Buzz-z-z-z-z-z-z!

OK...here is a little bee for you. As I said in my last post, he (OOPS! I made it a she!) can be made any size you want her to be just by taking her to a copy machine and enlarging or reducing her to the size you need. I made her about 10" long and made her out of 1"x5" lumber, but I plan to make her small enough to be a plant poke for the ladies on my visiting teaching beat. It's all up to you and what you want to use her for. I haven't learned how to make a PDF file yet, but if you right click on the bee, go to Save Picture As and save it to your documents, then you can print it out and make it the size you want.

Cut her out using a jigsaw or scroll saw, or if you're lucky enough to have a bandsaw, that's good too. Sand her smooth and make sure you get her edges good, too. You can use a file to take some of the edge off if you like the primitive look. Now she gets painted. She is yellow and black, of course, but she could be red and black if you want her to be a lady bug, or any other color you like. After the paint is dry, rub her with a piece of brown paper bag. This will take the nap off the paint and give her a smooth finish. You can varnish her or spray her with acrylic spray if you want, but it's not necessary. Paint her feet/shoes, too. I painted mine as high heels, but they could be tennis shoes or whatever.

Her wings are made of window screen. If you are using the metal type, cut two wing pieces, because only one layer is needed to stay up, but if you use the nylon screen you find everywhere now, you will need four wing pieces because you will need two layers to make it stiff enough to stay up. Otherwise, her wings will flop over onto her body. Do a blanket stitch or binding stitch around the edges to keep the two layers together, and make a little tack stitch where the wings overlap.

Now it's time to finish her. Drill two little tiny holes the size of the wire into the top of the head where the antennae go and into the tops of the feet. Drill two holes just a little bigger that the wire through the body where the legs go. You will need some baling wire, two pieces 8" long and two pieces 5" long. Wrap the two 5" wires around a pencil or small dowel. Glue one end of each wire into one of the holes on the head and glue little pom-poms to the other ends. The other two wires are her legs. Using a pair of needle-nose pliers, curl one end of each wire into a curlyQ. Put the wires through the holes at the bottom of the body, with the curlyQ on the front of the body. Bend the wires in back down towards the bottom of the bee and wrap them around a pencil or dowel, forming her legs. Glue the wires into the holes in the feet. Staple the wings to the back of her body, and there you have her. Just the cutest little bee ever!

The last finishing touches are according to what you will be using her for. If she will hang on a door or wall, she will need a hanger on the back. If she will go in a plant or garden, she will need a hole drilled between the leg holes for a wooden dowel. She would also make a cute key chain fob, or a pin. (If you plan to make pins, I would suggest you use thinner wood so she won't be so bulky.)

Enjoy yourself and just have fun with these little bees. May your bees all buzz and your socks all match! Gramma G