What is a bee skep you might ask. For centuries, bee skeps, the bell-shaped dome made of either straw or grasses have been used to house honey bee colonies.
The heritage craft of weaving bee skeps goes back to ancient times, and was very popular in Europe, especially in Germany and England.
During colonial times, bee skeps were used in the United States until the 1850s when the wooden bee hives were invented and became the preferred bee housing.
We had nine students at North House Folk School for the decorative Bee Skep (Bee Hive) Making Class on Friday, June 1, 2007.
Most of the students had never woven baskets before so this coiled basketry technique was new to everyone.
We used cattail leaves for the coiling core instead of the hard-to-obtain rye straw that was used to create these in the olden days.
And instead of lacing the coiled rows together with traditional blackberry brambles, we substituted medium size chair cane. Everyone was grateful for this easy to use and kinder to the hands material!
Several of the bee skep students were also bee keepers with their own wooden hives.
They wanted to learn this age-old craft but were only going to use the skeps they made as decorative in their gardens.
Almost everyone finished their bee skep during this one-day class and were so proud of their accomplishments.
What are your thoughts about this blog post?
Leave your comments below and share with your social networks!
~~Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much ~~
Happy Weaving, until next time!
