Thinking about insects and plants was an important part of the creative process, but the insects were made intuitively without predetermined forms. The insects are not meant to represent real nature, the specimens are human-made objects created from explorations concerning plants and animals. The geographical landscape of plants, insects and humans was also an influence to the creation of the collection. Some of the insects specimens were formed with plant parts gathered from geographical areas including a Taco Bell parking lot in Oakland, and a small town in China. A taxonomy describing each specimen in the collection often refers to the locations where the materials used to create each specimen were gathered.
Pollen is accumulate into the basket area where it is transported safely back to the hive.
Cast beeswax bottles create the system's storage for various flower specimens. Beeswax is produced by honey bees, and functions as a containment device in nature by the way it holds a hive. Casting beeswax into bottle forms is a method of incorporating the natural containment characteristic of a bee hive into a human containment device. The idea that flowers contain the reproductive means flowering plants depend on for survival is also an important concept of the Pollen Containers. Some flowers have evolved numerous devices that attract and accommodate insects for the purpose of pollination.