The Beeswax Art of Penelope Stewart

This stuff is amazing -

http://canadianartjunkie.com/2013/02/22/the-beeswax-architecture-of-penelope-stewart/

All Sprued Up

 BAMS: MEDAL 

Here you can see my medal all sprued up, The red wax around the edge is what the metal will travel round when its cast. The more sprues the better.

looks a little bit like a love heart.

I had to add wax to the underside of the bees to try and insure that they will come out when I cast them. 

It a little messy. But hopefully it I will be able to neaten it once its cast.

The black stuff at the bottom is also wax - its a softer version.

BAMS: British Art Medal Society

So for my project im creating a medal for BAM (http://www.bams.org.uk/default.php).
there are a number of guide lines but basically you can do a medal on a subject of your choice.
I chose the save the bees campaign and all the bee related work you have seen so far, has been for this project.

Today I finished my the master for my medal -

so one side is the man rolled honey comb shape which is used as a foudation for bee keepers and is made out of natural wax. This time I decided to put the bees legs apart in order to make them look more alive - this was not easy.

this is the other side of the medal - its natural honey comb made by bees. I purposely crumbled some of the honey comb so that it has a distressed feel to it

(the bees - my mum keeps bees and these ones you see here were unfortunately killed off by the frost earlier this year) 

Honey Comb Close up

So amazing to think that this was all created by little bees. 

I love the edge of honey comb. You can really see how the comb is angled so that the honey doesnt drip out and how the cells are placed to give the comb strength. 

Time for her close up!

Finally some close ups! 

This was before I polished them.

 Im seriously obsessed with how well its come out and all the details you can see when you have a closer look.

Bee and Honey Comb

Just a quick idea of what my final medal piece might look like. 

Honey comb attempt 3

This is my 3rd attempt at honey comb casting. 

It didn't rise as much as I wanted to, but I quite like the effect that its had. 

The decayed look fits in perfectly with my save the bees project.

You can also see through to the other side of the honey comb and can see where I filled the other side with wax.

I also coated this in a layer of ammonia powder to give it a darker colouring.

Polished bee

Finished polishing my bee today.

Harry Potter Ring

Harry Potter

Made this for my friend.

Bee on a tree

Im a little bit in love/obsessed with my bee!

Todays Bee cast

So excited about how this turned out!

All the wings came out and there is the texture of the original wings on the bottom. next time i cast it ill attach the wax to the underside so that the pattern appears on the top, 

One of the antenna came out perfectly!

The legs and under side also came out exactly how I wanted. In this photo you can see the pattern on the underside of the wing.

I still need to polish this little lady up! 

 photos to follow

My favorite part of casting

This is how you remove the plaster mold  from the metal inside without damaging the piece inside.

You need to wait 10 minutes for the metal to cool.

The colour of the metal should go from red to a dull grey. 

It will still be super super hot! - do not touch!

Then you need to dunk it in water, whilst moving it from side to side - but be careful not to let your work slip out.

Such a good sound! Watch out for the stream!

Twig ring.

This piece is meant to mimic a twig or stick.

 Imitating the wood pattern you find in branches or twigs.