A new design for Green Hive Honey's Bees Knees

Here is the original 40 oz jar and label design of "The Bees Knees" from Green Hive Honey Farm of Camden, Maine. Just recently Magy and Clay decided to do some smaller jars containing 1lb of the delightful elixir so a new jar was resourced and a new label needed - a much smaller, rectangular one. So the original was 3.3" diameter thus:

...a nice amount of space to fill - and the new size is 2.5" deep by 1.5" wide rectangle - a mite trickier to work with and get all the visuals and the necessary type in - but I rose to challenge and here is the result:

Front label

Back label

Luckily - or smartly for I am being humble - I had originally created all the attendant motifs for the design and logo as individual parts when I painted them in watercolour so after I had scanned and cleaned them they are easy to move around as necessary and resize for new layouts.

I printed the labels up on full sticky sheets and cut them out individually with my trusty Xacto and a cutting board that is as old as the hills.

Don't you love the way they look all laid out together - they look like old fashioned trading cards or the cards one - not me but one -  used to get in cigarette packets in another age.

...and here are the new jars filled and ready to go off to "Fresh off the Farm" in Rockport - see the Green Hive there in the background?

A new design for Green Hive Honey Farm.

Green Hive Honey Farm of Camden, Maine found some lovely 1lb Muth bottles for their delicious raw honey and asked me to redesign the original label (see a few pics down) to suit this new silhouette - an arched label for the front and a narrow label to hold the ribbon around the neck.

The neck label layout and a mock up of the finished (unfilled) bottle

 I printed up 120 of each of the new labels and I love how they look all laid out together like this - each of the arched labels were cut out by hand - always more service than seems necessary!!

 Seeing the design laid out like that above gave me the idea to do a textile design for my Spoonflower print-on-demand store and below you see the result of this idea.

 

 Above is the original label and below a print I created from all the component motifs which is available as an archival print from my Etsy shop.

These lovely Muth jars filled with wonderful Green Hive Raw Honey is available from Fresh Off the Farm in Camden.

Pure beeswax, lavender buds and lovely ribbon

Have you ever smelled pure beeswax? It is a beautiful and cozy aroma and is such a lovely warm colour too. Our good friends Magy and Clay owners of Green Hive Honey Farm of Camden, Maine were wondering what to do with all their beeswax and James and I came up with the idea of custom sculpted beeswax tablets scented with lavender oil and scattered with Maine lavender buds.

 The first step required  James sculpting a special mold for the beeswax...as you can see he included a beautiful big bee and one of Green Hives' iconic flowers on a background of comb hexagons - nice job James!

Then we sourced some lovely, soft lavender coloured ribbon to hang the tablet by (don't hang it anywhere hot or in a window that gets too much sun...it will melt!!) and I created the custom packaging and a nice new label for "bee fragrant"

Here is the first tablet wrapped and ready to go in Green Hive Honey's favourite pink tissue paper...you know you want one...you can order from this page of the website....it makes an awfully nice gift from Maine made by Maine bees from a Maine company sculpted by a Maine artist with packaging and label designed by a Maine designer...YEA!!

The Bees Knees revealed....

Green Hive Honey of Camden, Maine has a new product and I am the happy one who had the enviable task of designing a new label for The Bees Knees "A Sweet Arthritis Remedy"!! Yea for me....below is the original label/logo I created for their raw honey and we used this as the starting point for the new label which will be categorized in the
Bee Healthy section of their business.

First I created the handpainted type, as you see below...something I derive a great deal of pleasure from, type and fonts have always fascinated me and remind me of the days when I worked in a commercial art studio hand laying Letraset by the ream, what a different world that was a couple of centuries ago or so it seems.

Next I silhouetted the banner from the original watercolour painting of the Green Hive Honey logo....

 

...then I found James' lovely drawing of a pretty bee to add to the label....

and THEN I scanned, cleaned and corodinated, or even coordinated although I do like the word corodinated - all the component pieces in wondrous Photoshop...which allows me to add the small type and not drive myself insane with drawing minute type.....we choose to use a pale yellow background and a round label to differentiate the regular eating honey from the beneficial honey...and Ta Dah...here is the label

Then off to do the photoshoot for me to upload to Etsy and James to do a new page on the website - just couldn't resist a pink background here

A little still life of jar, lettering and labels for the soothing of thine eyes!!

