#spellbinding hive

[kuemmernis]

Altar Guardian (Making of)

Some time ago, I posted about the North German practice of the Bannkorb ((Spell)Binding Hive), a beehive adorned with a human face, which is supposed to keep evil spirits and honey thieves from a group of beehives.

While researching, I came across a publication by Aladin Borioli, who took some stunning photos of extant examples in German museum collections. I cut some of these out from a brochure of his publishing house (spector books), which I plan to frame and hang in my flat.

I’ve been thinking a lot about binding practices and how in different spiritual practices figurines and statues guard holy and sacred places. Since I felt such a resonance with these hive-figures, I wanted to create a miniature Spellbinding Hive for my Altar Space.

I collected a whole bunch of dandelion stems, that had already gone to seed and hung them up to dry. Once they were nice and crispy, I began braiding them into one long braid and startet sewing it to itself.

I’m currently in the process of forming the basket-structure. The next step will be to form the face/mask and attach it to the finished miniature hive.