Bee Cane Challenge

My friend of 47 yrs, Leslie B. Bohm, and I challenged each other to make a Bee Cane. No specifications other than that. Any kind of bee, realistic, cartoony...anything. No size limits on the original cane either or the ending size.
We both had the months of Jan. and Feb. to complete our canes. The deadline being March 1st.

Here is my progress:
The first is the photograph of Leslie's I used under the 6" plexiglass/acrylic plate.
I build up from the plate.

 I made some skinner blends to use in the body.

 

 Then I started building.

 I used lots of extruded ropes in white, pearl, black and yellow.

 I made a blend I forgot to photograph using some red and orange with gold metallic.

 



 I also made a Black Gold Metallic and a Black/white Pearl mix.
I used all the colors I blended in other colors I used. I had almost no scrap from constructing the Bee.
I just kept mixing the colors together and using them in the Bee.

 

 I made wings using transparent and white mixed, lined with a dark gold metallic with some black.

 

 I think he looks pretty good at this stage. I started adding the white/trans mix to fill in and get it round and ready to reduce.

At this point the Bee weighted in at 3.9 lbs!! Dimensions were: almost 6" wide X 3" high.





 

I started reducing.

 



 

Most of the white background squished out. I kept cutting it off to avoid having a bunch of polluted white/trans. The scrap weighed about 2 lbs. leaving about 1.5 lbs of cane.

 



The cane is about 3" in diameter and starting to get distorted. The head distorted badly and he lost his antenae. I will try to take more pics of the reduced canes.

 

If I were to make this again, I would make a 3" cane instead of 6". I think I could still get the detail I want with less distortion.

I played with some of the scrap. I made some sheets and covered a few tins. One I sent to Leslie with her birthday box. She will get to open it until March 1st.

This first lizard tail.  Love Julie Picarello's Lizard Tails. I think this one looks very "I dream of Jeanie".  I kept making them and putting them around a cocoa can. I had covered the can with "mud" at least a year ago. It had been waiting to be decorated for too long. I still have not baked it. I will soon.

 

I will post more pics after the "unveiling" when Leslie gets to see pictures of the cane. This will not be posted until she and I exchange photos of our Bees. This was fun!  I encourage you to challenge your friends and see what happens.

 

Bee Challenge Con't

I made a tissue box cover. My first box of this size. Hard to get it to hold together during construction. I had to patch it at the corners and seams. Not sure what I learned but I am going to try another one.

 

                                                     

We have tissue boxes in each bathroom, bedroom, living room and my studio. So, I will get lots of practice! I want to get better at boxes.