Green Hive Honey Farms Valentine's Special Edition packaging..."Honey BEE Mine"

 

Here is the finished product "Honey Bee Mine" how can you resist buying this for YOUR Honey for Valentine's Day? A jar of Green Hive Honey Farms Raw Honey with 4oz of delicious Honeycomb, a special label, a heart shaped tag, a cellophane bag, dried rosebuds, a sparkly ribbon and the inestimable addition of a handmade tissue paper

paeonia on the top?

 I started by designing a special label based off the original design I created a few months ago...of course it still had to be on a pastel pink background but this time we choose a round label because of the softness of the shape...no sharp corners here!

Next I created a heart shaped hang tag which is tied with a ribbon to the package - you can write your love note on the back...how sweet!

Above is one of the first try-outs which was greatly liked but not practical for packing or shipping and the label was just to get a feel for the direction 

My work surface covered in Valentine's accoutrements.....

My first two tissue paper paeonias - so easy to make - and some lovely dried rosebuds

from the Belfast Coop

 

and more paeonias...I need to make quite a lot but they are very satisfying and soothing to make... did I EVER mention how much I like pink?

 I couldn't resist sharing this picture....my favourite colour combination...YUM!!

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Creating Limited Edition Holiday Reserve Packaging for Green Hive Honey Farm

WHAT a fun project!! Here is the finished packaging for Green Hive Honey Farm's Limited Edition Holiday Reserve luscious honey with honeycomb. There are only 120 jars available of this nectar, the last bounty of a wonderful season, packaged with a special label, gift tag, hand numbered with tissue cap. You can still order your jars, ready for the Holidays, by clicking HERE:
or by e-mailing Green Hive Honey to find out where Holiday Reserve is available for sale.

First we begin with a 20oz jar of honey complete with about 4oz of divine honeycomb...isn't it beautiful??...those bees are so clever! After James and I had packaged and extensively photographed this jar we then had the chance to taste the honeycomb...it is very delicious, a tiny bit chewy at the end and surprisingly lemony...very, very good!! Can't wait to make something special with it...blog post coming when I have perfected this secret recipe...do check back!!

Here are close ups of the actual artwork...I have darkened the label background colours and changed the yellow/orange hexagonal comb, honey lettering and the outlined bee to gold...a complicated and I have to admit very clever Photoshop palaver which involved many numbers of steps...it looks gold but is actually printed in normal ink colours.

Here is the tissue 'cap' artwork gleaned from the original hand painted watercolour artwork...James drew a large honey bee for me which I scanned and reduced and added three copies to a background of more golden honeycomb.

Each little tissue cap...and remember there are 120 of them, plus a couple of extras, were hand cut ready to be lovingly applied to their jars.

 This is the layout for the outside of the hang tag which on the inside has one of three different excerpts of poetry/prose about bees, see below, and a place to write TO: and FROM:. As you can see pictured below a gold medallion was added to the white space on the tag and is hand written with it's number in the series.

The final touches are an antique golden ribbon secured with another gold medallion printed with the graphic below....

 

But, for the point of wisdom, I would choose
    To know the mind that stirs between the wings
    Of bees...
    GEORGE ELIOT, 1868

We have chosen to fill our hives with honey and wax; thereby furnishing mankind
     with the two noblest of things. which are sweetness and light.
   JONATHAN SWIFT

  The pedigree of honey
     Does not concern the bee;
     A clover, any time, to him
     Is aristocracy.

   EMILY DICKINSON

Steamed Cranberry Pudding with Green Hive Honey Sauce for Thankies!!

Oh no!!! I appear to have steamed up the whole neighbourhood!!

Actually this little delight only takes about 1/2 hour of steaming instead of the usual 3 hour puddings I make here on my blog so one doesn't have to wait until the cows come home for Steamed Cranberry Pudding with Green Hive Honey Sauce to be ready. This pudding is both bright and subtle...is that possible, it is not very sweet but you can add more sweetness by either changing the fresh cranberries to dried sweetened ones or add a few tablespoons more of sugar or honey to both the pudding and the sauce? I have added more sweet than the original recipe, so that couldn't have been sweet at all, which is actually a combination of a couple of recipes from

"Good and Wholesome Honey Recipes" by the American Honey Institute...a goodly book with some nice old-fashioned recipes therein.

