Billy and His Friends Need a Home!

Having completed Billy as my bee prototype, I switched over to making a nest for Billy and his friends.  As stated in an earlier entry the nest will be fashioned after a mud dauber wasp nest, not a traditional bee hive comb. I am placing it into a corner in the right side of the automata space formed by two wooden surfaces.  I am hoping to have it come out looking somewhat like the nest pictured at the right.

I dug through my box of carving block cutout pieces and found an irregularly  shaped piece that could suit the purpose. I then laid out several 9/16" diameter holes to serve as the cells. Chambers in nests in this from are generally round rather than octagonal. This was another reason for choosing this style - it is easier to make!  I drilled the holes about 1" deep on a semi-regular pattern and used  the irregular shape to have one protruding forward a bit more than the others for visual interest. There will only be a couple of bees in the nest.  At 9/16" in diameter the holes allow a snug fit for a 1/2" diameter body size. Bees that will be placed in the nest will be "one half"  bees seeing as you would be unable to see half their bodies in place. Watch for these in a later posting. I might also seal a couple of cells as in the photo above.

Below is the picture of the nest I started drilled and sanded to shape. This nest is not a key element of the automata story so I put only a little  detail into its detail. In the photo below the left side end of the nest will attach to the ceiling , the rear side will attach to the side wall, and the bottom will attach to a wood beam inside the automata.

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Rough-in of nest block

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Excusing the fingers holding it up, this is the way the nest will appear once installed in the automata. With a little more handcrafting, finishing and paint it should present a reasonable facsimile  of a nest in an interior wall of our country home.  I purposely didn't show more of the automata in the photo just to keep you guessing for a while longer.

Once done I'm going to have to write a letter to our general contractor asking them how all these bees could have found their way into the wall of our new home already. (Kidding of course!)