This rose bowl was made by me around the mid 1990s to commemorate the 100th birthday of my mother, Rose in 1995 and the birthdays of Finnian Wrigley in 1993 and Freya Wrigley in 1997.
The main bowl is made from the end dome of a silicon bronze water cylinder, naturally patinated through years of use with copper sulphate residue. The radial arms and ‘spokes’ are cut from s. bronze scrap curved by the shearing action of the shear and the colour is produced by the silver soldered connection to the ring frame below. The dome was engraved by Paul Mlakar – a rather difficult and high-risk operation.
The whole assembly sits on a phosphor bronze ball-bearing carriage, but I have never been confident enough to solder it to the large dome for fear of damaging the lovely internal patina inside.
It is one of my favourite sculptures as its elegance derives from the non-formal placement of the free-form spokes and the subtle heat colouring contrast of the bronze with the copper patina below.
To be used as a rose bowl, water is placed in the blue bowl and roses with suitable stem length could be placed through the gaps in the spokes with the stems in the water.
The various units can be easily separated for cleaning but care should be taken not to scrub the patina – clean water with gentle ‘dab’ drying should be sufficient.