Description

‘Bee’ pin: supporting bees and all pollinators. 3D printed in Multicolour polymer. £5 from each sale – half from you, half from Ann Marie Shillito – will be donated to The Soil Association for their work helping bees to flourish. Ann Marie says ‘I so enjoyed designing and modelling the bee on this brooch. The idea came initially from being commissioned to design and make a brooch for a bee keeper’s 70th birthday. Her brooch has 6 bees on it and it inspired me to make this smaller pin using the digital model of one of her brooch bees – about which she was happy to agree.

I am very grounded and happy in my small garden in which I mainly grow soft fruits, vegetables, herbs and wild flowers. I love all the pollinators (including wasps!) and so pleased to see them in Spring and their first appearance on early flowering dandelions. These last three years I let some of my leeks bolt and flower as pollinators swarm all over them, fertilizing them to go to seed which I harvest to use for the following sowing.

The £5 from each sale will be donated to The Soil Association, and although they might not be the first UK charity that springs to mind when you think of bees, this organic farming charity, quite literally rooted, in sustainable food production, works to help save all pollinators from the ground up. It’s helping and encouraging farmers to grow their crops without the pesticides that have been killing bees in huge swathes and their vital work means the charity has the data to pressurise Government to stop bee-harming chemicals being used.