I’ve been able to complete a bit more work on the Bee Flower sculpture. I made a mold of some real bees, using a pliable rubber called Dragon Skin, and cast them in red wax. I was able to pull bee bodies and heads from the molds, but no wings or antenna. The wings and antenna are too delicate to be poured in metal, so it’s something I’ll have to add to the final cast metal sculpture in any case.
The bees come out in wax needing quite a bit of clean up and chasing. It’s a project that’s going to take a long time, I’m estimating around 1.000 to 1,200 bees for one Bee Flower sculpture.
Here are some pictures of one petal in red wax:
The red wax is a little hard to photograph because it’s reflective, but I think this gives a pretty good idea of what it will look like.