the secret life of bees

who knew that the wax from a bee's hive would become such a marvelous art material?

my fabulous friend daniela costa taught a beeswax collage class in her home today. a dozen women filled her living room, all tucked comfortably at a long table, amidst countless bowls, plates and baskets filled with baubles, ribbons, buttons, charms, papers and assorted vintage ephemera.

we each started with a thin 6"x18" board. we painted and papered a background grid, and coated it with hot beeswax to get this wonderful gloss and texture. then we all collaged away...and we barely made a dent in all the yummy stuff daniela laid out for us to work with. but we managed to totally blow out the craft iron that you use to even out the wax after applying...it was quite the spark!

we ate lots of chocolate, drank iced tea and got to know each other a little better...it was a very inspirational and creative afternoon. oh and there were door prizes too!

this photo collage above is everyone else's beautiful work...i can't post mine yet, because it will be a gift for a special someone who reads my blog regularly and who has a birthday coming up... (hi mom!)