Brian brought his own tent awning to use.
When I talked about carving another face on a log hive, I wasn’t sure what I wanted. I had looked at hundreds of google images, wood carvings, even some Northwest totems, but I didn’t see anything that ‘jumped out’ at me. I told Brian and Zada Vorwaller they had done such a great job with Bee Beard that I wanted something along the same lines, but slightly different. Brian suggested a female companion. He said he’d been thinking about how he could accomplish it and was up to the task. I thought for a minute how Bee Beard was one of a kind, but in that role, there was a certain loneliness. It might be good to have a companion…and yes, a female one at that. Little did I know what I was getting myself into.
Brian rolled into my driveway about 10:30 am on a windy, rainy day. He’d brought a tent awning which he set up in the woods not seeming to mind the dead trees swaying above him. We propped up the log and he started feeling out the wood. I held my breath.
After about 15-20 minutes he says “I’m beginning to see her.” I had given him a real challenge. The big chainsaws had dug deep into the wood.
- These deep grooves must be smoothed out. Bees don’t like sharp edges.
When I used my Sa-burr wood grinder to smooth out the chainsaw grooves, it became apparent the wood was ‘thin’ at some points. So I was much relieved that he could visualize the image. He starts to work.
The lines are drawn…it has begun!
Not being an artist, it’s hard for me to understand how a person can visualize an image and then make it appear by sawing parts away.
Slowly taking shape
Carving the mouth
Artist and subject, eye to eye
Sanding the cheeks…give her good cheek bones, Brian!
Sanding the mouth
For eight hours he works, taking a short lunch break, but mostly sawing and sanding, sanding and shaping. A true artist absorbed in his work. Gradually she comes to life, but still has a blank look on her face…
A blank look on her face
then he adds the eye brows and eye lashes and voila…she appears!
The artist is done!
Brian Vorwaller of Artist Extreme, poses in front of his shark carving. It was all carved from one chunk of wood.
The beginning of the log hive.
Preparing Bee-atrice for prime time
Adventures in Natural Beekeeping 