Beehive Explosion Box – Parcelled Up and Ready to Go

I’m feeling a bit sad today, because I have looked at my Beehive Explosion Box for the last time. It is now all parcelled up ready to be taken to my friend’s sister’s on Wednesday afternoon; she will take it up to London when she visits my friend in the spring.

As always when I have made something, especially something in which I have invested a great deal of time, and of myself, when it goes to its ultimate destination I feel a sense of loss, as if part of me has gone with it. I am very glad, though, that through modern technology – digital photography, video, computers, the Internet, blogging – not only can I look at the pictures any time I want, but they are there, available for sharing with anyone who wants to enjoy them. Although I say so myself, and not wishing to boast, I think this is the best piece I’ve made to date, and it was so much fun to make! Everyone who has seen it has enjoyed it too – all the detail, and the fun I have had interpreting the complex life that goes on inside the beehive… I have also learnt some new techniques through this project, and gained in confidence in my work. I know that with a bit of imagination, time to mull ideas over, and opportunities to sleep on it, I can make whatever I want to make now! – and that’s really thrilling.
Today I finished the final touch. It struck me that if my friend simply opened it like a normal present, she wouldn’t know it was an explosion box and needed to be opened correctly for the explosion to take place, so I have made a little instruction book to go with it. I did this on the computer (using Serif PagePlus, my desk-top publisher) and have saved it for any other explosion boxes I might make in the future.

I printed the text and lines on the computer, and hand-coloured it using coloured pencils. The cover is made of card, with a paper insert for the instructions, and it is bound with some fun yarns.

Here is the front:

and this is the back:

This is a view of the whole of the inside:

and details of the two pages:

Finally, here is the parcel containing the box. Before wrapping it loosely in tissue paper and tying it with more of the decorative yarn, I tied a piece of brown ric-rac braid around the box, securing the lid so that it doesn’t fall off when she unwraps it.

The whole thing has gone into a small Christmas decorated carrier bag, packed around with more tissue paper, and I’ve included a small 3 in x 3 in card (originally intended for the Stationery Box project I made before Christmas, but rejected because the embellishments were too thick) with directions to my blog, so that she can see her box from start to finish, with all the photos and the video. I wish her a very happy belated Christmas and hope she enjoys her box as much as I enjoyed making it.