Bees, Bugs, Jars and Bustles

Gary’s Fat Bee

(in a jar)

I made this Fat Bee for my partner just 1 month after we started going out together. It was that awkward time of not really knowing what to buy someone because it is still all new and shiny.

I decided to make him this bee instead. It is very similar to what was in my graduation show from college. As you can see I have changed to a coloured wire and also there is more embellishment with glass and seed beads.

Gary and the bee are still knocking around with me over ten years later so I guess I must have done something right.

  

The Shopper Bee

I made this bee for my wonderful boss when I worked at Tokiki in Georges Street Arcade, Dublin. She has moved on to bigger and brighter things but this bee was on display in her small unit while she was there.

I had gotten more confident with my work by then. This bee included texture with bright fibres and yet more beads. She even had a tiny skirt on a tiny wire hanger because the lovely lady behind Tokiki is a fashion designer and she was selling her own creations at her stall.

Bugus Totalus

Bugus Totalus is a weird and colourful creation I came up with after I left college. He has spider’s legs, wings for flying, exuberant antennae and a bright bustle. A bug complete and total with everything a bug could ever want or need. I had moved on from having a wire frame for its body. I was now using hand-felted balls to create the structure. I embellished it with wire legs & wings, seed beads & sequins and felt accents. He is the beginning of what was to become my Threadbare Bug Collection.