Artist spotlight on....

Donna Boone

The bees are busy making honey and Donna Boone is busy making the beeswax into custom glow bowls.

Donna, who is from the Baltimore area, became interested in beekeeping about 20 years ago. After taking a course at the Oregon Ridge Nature Center, she wound up with a ball of beeswas, which she made inot candles. (Beeswas is a wax secreted by worker bees to make the walls of a honeycomb and can be removed from a hive after the honey is collected.)

About 7 years ago, she began making the "glow bowls" out of the beeswax. After the was has been softened, she swirls candle dye into the wax for coloration. The wax is naturally a yellow color, but can vary from light to dark, depending on the pollen the bees have gathered.

Donna collects and dries flowers, herbs and berries and waxes them into the surface of the bowls for decoration. Each bowl glows in its own unique way and the pleasant subtle fragrance is that of pollen and nectar. In addition to the glow bowls, Ms. Boone also makes small vases and candles from the beeswax.