The Queen Bee

Two views of "The Queen Bee"

The Queen Bee - made with bronze metal clay. First I cast the bee and attached it to a 2 piece background with bezel, then I rolled out a really long snake, wrapped the entire piece to make the bail and bottom loop and then added the little bronze balls. It was then kiln fired, tumbled, dremel'ed (is that a word?) and then torch patina'd. Then I added a big fat Swarovski galactic crystal to look like a huge drop of gooey honey. It hangs from a suede cord with a hand made hammered hook and eye made from copper wire. Yummy!

This was a fun piece to make because it actually went well! Getting all the detail carved out of the bee was not easy. Actually I had to do it twice before I was happy with it. But all the rest of the construction went very well. Rolling out that snake made me really happy because I got it on the first try and it fit perfectly. 

I wanted to enter this into a challenge from Humblebeads. The theme was bees. And here I was with a big fat bee just waiting to be fired. I wanted to tie it to typical bee activity - like making honey! And what could be better than finding a big fat Swarovski crystal in my stash?