Instead of buying a red rose, Luelan Bodden is giving his wife a very special Valentines gift – a giant pink rose made from the insides of conch shells.

It’s the 20th conch sculpture that Mr. Bodden, 43, an electrician by day and artist by night, has made over the past two years. Other recent conch wonders include a huge wolf’s head, the idea of which came to him in a dream, he says, and a special (pink) Blue Marlin.

“It took me five days to make it, and three days of sketching it, trying to figure out how to make it,” he said.

“I’m fascinated with the different shades of pinks. It kind of reminds me of romance,” he added.

“I use an electric grinder with a diamond blade on it.

“We men have to try to do more for our girlfriends or wives. We have to make more effort producing in the gifts than them- they receive.

“This is my way of showing my wife that I appreciate her – to show her I can actually build her a flower without buying one,” he said.

Mr Bodden, who has been making unique works of art ever since being inspired by an Art@Governors show, has plans for an upcoming project:

“My goal is to see if I can collect some money off these conch shell pieces by selling them because I have a controversial piece to do – based on technology.

“Its about a spider and the web that’s taken over the world with technology. We humans, specially young people are consumed with technology, and young people have stopped communicating with
each other.

“Its going to be a web, made out of coconut mesh, that’s covering the whole world, with a spider over America, and a snake over Africa, and the spider bites the snakes head off and wears the crown.”

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