How to Make a Skep for Beekeeping

The dome-shaped bee hive associated with early beekeeping is a controversial method of cultivating honey today due to the destruction to the hives often necessary to acquire its products. Wooden box hives are most often used in backyard beekeeping and larger commercial institutions because of the ease of acquiring the honey and the humane conditions for the bees. Decorators still like to mimic the traditional bee hive look and authentic straw skeps can be made at home.

1 bushel basket of wheat, oats, rye, barley or gathered grass
1 spray bottle of water
Scissors
Binding (twine or split reed)
Bucket of water (if using split reed)
Large needle (examples: either an awl to poke holes or a letter opener with a hole in the end)
Sturdy funnel with a one inch opening

Instructions

- 1
  Gather your straw or grass in a handful and even out the ends by tapping them loosely on a strong surface. Make sure the heads of straw have been cut off.
- 2
  Fill the opening of your funnel with your straw or grass completely until it is tight and leave 3 inches of your material sticking out of the convex side of the funnel.
- 3
  Thread the binder by tying the twine or reeds to the end of your large needle. Some letter openers have holes at the bottom and make excellent needles for this purpose. Soak the split reeds after threading and before continuing to use it as a binder.
- 4
  Insert the threaded binder into the exposed bundle of material, or the coil, and wrap it five times around the bundle tightly before tying it down. This binds the coil.
- 5
  Wrap the binder around the coil as you push your straw or grass through the funnel. The binder should be spaced a half-inch apart and pulled tight around the bundle of material. You will be wrapping the coil towards the funnel. Wrap one foot of coil at a time.
- 6
  Begin to shape your skep by coiling your straw or grass coil around itself tightly to create a small circle with a 2-inch diameter, or a little larger if 2 inches is too difficult. This is the smallest part of the skep. You will be expanding on this beginning circle and threading the coil to itself as you go.
- 7
  Create more coil as needed by pushing more material through the funnel and wrapping the binding around it.
- 8
  Widen the circle by adding coil in larger and larger layers. Use a single stitch every inch or so to attach the coil to the layer above.The added layers will begin to create a bowl, or dome shape. This is the top part of the skep.
- 9
  Stop widening the dome once it gets as large as you desire. Keep layering the coils but keep them on top of each other to create a wall straight down until the skep is the desired height.
- 10
  Tie off the last handful of coil by wrapping the binder five times and threading the needle into the coil. Cut your binding from the needle and tie it to the coil.

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