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Small rocks painted to look like bees image.

DIY Bee Rock Painting Tutorial

Charlotte Anderson @ Carolina Honeybees, LLC
Create cute painted bee rocks to use for decoration in your garden. They also make great gifts and are a creative way to introduce the subject of bees to kids. Coat them with sealer and they will look beautiful for several seasons.
5 from 2 votes
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Tools

  • Paint Brushes Asst

Supplies
 

  • 6 pieces small oval shape river rocks – or any smooth porous stone
  • 3 containers acrylic paints ( yellow, black, white)
  • 1 piece Paint Pen Black
  • 1 can acrylic spray sealer (optional)

Instructions
 

  • Use yellow acrylic paint to paint a base color on the entire surface of each stone. Paint the top and bottom allowing it to dry.
    Then, add a second coat of yellow for best results.
    Painting yellow base coat for bee body on rock image.
  • Use a small craft brush to paint a pair of small white circles on the top of each stone. After the white paint has dried for a few minutes, add a dot of black paint to each.
    These represent eyes but real bees have 5 eyes! And, when bees sleep, they do not close their eyes!
    Yellow painted rock with eyes image.
  • Adding stripes. Not every honey bee has vivid stripes – however this is the classic markings associated with bees.
    Use your medium sized brush to paint 2 or 3 wide black stripes on the top side of each bee rock. I suggest leaving the bottom of the bee solid yellow.
    If you wish, you can use a pencil to lightly draw an outline of where you want to paint. Or you can just go for it.
    Yellow painted rock with bee stripes image.
  • Paint on wings. Rather than purchase another paint – I mixed a few drops of white and black paint together to create a custom gray.
    Using a small brush create a pair of wings on the top side of each bee. Real honey bees actually have 4 wings – but for our project a representation of wings will do.
    You can add a few black dashes of color on the wings to simulated the veining that gives real wings their strength.
    For years, researchers could not understand how bees fly. The body of the honey bee seems too large for their wing size. Bees didn’t know this of course – so they flew anyway!
    Painted rock bee with grey wings image.
  • (Optional) Positive Message
    This step is optional. You might want to use a black paint marker to create a short message on the bottom of your bee rock.
    Keep it short – so the writing will be easy to read. You can choose any message you wish.
    Painted bee messages on bottom of rocks imagel
  • Use a clear, acrylic sealer spray to coat both sides of your bee craft.
    Let each side dry well before flipping it over to spray the other side. This is protect the paint and allow your craft to look nicer for a long time.
    finished painted bee rocks sprayed with sealer image.
Learn more about bees and using products from the hive!Join me on Pinterest - @carolinahoneyb