I've been quite a busy bee this weekend. True story, I found myself high a ladder last night about 14 feet up, using one of those "Death Bombs" on rather large wasp nest... ( I do a little apartment "Schneidering" on the side so I can continue my strapmaking career LOL!). Anyway I was dressed in coveralls, a balaclava, safety goggles, boots, gloves and all this gear tucked in, as per the youtube video I watched. I looked (and felt) fooking ridiculous. And really, all that gear was super-redundant. The video I watched was made by a pest control business, and I'm pretty sure now he was just trying to terrify homeowners into not DIYing this operation and to call him. What. Ever.
Anyway, I sprayed that nest a new one, I did. Wasps were falling out it like rain, and I kept on a-sprayin' 'til that bomb gave right out. The tenant below can now use her deck once again. And no Killer Bees, Murder Hornets or Dementor Wasps even had a chance at getting close to me. Not all heroes wear capes. Great year for the wasps up here it seems, just finding a store left with any of those spray bombs remaining was a bigger challenge than taking on the nest.
Plus I was recently stung by a bee picking wild raspberries (my fault, not his), and i think maybe my psyche was primed for revenge. Gotta say, the adrenalin rush was quite a buzz.
Speaking getting a buzz on, yesterday here's what went down in the Well-Hung StrapLab.
I finally completed what I thought was the ideal colour burst combo and called it quits on all the dye rubbing and mixing etc. This photo held vertical under a light more to show texture than colour... but it looks pretty darn hivey, if I do say so myself. Kind of a creepy/scary texture, particularly for those with Melissophobic tendencies.
I think this is going to look great under stage lighting. The customer for this is a working pro, wants it for his first gig coming back out of Covid at the end of August.
I applied a bit more of the darker colours carefully around the nectar-dripping rose, just so it makes the "art" jump off the strap a bit more.
Again, this colour isn't really accurate either... flourescent lighting...
After I finally got that dye job right, (at least to my eye... taking into account some of next steps would boost the colour saturation) I oiled the pieces up with neatsfoot oil, twice. Let that soak in real good, avoiding the edges.
After a time letting it sit, I got at the bits that needed to be blacky/black, on the bees, and the extreme strap edges, with more dye painting in black. After that sat for a bit, got at burnishing the edges to a beautiful slick shine. Couldn't help but notice how it was blending almost perfectly with my t-shirt!
Last thing I did late last night was apply some a light resist coat to everything before the antiquing process as I want to keep this colour pretty safe. This morning I grabbed up the swivel knife and added some additional cuts to give the bees legs, antennae, and vein lines on the wings, rose leaves etc. These cuts will grab up the dark antique when I apply it, and stay dark when I wipe most of it off. The paste will sit in the edges of all the hex shapes and really pop those as well... at least that's what I'm HOPING LOL!
Showing this extreme close up reveals some tooling errors that you really can't see with the naked eye, as this bee is about an inch across. But it's fun to look at nonetheless.
So, waiting for the last resist coat to dry hard, then I will move forward later this afternoon.
Have a great Sunday TTR peeps
