Wednesday 28 September 2016

Bees down the Chimney, and Image Transfer Fun





I have known for a month or two that there was some sort of bee/wasp activity up at the top of our chimney stack. You can see them weaving about in that particular way they have when coming in to land, as it were. About ten or twenty weaving around at any one time. I was hoping it wasn't wasps, as they would make their presence felt around the fruit trees and around our outside dining table a bit too much. And that many wasps coming and going would mean a very big nest. As we were relatively undisturbed by wasps I guessed it was bees. No problem, I like bees. They don't bother us and we don't bother them. Live and let live etc etc.
So I didn't put two and two together when for the past four or five mornings I have found six or seven, very soporific and sad bees in our living room, crawling around the french windows to the garden. I was puzzled. I couldn't work out how they would have got in from outside as they weren't there when I shut the doors up at night. I couldn't locate anywhere in the floor or wall or skirting board etc where they might have come from. Odd. . .
Then my wife heard a faint buzzing coming from the wood burner. Mystery solved. . .
Our chimney is lined. It has a metal tube all the way down it which ends in the back of the wood burner, which is not in use yet and the doors firmly shut. The rest of the chimney space is filled with that insulating foam stuff (I think). I guess one or two bees fly into the top of the tube and fly or fall down all the way to the back or wood burner. From there they manage to find a way out and make a break for the french windows. Not sure what bees do in the winter, but I won't open that door until the weather gets colder just in case.
We should try to dissuade them from nesting up there really. Not least because we need some remedial work done on the flashing round that particular chimney stack, and I don't think a roofer would want to risk disturbing them. I shall consult our friend who keeps bees, he will have some advice I hope.



Anyway, bee issues aside, I have been forging ahead on the bead front. Trying to get image transfers to stop being sticky for long enough to handle them without smudging and getting the ink transferring to my fingers. . . I think I have solved it. I managed to wrap images round a round bead without smudging. Seams were another issue, but there are ways round them too, which I am exploring. I want to make a short tutorial on image transfers and what to do with them. Or at least take you through what I do with them to get the look I get. If I mention it here I might feel honour bound to actually do it. . . ;-)



So I have made a series of image transfer tube beads using somewhat more complex and random digital images of mine. They have turned out quite nicely, allowing that the relative neatness takes some getting used to for me. Never fear, the compulsion to grunge things up is never far away. I just want to know how neat the process can be. That gives me options. I like options. . .
'til next time,
Jon x


6 comments:

  1. First off... the bees. From my own sad experience - get a bee keeper to take your bees away. Poor things are dying off in this world and they don't deserve a harsh ending. What will we do when the bees are gone I wonder....so yes...get a professional to take them....

    Secondly - OMG!!! Your beads are gorgeous!!!!!!Those colours are simply incredible! Well done on these indeed!! 😀 I'm simply stunned at how beautifully the colours go together... I - just - got a laser printer but it's a black and white...I might just regret that now...

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  2. First off... the bees. From my own sad experience - get a bee keeper to take your bees away. Poor things are dying off in this world and they don't deserve a harsh ending. What will we do when the bees are gone I wonder....so yes...get a professional to take them....

    Secondly - OMG!!! Your beads are gorgeous!!!!!!Those colours are simply incredible! Well done on these indeed!! 😀 I'm simply stunned at how beautifully the colours go together... I - just - got a laser printer but it's a black and white...I might just regret that now...

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    Replies
    1. I've done a bit of research into the bees in the chimney and it does seem that there is not a lot to be done about them. They don't cause damage which is a good thing, and they are under threat generally, so I wouldn't have them destroyed. And even if I did have them destroyed the smell of honey would linger, and other bees would just move in. . .and the honey the bees left would be contaminated with insecticide which would then get into the food chain as other bees would steal it and take into their hives etc etc. They are not active when the temperature is low so the work could be done then. They might not survive the winter anyway apparently.
      Bees aside. . Thanks for the kind words about the beads. The colours are somewhat brighter than my usual. I'm glad they seem to work. I looked at colour laser printers online and they are still somewhat expensive so i decided against. I have found a local photocopy place that is very cheap so I'll just use them. . .

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  3. Beautiful beads! Please create the tut for us.

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  4. I agree, such lovely colours and fabulous beads. A tut would be so great!

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  5. Beautiful work. I also loved your story about the bees. I hope they (and you) can manage to work things out!

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