Dead Bees wanted (yeah strange, read)

**Daniel Y** · 10-23-2011, 08:18 AM

Okay I know this one is really off the wall. But I will explain.
I make custom writing pens as a hobby. One of the sideline crafts is casting various objects in to the pen bodies. Snake skin, pine cones, beads, cereal, feathers, you name it. I am interested in trying to make a pen with Bee Wings inlayed into them. I am hoping some of you might be able to box up some dead bees is you come across them. Lots of them. It will take a lot of wings to cover a pen body. I will pay the postage and if this goes over with my penturning friends, 10,000 of them. this could create a market for dead bees. I have done this with numerous other products and sell them worldwide through this group.
Here is an example of what they do with feathers.
IMG_0564iap.jpg

**jim lyon** · 10-23-2011, 08:25 AM

Why buy them when it's so easy to raise your own dead bees.

**Daniel Y** · 10-23-2011, 08:31 AM

I'm sure it will be Jim. I won't be getting any live ones to make dead ones out of until next spring. Just seeing if I can get a head start.

**The Honey Householder** · 10-23-2011, 08:08 PM

How many lbs do you want????

**Frontyard Beekeeper** · 10-23-2011, 10:14 PM

Hold on, I'll run out and kill some

**Daniel Y** · 10-24-2011, 05:21 AM

Householder, I don't need a bunch for now. I was thinking maybe 50 to 100 bees to start. I can then stand a chance of working out a method of getting them placed on a pen. Not sure they are even workable. I am also looking around locally. We have a lot more wasps and hornets than we have bees.

**odfrank** · 10-24-2011, 06:31 PM

Are you aware what bulk dead bees smell like?

**sqkcrk** · 10-24-2011, 07:14 PM

Aw frank. Take all the fun out of it, will ya? I was hoping he'd post his address so we could send him some bees.

**Daniel Y** · 10-24-2011, 07:31 PM

I located a source locally. thanks for nothing. I'll let you know how it turns out. By the way pens of this type start a $750 each and go up from there quickly. Top prices are around $7000. You all just keep farming those bees though.

**deknow** · 10-24-2011, 07:39 PM

making $7k for a pen is attractive....unless one has to shoulder the devistating burden of APD as part of the deal. Is APD common in the pen business, or are you especially talented in this regard?

deknow

**sqkcrk** · 10-24-2011, 08:01 PM

Originally Posted by Daniel Y

I located a source locally. thanks for nothing. I'll let you know how it turns out. By the way pens of this type start a $750 each and go up from there quickly. Top prices are around $7000. You all just keep farming those bees though.

No wonder you want to get into beekeeping.

If you know people who will pay $7,000.00 for a pen I don't know why you would do anything else. Except maybe there is a really narrow market.

**Daniel Y** · 10-24-2011, 08:41 PM

I also breed the birds that have the feathers in my OP. I've been finding stuff for the community for over 12 years. I've worked hard to have a reputation that they rely on. not all ideas work. And I never promote one that does not pas my standards. that is why I have the reputation that I have. This is not by far the first time my posts have been considered a joke.

Although obviously not common $7000 pens are not expensive pens. They are at the upper end of Unique. Expensive pens are Custom artworks made in limited numbers and start at $25,000 each and go far higher than that. Mass produced pens are things like Pelican fountain pens that sell for $350. $7000 pens are made from mass produced parts and market to select clients. I am sort of one of the links that allows the makers of those pens to keep there selection Unique. It's a nitch and I fill it as a hobby.

**sqkcrk** · 10-24-2011, 08:52 PM

Originally Posted by Daniel Y

This is not by far the first time my posts have been considered a joke.

It's a nitch and I fill it as a hobby.

I don't think your hobby is a joker. But I dfo think that anyone who spend $7,000.00 or $20,000.00 for a pen is funny. Certainly they don't carry them around in their pocket and use them, do they?

