One of the perks of my job is undoubtedly the travel. I’ve been fortunate to carve in some stunning places including Canada, the USA, Germany, Italy and most recently, Switzerland. However, it is also a real joy when somebody local commissions a sculpture, and it’s one of those local commissions that I’m sharing in this week’s blog. Keep reading to learn how I made a unique Queen Bee sculpture for North Wales business, Black Mountain Honey.
BLACK MOUNTAIN HONEY
Black Mountain Honey is a family-run business based in the beautiful Nercwys Forest. It began as a hobby when, back in 2015, Laurence and Helen had a somewhat unwelcome visit from a swarm of bees! Ten years later, their focus is selling queens and nucleus colonies alongside the production and sale of honey. They also have a fascinating YouTube channel and Instagram profile focused on education. In fact, credit goes to them for all the photos used in the blog today. They documented me making the sculpture, and I borrowed all the photos from them!
They got in touch with me last year to commission a piece for their property and I was delighted to make them a unique queen bee emerging from a hive.
QUEEN BEE SCULPTURE: FIRST STEPS
The first step for any sculpture is to settle on a design with my client. In this case, we went with a queen bee – a key part of the Black Mountain Honey business. Next comes timber selection – unless the client already has their own, of course! I had a lovely piece of cedar in the workshop that was perfect for this job, so we went with that.
Cedar is actually one of my top wood picks for a sculpture.
First, it’s hard-wearing and the sculpture will be able to withstand the elements. When freshly carved it’s a wonderful, rich, warm reddish-brown and will age to a beautiful silver-grey. It also smells amazing when you carve it! An all-around winner!
CREATING THE QUEEN BEE BODY
Once I’d selected timber and set it up on my workbench, I could start work on the head and body. Before carving, I find plenty of references and mark out my basic outline. Google image searches and Pinterest are great for making sure shapes, movement and proportions are realistic.
In the case of a queen bee, the things that set them apart from worker bees are the elongated abdomen and a wingspan the same length as the body. Even though this queen bee was going to be emerging from a hole and you wouldn’t see the whole body, it was important to me that the shape and proportions were still correct so it was still distinctly a queen.
As with any sculpture, I stopped carving regularly and stepped back to check everything was correct. I also find it very helpful to use touch to check for symmetry and any irregularities. At this stage, I’d used the Stihl MSA300 exclusively. Whilst it isn’t suitable for blocking out sculptures with a diameter greater than 16″, it’s fantastic for pieces this size, both for blocking out and the detail.
DETAILING THE BODY
Next came the detail on the body. Although there were still wings, legs, and antennae to add, I wanted to ensure the whole body was detailed. If I attached those parts and then detailed the complete sculpture, it would be much harder to reach the nooks and crannies where the limbs and wings join the body. For detailing I used a combination of the MSA300, Milwaukee grinders, the Saburrtooth spherical burr, and… a blowtorch!
If you’ve been here a while you’ll know I often prefer to use differing textures or a blowtorch to create colour rather than using paint. Although obviously, it’s ultimately up to my client and what they prefer. In part, it’s for longevity. The British weather isn’t kind to paint! In this case, though, it was as much an aesthetic choice as practical. Using the blowtorch gives a warmer shade and I could burn it deeply before removing some of the burn to reveal highlights. As a bonus, it looks pretty cool in the video too!
TIME FOR THE WINGS
Once the body was detailed and scorched (!) I could add the wings and the legs. After marking out the shapes, I used the saw to cut them out, added texture, and drilled holes so I could attach everything using rods. If you’re curious about how I decide which method to use when attaching pieces, I have a blog all about joints.
The legs were definitely the biggest challenge in this sculpture! I had to carve each segment separately before threading them onto a steel bar so I could bend them into position. It was well worth it though to be able to recreate the natural movement and pose of a queen bee. A bit more texture and work with the blow torch and I was nearly finished…
FINAL STEPS
With legs, wings and antennae attached, there were only a few steps left before this queen bee sculpture was officially finished!
I cut the plinth to size and added a honeycomb textures using the Bosch Nanoblade. And coloured it with the blowtorch, of course! Paul then gave the entire thing a coat of Barrettine ArmourFlex and it was finished! One queen bee sculpture ready for installation at Black Mountain Honey.
FINAL THOUGHTS
And that’s the end of my step-by-step guide to making a queen bee sculpture for Black Mountain Honey!
Hopefully you’ve found it interesting, and maybe I’ve even given you a few tips for creating your own.
This was a fun little piece (especially the challenge of making it look like it was emerging from a hole and getting the facial detail right) and we thoroughly enjoyed having Laurence and Helen visit the studio to document the process. If you’d like to watch the video they made, just keep scrolling. And if you would like to commission your own sculpture, you can fill out the form at www.treecarving.co.uk/contact and I’ll be in touch!
Thank you for reading!