 

The jewel like pudding with it's crown of lemony honeyfied goodness on the top.

A celebration of my disorganized cooking method which involves covering every possible surface with every kitchen implement known to man and sticky powdery ingredients...all without tidying up first...I just have to accept that I am a messy worker both as a baker and an artist and that's an end of it!!

  

 I like the looks of the cranberries halved and ready to be tossed in the sifted dry ingredients...I suppose you could use dried sweetened cranberries if you don't like the brightness of fresh from the bog ones, I would even keep the quantity the same in dried as in fresh.

 

 And now for the recipe....

THE CRANBERRY STEAMED PUDDING

This makes enough for two nice sized puddings, I used two pudding bowls of 1 cup capacity, 4" diameter Mason Cash #54 if that means anything to anyone...a good sized portion for a hearty eater...big enough for two who are already full to the gills with turkey, gravy,

mashed potatoes and the rest...

First avail yourself of a double boiler and get the water up to heat, simmering in readiness:

1 tablespoon/ 1/2oz butter

1 1/8 cup/5ozs white flour

1 cup fresh cranberries halved (when you wash them in a big bowl of water you can discard the ones that sink...they are not good)

1/2 cup/4 fl ozs whole milk

1/3 cup/4ozs honey...of course I used raw Green Hive Honey as I just finished designing their label and their honey is divine!!

4 tablespoons sugar

1/2 an egg beaten...yes I know half an egg!...but I cut the recipe in half for just two puddings - one for me and one for James or we'd HAVE to eat two puddings each and that's just too much temptation.

1 teaspoon almond extract/essence

1 teaspoon ground ginger and 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 slightly heaped teaspoon baking powder

1. Sift dry ingredients together.

2. Toss the halved cranberries in the dry ingredients and then remove from the flour mix shaking excess off.

3. Cream the butter 'til nice and soft.

4. Add sugar and continue creaming.

5. Add honey in 3 batches and cream, cream, cream.

6. Add half of egg and CREAM.

7. Add a third of the sifted dry ingredients and alternate with a third of the milk until everything is added and you have a smooth batter.

8. Fill already buttered pudding bowls about 3/4 full and cover with waxed or parchment  paper rounds and secure with an elastic band.

 

  One of the puddings ready to be popped into the steamer for her 1/2 hour sauna.

During this time you can make up the sauce...see below below..

 

 Like two puddings in a double boiler...nice and toasty warm!! Good for a foggy day in Maine.

 

 Here's how your pudding will look when you remove it from the pan and then remove the paper...it will look a bit sticky and gluey but it's OK that's just the top. Use a toothpick to test for doneness...stick the toothpick deep into the pudding and if it comes out clean...with no uncooked batter remnants on it...then it is done.

After about 10 minutes out of the steamer cover the pudding with it's final receptacle and turn upside down to deliver if from it's pudding basin...and thus you have the little treasure seen below.

 

The Honey Sauce Recipe:

1/4 cup/4 tbsp/2 oz butter

1/4 cup/3oz honey

4 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp flour

1 egg

1/8 cup/1 fl. oz lemon juice (juice from an average half lemon)

1/4pt/2 fl oz UK whipping/double  cream whipped to stiff.

1. Melt butter, sugar and honey together in the top of a double boiler with gently boiling water.

2. Cream the flour with some of the egg until there are no lumps and add to honey and butter and whisk.

3. Gradually add the rest of the egg whisking all the time...be careful not to let the mix curdle or overcook...keep water on a gentle boil.

4. When mixture has thickened slightly whisk in the lemon juice and continue to let it thicken a bit more.

5. Allow to cool.

6. Fold in the whipped cream and slather on recently steamed cranberry pudding!!! Cool sauce - hot pudding - nice combo!!

Happy Thanksgiving One and All...here are some images from a foggy November day in Maine.

 See you after Thankies and we move on to Christmas!!! YEA!!!!