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Honeybee Pendant Commission

September 18, 2019

A bespoke three dimensional honey bee pendant handmade by Irish Designer Elena Brennan.
Recently I  was asked to create a Bee Pendant, by a lovely lady, for her granddaughter who is currently studying Bees at doctorate level in University.
Starting to sketch the initial idea, I knew I needed to be very exact in my creation, so I kept as faithfully as possible to a photo I picked of a beautiful honey bee. 

 

Sketching the initial design concept for the honeybee pendant commission.

 

After receiving the stamp of approval for my design I got to work in the studio. 

 

Handcrafting the Honeybee pendant to life in the Elena Brennan Jewellery studio!

 

Getting started adding the honeybee's features.

 

I wanted it to be more 3d than 2d, but not too bulky that would make it difficult to wear. So I started with cutting the body shape out of sterling silver, shaped it with files, saw and sandpiper. 
I decided a mix of 14ct gold and silver would look well. Next I carved it's legs from gold. They were so fiddly and delicate. The eye and the pincers were also gold.
A bee has beautiful translucent double wings, so I just made simple outline wire ones, as the piece was too small to create anything complicated.
The challenge with so many solder joints in such a small space but  with a lot of patience and taking my tim,  it all came together beautifully and I was very happy with the outcome. I counted 25 solder joints on the whole piece. 

 

 

Handcrafting the honeybee pendant in the studio.

 

A closer look at the size of the Honey Bee Pendant, on Elena's fingers for scale.

 

The Honey Bee Pendant was an intricate bespoke piece

The student was really delighted loved her new piece of bespoke jewellery and she was very happy with the anatomical detail. 

An heirloom to pass down to her children in years to come.

 

A happy customer with her bespoke honeybee pendant!

Hi Elena,  

Just emailing to say thank you for the beautiful honeybee necklace. My granny asked you to make it for me for my 23rd birthday as I had just started my PhD into researching native bees in Ireland in October gone. The detail of the honeybee is lovely (and morphologically accurate!), I absolutely love it (I almost too afraid to wear it - for special occasions only).

Thank you so much again!! 

M

 

The bespoke honeybee pendant having fun in the garden before going to his forever home! 

If you would like to begin creating your special piece you can get in touch and I am happy to help! You can see more pieces that I have recently commissioned here or browse through the commission gallery for some  inspiration!





International Ring Size Conversion Chart
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