The Bowl

Today I took a 4.5" square flat piece of 4mm copper and hammered away for a three hours until I brought my soul as close to life as I can ever hope to.

To keep me going I offered up gentle steady hammer beats to all of those I've lost, for all of my friends who have lost those close to them and I hammered in a teardrop for every tear I've shed all of my life... so I hammered until I could hammer no more....and I calculated well over 30,000 hammer blows into the metal... Then I heated the bowl and hammered again until again I could hammer no more. I patinated to a blackish brown on the outside and green in the inside to seal in my thoughts and prayers. Three layers of beeswax later and it has now become a holder of past and future treasures... Tonight it contains only a single pair of seaglass cufflinks set in silver that I made to remind me of my life by the sea.....
It may in future hold only the space I had in my heart for the woman who gave and gave until she could give no more.... or the breath of her last cry that haunts me to this day......just saying...
I cannot sell this bowl... It represents all that is good in my life.... I will make another for a friend who will appreciate the meaning.
My blog tonight is dedicated to a fraGile frieNd...