Apis coronavirus, Daniel D. Brown, Ph.D., 2020
“Apis coronavirus”, Daniel D. Brown, 2020, wood and resin.
Constructed from mulberry (milled from my backyard), chakta viga, walnut, yellowheart, katalox, and epoxy resin. All natural wood colors. No paint, stains, or dyes. The resin is clear and the “honey” color derives exclusively from the underlying wood. See below for more information. The entire process was documented in Instagram stories highlighted on my profile.
This piece will be featured as a step-by-step tutorial, with templates included, in the Summer 2021 issue of Scroll Saw Woodworking & Crafts magazine.
I started this project at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic shutdown specifically because I knew it was going to be tedious and require hours of concentration, which I knew I’d need to distract from the stress we’re all feeling to various degrees. It ended up being even more time-consuming than anticipated and I spent almost 3 weeks on it, including at least several full workdays on the weekends. I initially designed it in Adobe Illustrator. The 12 bees were made as fully inlayed intarsia, then shaped (via @kutzall burrs), followed by scrolling and shaping of all 72 legs – shaped twice because I wasn’t happy with them after the first round. The wings ended up even more challenging than expected, requiring a couple trials to get them acceptable enough. Thin resin (slightly tinged with pigment) was poured over a crumpled acetate sheet, the wing veins hand drawn, and each wing cut out by dremel to avoid shattering. They were then sanded and shellacked.
Each leg and wing was individually attached with @starbondadhesives CA glue – also a more difficult task than expected due to the fact that I couldn’t just spray accelerator everywhere as it ruins both the epoxy and shellac finishes. The honeycomb and bee bodies were finished with @odiesoil, appendages with shellac, and frame with @generalfinishes polyurethane.