Penelope the Spring Beauty Mining Bee Necklace

Pink pollen pants. I have been singing this phrase to myself for weeks. It is the only way to describe what Penelope carries home to her babies every single day of her short and extraordinary life.

Meet Penelope

I have always known about the spring beauty wildflower, that tiny pink veined ephemeral that carpets the forest floor for just a few fleeting weeks each spring. But I did not know until recently that there is a native mining bee named for this flower because she feeds from it and nothing else. She is called the spring beauty mining bee, and I have named her Penelope.

The blooming time of the spring beauty wildflower coincides exactly with the moment Penelope needs to lay her eggs and feed her young. She collects pollen and nectar only from these flowers, filling her pollen baskets until they glow a vivid, improbable pink. She flies back to her underground nest covered in pink pollen granules, mixes the nectar with the pollen into tiny balls, and feeds her babies on nothing but the gifts of this one single wildflower. By the time her young are grown enough to care for themselves, the spring beauties have finished flowering for the year and disappeared back into the soil until next spring.

Penelope's entire world revolves around one flower. Her life is timed to its bloom, sustained by its pollen, and ended before it fades. I find that one of the most quietly beautiful things I have ever learned about the natural world.

The Necklace

I wanted this necklace to show Penelope's whole world in a single pendant. At the top a soft pink kunzite gemstone sits in a delicate halo, chosen to mimic the exact color of the pollen Penelope carries back to her young. Below it the spring beauty flowers open among their long pointed leaves, each petal and leaf hand carved and formed from scratch. The delicate wire stems reach all the way down to the corm of the plant at the very bottom, hollow and lightweight, where Penelope herself rests with her precious pink pollen baskets on her legs. Even the tiny bits of pollen on her legs were cut and fused to her individually, one small piece at a time, with great patience.

Every single element of this necklace was made entirely from scratch from sterling and fine silver. Nothing was cast. My maker's mark is on the back of the pendant, signing this piece for you.

The pendant hangs from a handmade adjustable 20 inch sterling silver oval link chain. Each end of the chain has easy to use S hooks so you can clasp them onto any link to get exactly the length you want that day.

• Pendant length: 5.25 inches tall
• Chain: Handmade adjustable 20 inch sterling silver oval link chain
• Stone: Light pink kunzite
• Materials: Sterling and fine silver throughout

One of a Kind

There is only one Penelope in the world. When she finds her home she will never be made again exactly like this.

A Note from Tamara

I made Penelope because her story stopped me in my tracks the moment I learned it. A bee so devoted to one flower that her entire lifecycle is timed around its bloom. A bee whose babies have never tasted anything but the gifts of a single spring wildflower. A bee who spends her days flying back and forth with the most improbably pink pollen baskets you have ever seen, completely unbothered by how extraordinary she is. I wanted to make something worthy of that story. I hope Penelope finds someone who will tell it as often as she deserves to have it told.

Shipping

Penelope is finished, packaged safely, and will be on her way to you within 3 to 5 business days.