This project was inspired by the Shetland Bumble Bee, the work of Joseph Beuys, Michaelswood and the RSPB Species on the Edge project. It was funded by Shetland Arts Creative Shetland Commissioning Fund.

The Shetland Bumble Bee or Bombus Muscorum Agricolae, named after the Roman explorer who allegedly named Shetland Ultima Thule, is only found in Shetland and the Western Isles, it has a rich copper coloured body and is one of the RSPB Species on the Edge target species.

Joseph Beuys believed that everyone was an artist, and by how they lived their lives, could contribute to the art around them. He promoted communal working and responsible environmental interaction, he organised the planting of 7,000 trees in Kassel, Germany. 

Michaelswood is a special woodland, planted and maintained in memory of Michael Ferrie by his family, Ray Betty and Alan. It has evolved into a significant community area and provides solace and society to many. 

To celebrate all three, I devised a project that will knit and place 100 bees through Michaelswood. 

The Thule (pronounced Thulee) is an old pub in Lerwick hence the name - Ultimate Thulbee. I aye lik a peerie fun! 

The project included workshops in my shedio in knitting with wire and bee construction.

This was the plan, however the workshops were so popular I increased the number of worker bees per session and ran more sessions. We also had to abandon the vitreous enamel for safety and stability reasons but used gold and copper foil as alternatives. 

More than 30 Worker Bees met in my hive in the north of Shetland that summer. It has been such a pleasure to meet fellow worker bees and to work together to create 100 life size Shetland Bees. Bees within hives have fixed roles; workers, drones and queens and have fixed jobs. I set our hive up so all the worker bees had a chance to try out different jobs making all the different parts although maybe not fulfilling all the roles! 

Legs were cut from textured silver wire. Then ends were melted to create feet. Antennae were made from thin silver wire and the ends melted. 

I'm very grateful to Cajsa who helped with the legs! 

Wings are next, a tiny piece of lace knitting using Shetland Lace techniques and a single strand of 0.2mm silver wire. The actual bees have 4 wings but they look like 2, the smallest back wings are linked by tiny hooks to the front wings, we made each wing in one piece to look like so 2 looked like 4.

Creativity was encouraged but I did write a back up pattern using Shetland Lace techniques to create the mootie wings. 

The bee bodies were made using air hardening clay and then knit around using 2 or 3 fine silver wires held together. The bodies could be knit flat or in the round depending on the preference of the knitter bees! 

Then the bees were assembled by sewing in the wings and fastening on the legs and antennae. 

The final part was adding the copper and gold foil to replicate the gorgeous coppery back of the bee. These are images of some of the participants during some of the workshops. Most people made 1 bee.

The silver wire will naturally tarnish in time to a more realistic black. It is possible to speed up this process using acid but I like the idea of the bees interacting with the environment and aging in their own time.

The communal nature of the hive has been appreciated by all the worker bees so not only were they part of the workshop they were on but as they were using bodies and maybe wings made in previous weeks, they were making legs and bodies that were used in following weeks, it became a real community effort.

Then just 2 days before the scheduled Bee Day a strange and magical thing happened. Having been immersed in bee designing, recruiting, running workshops and making for months, I was sitting at my kitchen table having a cup of tea when an actual bee landed right next to my left hand. In the past I would have been terrified but with my new found love for bees I kept calm and made her a water sugar mix which she dined on. I was able to observe her up close and realised that we had made the antennae of our bees too long! Too late to change now! I will always treasure that still moment watching the peerie tired bee revitalised by a bit of care and some sugary water. Fly safe peerie guy! 

Hive meets at 2pm. 

The date for the hanging of the bees was set and adverts and posters shared. My favourite was the SIBC (Shetland Islands Broadcasting) advert, "Bees, Bees, Bees!" it did the trick and there were what felt like 100s of folk queuing to get into Michaelswood that day. I'm never that sure that anything I so will be a success so I was blown away by the reponse! There were so many folk and such a mixture of ages too we had to prioritise the bairns and let them have first pick of the bees. It was a beautiful day too, just right for highlighting their gold and copper backs.

Much of art is in decision making, following head or heart. The simple act of choosing a location for their bee will give folk an opportunity to make a decision based on their visual appreciation of the wood and of being part of a community sculpture. I hope this leads to feelings of empowerment and connection and make a lasting impression on their local area as well as a new appreciation of nature and community. 

I'm indebted to the emergency bee workers that appeared in the run up to the event and helped ensure there were indeed 100 Bees to hang! 

I had attended an RSPB Species on the Edge to inform me more about bees. I was delighted when Gareth Powell agreed to come and share his leaflets and knowledge with the crowd.

I chose a Bee inspired outfit and sprayed my hands gold in honour of Joseph Beauys who once painted his face gold, carried around a dead hare, walked around a gallery whispering to it! I thought a gold face, while memorable, would maybe scare the bairns, besides I wasn't 100% sure the gold paint would come off! 

Thanks to Tara Thomson for the above image - it's my favourite from the day! 

So Joseph Beuys, Ray, Betty and Alan Ferrie, Gareth Powell, all worker bees and my family for your inspiration and support.

Special thanks to Shetland Arts for making Creative Commissions available and for having faith in me to deliver my slightly daft ideas!