Finding Inspiration

At times, inspiration can be found everywhere we look; yet there are those dark days when the muses become quite elusive. There are a number of ways to make the muses linger such as keeping a journal or sketchbook, researching historic design, and our favorite... tuning in to the children around us.

We have had a harsh winter here in Appalachia. Our kids have been home from school more than they have gone and our studio time has been frequently interrupted. However, having the boys home has meant a continuous stream of creative ideas expressed without reservation.

Last week, the boys announced that our fish needed houses in their fish tank. "Great idea!", I said, so down to the studio we headed. We grabbed the essentials: clay, fettling knives, needle tools, and 'stinky glue' (paper clay slip).



We used the extruder to create the bodies of our houses. The boys attached them to 'yards', cut doorways and windows, and added roofs and chimneys. Boo even boarded over his windows after cutting them out, "in case there is a storm".



After the bisque and glaze firings, the boys' fish houses settled nicely into our aquarium. We have since decided that we need more houses and our doorways need to be just a bit larger. They also said we needed working chimneys so we can put a bubble stone in the house and bubbles will come out of the chimney.

As for my part in this, I was inspired to make these:



Mine won't be landing in the fish tank, but instead will land in our etsy shop.

Since school was called off again today, I am hoping they'll come up with another cool idea so we can all work together in the studio while the storm blows through.