Bee Hive made of Jute

My niece was pregnant with twins and we decided to do a “Mommy to Bee” shower. It turned out beautiful. I am going to post several of the items we made for the shower that made it all come together. We actually made 2 Bee Hives. The first one was with a thin Jute and the 2nd one was with a thicker Jute. The thin one took longer and, of course, used more hot glue and showed more of the glue, because you had to use so much of it. Both looked great. It is just a matter of preference.

Supplies:

1. A large roll of your Jute, Twine or Rope of Choice;
2. Hot Glue Gun and LOTS of Hot Glue
3. Something to form the Hive on. (I used an old Halloween trick or treat bucket, you could use a metal bowl, or any you can find that you think would work. I used a plastic bucket and added plastic wrap over to help in getting it off. A metal bowl work really well too.);
4. Permanent Black Marker
5. Scissors
6. Plastic bags
7. cardboard

Lets get started!  
Moving around your "form", hot glue the jute pieces together in a continuous line.  Don't skip on a spot at this point.  You want this to be bonded together really well so that it will stay together and last.  Now continue with the glue and jute all the way up the form.  After gluing, I gave it a little bit of a hair cut to remove some of the pieces sticking out.

Next, it is time to make the place for the bees to come in and out of the hive.  We pulled approximately a foot and a half off the roll of jute (twice) and braided it.  We then held it up to the hive, at the location we wanted it to go, and formed our circle to the size we wanted and then started gluing. We went over the circle a couple of times. We then cut off the end that we didn't need and glued the piece together.

Next, color in the entrance to the bee hive in black.

Now, let it sit to become good and dry before trying to take it off of your form.  To take it off the plastic one, start pulling it up off the form, working it a little all the way around until it was off. (I even cut some of the plastic wrap off of the bucket, as I was going, and left it on the hive because the glue was adhered to it.) If you have a metal bowl, place it in the freezer.  After 20 minutes, take out of the freezer and gently wiggle it free of the form.  Leave it out to return to room temperature before you do anything else with it. 

Next cut out a bottom using cardboard or I used the bottom of a notepad that I had just finished using. (Using the hive as a guide, cut out the circle for the bottom.) Then stuff it with plastic bags.  Next glue the bottom on and let the glue dry.  You are finished!   

Turned out Great!