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My friend, Zo, has recently been very intrigued by honeybees and their plight in today's world. For the 2014 Rhody Parade, part of the annual Rhododendron Festival here in Port Townsend, Zo helped organize a group of people to dress as bees. This served as both a celebration of bee-ness and as a way of bringing attention to the dwindling number of honeybees around the world. Honeybees, which have been described as the glue that holds our agricultural system together, have been on the decline due to the use of pesticides and a still unsolved malady called colony collapse disorder. Another issue is that as our farms become monocultures with crops like wheat and corn ... plants that provide little pollen for foraging bees ... honeybees are literally starving to death.
To celebrate spring ... the Rhody parade ... and bees in general, I wanted to make Zo a bee lapel pin. This one is photo etched sterling silver with a tie tac type pin back. A slight 3D effect was achieved by cutting out the bee and soldering it on top of the etched honeycomb.
Because bubbles are a big part of Zo's life and were essential for the bees on parade, a bubble machine was placed inside the hive. In addition, each bee participant was outfitted with wands and good bubble juice. That's Zo being a bee on the far right.
You've just got to love those big pollen pouches Zo sewed onto her hips.
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