On Tue, 20 Nov 2007 17:58:23 +0000, wesleyn
n.r.wesley@brightonDOTacDOTuk wrote:


Hi there,

For those that haven't seen my previous post my name is Neil, I am a
Product Design student at Brighton University.

It is very true that I know very little about beekeeping, nothing
before 2 weeks ago in fact. However, the local beekeepers I have spoken
to, and the fact that most replies on the forums I have posted have said
they are not afraid of bees leads me to think that a home beehive is not
a completely ludicrous idea.

It doesn't matter too much for the project in any case. The major
aspect of the project is the emotions a person might recieve from the
product I design. A fear of bees is not too uncommon, therefore my
design will attempt to give people a positive emotion to counteract
this negative one, it could be fun, playful, or friendly, or maybe have
a calming, soothing influence.

I have done a number of concept sketches, if you are interested follow
the link to photobucket to view them, I would be very interested to
hear what you think, particularly which design you would most like to
have in your own garden - and why if you have the time and inclination.
From this I can make a choice of which to develope further. Please try
to view each design independent of its colour, as that can be altered
easily, although any comment of colour will be very useful.

Photobucket link: http://tinyurl.com/283g8x

Thankyou very much for taking the time to read this and reply.

Many people keep bee hives on their residential property, located in
an area where people and the bees will not intermix thereby avoiding
problems. Anyone who fears the bees will not have any interest in
having them nearby but those who do not are sometimes inclined to keep
bees as they are fascinating creatures.

I am not clear on the purpose of your designs. Improvement over the
time proven rectangular box with frames hanging inside perhaps? If
so, keep in mind the bees propensity to glue everything to everything.
An enclosure with sloping sides, narrower at the top than the bottom
will make the contents inaccessible by the beekeeper.

Also, the bees will quickly glue together any component that you would
like to slide across another. Their glue is quite strong and they put
it everywhere. You should keep this in mind.

Good luck.

John