have been recognised and selected by an independent creative panel for their ‘exceptional talent in crafting a product or service’.
She is also one of 25 artists who will showcase their work in the first Comrie Open Studios, which takes place between September 8 and 12.
A diverse range of work will be on show, including fine art, mosaics, printmaking, ceramics, illustration, woodwork, jewellery, photography and textiles.
It will also offer the opportunity to meet the makers behind the work and support local artists.
Click here for Beth’s online shop
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