Congratulations. How did you get into doing this sort of thing?

**Daniel Y** · 10-24-2011, 09:47 PM

I've been a woodworker for about 30 years or so. There is one of those pesky sort of companies that if they get hold of your name start sending you catalogs every other week. They sold the parts for making wooden pens. It perked my interest even then but in looking around the quality I wanted just was not there. I stopped to look through a catalog every other year or so for about 20 years but still every time I managed to see a pen in person it just didn't have the spit and polish I was looking for. all of them where made from wood. Eventually I found a yahoo group about penturning. That group was still primarily making pens from wood but had developed finish techniques that added the look I liked. Still fine pens are not made of wood, they are novelties at best. average price of those pens where between 35 and 75 dollars. Few if any (the experinced turners) thought it reasonable to think of a pen that would sell for over $100. It simply could not be done. A process that was related to casting acrylics for pen material had already been developed and was becoming very popular. It made it possible to use a lot of otherwise worthless wood and actually raised the price of blanks across the board. Much discussion and much more argument was carried out about the ability to do these processes at home as well as outright casting of materials. It actually required the development of a completely different forum with a format much like this one to get a few people to break the marriage to wood and actually develop casting techniques. That group is now almost 8 years old. Wood is still common but takes a back seat to acrylics, celluloid, and other very strange materials. The price on pens has also steadily climbed for several reasons. Suppliers have been convinced to market parts that cost $45 per pen rather than $4.50. the quality justifies the increase. new materials some extremely expensive have become accepted and basically the entire craft has turned down a new path. Somewhere in all that i fit in. I do make pens just not the way out there customized stuff.

**jim lyon** · 10-24-2011, 10:13 PM

Daniel: I think what you are doing is great, its amazing the niches that people can find when they are creative. I was probably too hard on you in the commercial forum and for that I apologize. We are really a pretty decent bunch of folks on here but as you discovered there are some pretty definite guidelines for what should be posted where (I have learned to tread lightly in the Treatment Free Forum for example). Folks are usually pretty receptive to helping folks with questions but not so much if they feel that they are being lectured to by someone who they might feel hasnt proven they are qualified. There are some really knowledgable folks on here, learn from them. I'll make a deal with you, if you need any bee advice just ask me and I will give you a straight honest answer to the best of my knowledge and if I need any advice on woodworking maybe you would do the same for me.

**FreyaFL** · 10-25-2011, 05:58 AM

I thought I'd chime in here "from the other side." I'm a professional writer (a journalist, not fiction.

) And a couple times have received very expensive pens as gifts of appreciation. (None so beautiful as the one in the picture Daniel Y posted.) I can see these being extremely well-received in this market. Writers, editors, publishers...it's definitely a more thoughtful and appropriate gift than most any other.

Just sayin'.

**Daniel Y** · 10-25-2011, 06:33 AM

Originally Posted by FreyaFL

I thought I'd chime in here "from the other side." I'm a professional writer (a journalist, not fiction.

) And a couple times have received very expensive pens as gifts of appreciation. (None so beautiful as the one in the picture Daniel Y posted.) I can see these being extremely well-received in this market. Writers, editors, publishers...it's definitely a more thoughtful and appropriate gift than most any other.

Just sayin'.

That is probably how the whole nitch things works 99% of the time. Suppose a person that wants a gift of appreciation also realizes FreysFL has a side interest in Bees? The whole value factor is up in the air. In fact the pen demands the price the maker puts on it. Otherwise the maker can say. "well go get one from my competition" except there is no competitor that can be found. Not easily anyway.

**Beev** · 10-25-2011, 06:48 PM

Daniel, I am a pen turner myself, and can appreciate what you do for your clients. I turn primarily wood pens, but I have dabbled in acrylics and the possibilities are endless. I would love to see your efforts with bee wings. Getting them arranged and where they will show up well, will be the challenge I would think.

Best of luck.