Honey Bee Day - Dawn Heald

Morning everyone,

First of all, sorry I was so late getting the post

published yesterday.  It was all scheduled 

to go on time but I obviously did not press

the last button for it to go and didn't realise
until later in the day. 

Secondly, I would like to welcome all our new 

followers who have joined us.....1518 

whoop whoop, that is the most so far this year.

Hope you are all enjoying the Blog.

Ok, so today we are again featuring 
National Honey Bee Day
and it is Dawn's turn to show us what she has
been up to.....

It's a real treat too......

Dawn says -

Hello, this week for our topic I've gone all summery

 and 3d. I've made a quirky style honey bee.

 Named as Berty Bee. I like honey and look

 forward to be able to taste it straight from the comb

 one day.

Top tip -

A word on paper clay. If you haven't used it before

 I highly recommend it. I've used it for all sorts with molds,

 shape cutters and free hand. You can easily cut it

 before or after its dry.

Now as I tend to mess a lot being miss perfectionist, if 

I feel it's drying out I wet my hands lightly and carry

 on. Do let us know if you make anything with clay.

 We would love to see what you have done.

To make this -

Pull off a handful of clay and colour yellow with some

 paint. Split into to two pieces one larger than the other.

 Also have two small bits to use later.

I shaped it all in my hands. Starting with larger piece 

roll into a ball and then bring the outside edge of

 your palms together and continue to roll back

 and forth.

 This will give a cone or egg shape.

 Press thumb into neck end to squash and make a

 crater for the head.

 Roll the second piece into a ball and press onto neck

 end of first piece. Smooth the joins together even

 a paintbrush handle will do this job. Then roll out a

 log to wrap around neck to neaten. At this point I 

pressed two wooden skewers into the bottom.

 Make a small pointy cone and Mold it to the tail

 end for the stingy thing. Make a face into the clay

 however you fancy. It can be simple a mouth

 pressed in and add eyes with beads also works.

Paint over a layer of yellow acrylic paint let dry

 then apply a thin layer of yellow embossing paste

 and pat all over with a paintbrush to make

 a furry texture.

 When dry paint black stripes.

To make the wings stamp the top wings of the

 butterfly stamp onto some plastic packaging

 or acetate using black Stazon.

 Let dry, cut out then cover the reverse with glitter

 glue. The antennae are cut free hand and painted.

 When dry curl the plastic shapes by applying some 

heat I do it over the toaster just ad careful. 

Use g craft knife and cut slits into the bed where

 you want the wings and antennae to go. 

Put some glue onto ends of plastic pieces

 and push in. This was easy to do.

For decoration, remove skewers from bee, wrap

 with masking tape and paint black. When dry,

 drop some glue into the hole underneath and

 reinsert the skewers. You now have a stable

 handle  for your bee. 

Stamp, colour and cut out two Jofy flowers.

 Take a round, doily pointy or similar die cut shape.

 Score in half then turn score half again, I made

 ten sections. Alternate valley and mountain

 folds push together and it will look like 

am umbrella.

Cut or punch hole in centres and push onto 

black handle up near the bee then push on

 a black folded die cut shape. Put some glue

 underneath and leave to dry upside down.

I decorated it with Sequins. You can use anything

 to hand like gems. It'll sparkle in the sunlight.

I'd love to know what you think.

Isn't that amazing???

Love that little face!

So if you want to have ago this is what you'll need...

Products used -

Tim Holtz Perspective Stamp Set 

PaperArtsy JOFY 36 Stamp Set

Paper Clay

Acrylic Paint - Yellow, Black

Stickles Glitter Glue - Stardust and Gold 

Cosmic Shimmer Clear Glue 

Jet Black Stazon Ink

Alcohol Pens

Masking, Low Tack or Washi Tape

From own stash - Sequins,

 two wooden skewers,

 odd die cut shapes,

 Plastic packaging from Sizzix die

That's another top tip.....always keep plastic
packaging, great for diecutting, a palette for mixing 
ink, paints, glue etc.  I always keep mine!

Well that's it for today, hope you have enjoyed
our bee posts, let us know what you think!

See you tomorrow for our new challenge...
hmm wonder what we shall have next week??

Jane x