Pregled posta

Marketing

As promised, here are the final 3 Sprog sculpts to round out Edition D, Rigsbee (2 eyes), Renfield (1 eye) and Rubus (5 eyes) - but these aren't just another set of Sprog designs, these three robobees, along with a forth exclusive sculpt, represent my first collaborative resin project with the fantastic Lunabee!

Lunabee has her very own version of the sculpt that i won't be selling and is only available directly from her. April 14th with see her release the first batch of entirely one-off bees in her own unique and colourful style, each with their own personality and charm. Lunabee has a stash of bee-blanks that will ensure she's able grace us with a veritable swarm of releases in the coming months - having seen some of them painted up, i know these are going to fly out of her store faster than she can paint them!

My 3 robobees will be up for sale on Thursday April 14th at 18:00 London time on my store (crisrose.bigcartel.com) as part of 20 Edition D blind boxes, as well as a limited number of sets containing all three. Blindboxes are priced at $37.50 (plus shipping) each and 3 packs are $105 (plush shipping) each.

There will also be a few surprise releases going on sale along side Edition D in matching colours...


Backstory

With global bee population critically low and colonies patchy at best, growing concern that the reintroduction and repair of these species was not progressing at a fast enough rate. While the outlook was bright for the insects themselves, both crops and wild plants were noticeably suffering causing public distress. Approached by the Lunabee Trust, England's wealthiest conservation group, a proposal was put forward to develop fully robotic pollinators as a stop gap while the bees recovered. By helping fund development, Lunabee ensured that for every robobee sold privately to farmers, flower growers and hobby gardenings, 3 would be released into the wild and maintained by the Trust.

At 3 foot long and traveling at 30mph, Rigsbee, Renfield and Rubus would seem far too large and slow to replace a tiny bee. Released into a field tho, their purpose and size became apparent. As soon as the "stinger" opened, scores of tiny copies, identical to their mothership but 1/12th the size, would stream out and fly in wide formation at incredible speeds!

A closer look at one of these 3" bees revealed a pair of high thrust magnito-impuse jets that not only facilitated their rapid flight, but also generated a huge static charge. With field coils built into the body, a bubble of static electricity could be generated between the "stinger" and the "antennae" at incredible field strength and manipulated with surprising control. After a few seconds flight, mere inches from the flowers, a visible bubble of swirling pollen would form around the bot, simultaneously picking up new and depositing old as it hurtles past. When finished, the remaining pollen would be deposited and all the mini bots would return to their 3 foot queen, plugging into individual hexagonal recharging cells within.

To help raise public awareness and to ensure that urban spaces were also covered, special brightly coloured Lunabee versions were given out as part of a schools program, while industry purchased swarms in matching colours with advanced optics, guidance systems and queens.

Portlandia is a genus that epitomises the magnificence of tropical flora. Every millimetre of these plants is glorious. Margaret Barwick really described this well in her book Tropical & Subtropical Trees:

"Portlandia are exceedingly desirable, ranking in the top echelon of tropical flowering species, with their elegant trumpet-shaped, white...lily-like blooms. They are endemic to Jamaica and extremely rare in their natural environment.”

"Portlandia grandiflora ... grows in a regally restrained manner, to form a slender, multi-trunked, small tree with fissured, slightly corky bark. It has large handsome leathery, polished, short-petioled leaves that are initially flushed rose pink. In bud, they are deeply pleated and blushed pink. As the trumpet expands to open, its 5 triangular lobes flare backwards to reveal the slender throat and expose the pistil and stamens. As if this were not of sufficient allure, these blooms are powerfully vanilla-scented in the evening to attract the moths that pollinate them...”

I have always wondered why on earth Portlandia grandiflora is so exceedingly rare in O'ahu gardens. A friend of mine sent me fresh seed from his plant on Kaua'i and I sowed them straight away in May 2008 (they lose viability fast). They took 30 days to germinate and 6 months later I transferred them from the shallow community pot in which they were sown into individual plugs. A year on from sowing I distributed the seedlings to friends throughout Hawai'i and to a few plant buffs on the mainland. The most rewarding thing for me was donating two plug trays to Lyon Arboretum. Ray Baker planted some on the grounds and the rest are in the offerings at their sales. I believe they have already been featured in the past two events. I really hope that through my humble efforts this wonderful species will not be so rare, at least in Hawaiian gardens.

It's a slow-growing species that is slow to propagate asexually and has strong apical dominance. The leaves are so glossy that they always appear to have been freshly dipped in lacquer.