Beeswax Flowers

As well as candles, soaps, paintings in beeswax, I've recently started making flowers out of beeswax. I thought you might like to know how they're done, so...

First get the wax. I'm going to make yellow roses. The beeswax I'm going to use is already a lovely yellow colour so there's no need to die it. For a different coloured rose, or if my wax was not such a good flower colour, I would.

The petals are cut from thin sheets of wax. These are made by pouring molten wax onto a wet sheet of plywood.



I need yellow for the petals



and green for the leaves.

Next I prepare the stalk.

 This is florists wire with a little cotton wool on the end. The cotton wool is dipped into molten wax. The petals will attached securely to this. The wire is then coated in florists tape.

The centre petals are a little different to the rest. Look how they curl.

 Each rose needs at least 8 petals cut out.

They're individually shaped and then curled around the centre petal one by one. Shaping and firmly attaching to the stem needs warm hands. At this stage they really begin to look like roses.

Now the leaves. A smaller piece of wire is prepared to take the leaves, which are cut out of double thickness wax. The double thickness is so that the wire can fit between them and hold them securely.

Once individual leaves are attached, they need marking with veins and the edges serrating.

The calyx and rosehip of the rose are made from the sheets of green wax and placed just behind the rose head before the leaves are attached using florists tape, giving the final result.

Once made, the roses are quite robust. They need only avoid extremes of temperature.

It's time consuming and quite fiddly to make each rose. While it's possible to make them for weddings I suggest you contact a wedding planner like Tillyboo Events for an alternative.

Neonicotinoid pesticides and honey bees

Just recently I've heard a lot about neonicotinoids and the effects they are having on honey bees and other insects. People tell me how outraged they are that they have not been banned in the UK yet. Today I was approached by several people wanting to share how much they support beekeepers, like myself, by wanting to demand a ban on neonicotinoids. These are good people, caring people but people misled by media hype and political tacticians.

There is no conclusive evidence that neonicotinoids used as pesticides kill bees. More research is being carried out but if they really were as bad as the media made out, surely the scientists would have noticed? Or beekeepers would have conclusive proof instead of anecdotal? The Chemicals Regulation Directorate are concerned about the plight of insects and do much to ensure that bee are not harmed.  They would never have allowed the use of neonicotinoids if they were as harmful as the media have recently been suggesting.

What would happen if neonicotinoids were banned? People need food. There are more of us to be fed and less farmed land. There is also a demand for food to be cheap. Without pesticides more people would starve and food prices would soar. It's not a realistic idea. Neonicotinoids may be banned in the future if the ongoing research proves they are as dangerous as the media would have us believe.  If they were banned, what would be used instead? They are certainly not as dangerous to bees as some of the pesticides used in the past. Would we have to return to using those?

Regulation of pesticides is a complex business. No only the product but the way the product is used is regulated. On most farms, specialists are contracted to do the job. In Nottinghamshire, where I live, beekeepers have an excellent relationship with farm spray contractors, via the Nottinghamshire Beekeepers Spray Liaison Officer, a beekeeper in a voluntary role that spray contractors contact in advance if there is any danger of bees being harmed by there activities. Harm is minimised by spray contractors working very early in a morning or late at night when flying insects (like bees) are not about.

Does the average gardener take that much care when spraying pesticides on their flowers? A few do, but not many.  The average gardener can also buy much more dangerous pesticides to use in their gardens than can be used on farm crops.

The number of bees of all kinds has been in decline over the last few years. People need to be concerned. The media are doing a good job highlighting the decline. The reasons for the decline are still not fully understood. More research is needed. The media is not doing a good job of telling people this.

If you are concerned about the effects of pesticides on bees and want to write to the government about your concerns, ask for more research, not a ban on a product that may be much safer to bees than any alternative. Think what's in your own garden shed and that of your neighbours. Think about the time of day you or you neighbours use pesticides in your garden.

For more honey bee information go to www.bbka.org. Their 'Adopt a beehive' scheme raises money for research and training.

A couple of my bees foraging yesterday.