Guinea Pig, anyone?

I know, this isn't really a legitimate post because I don't have anything critical or inspirational or even slightly important to say or share. However, I love this little piggy so much, I had to put him here. I put him up in my Etsy shop last night.

Which brings to mind something that actually is legitimate to discuss. (See, I knew there was a point to all of this!) In an interview recently I was asked where I get the inspiration for some of my beads, like 'Bacon & Eggs', 'Coffee & Donuts' and 'Sock Monkey'.

Well....um.... I like, look around my house, you know? I mean, sometimes I'll see something that is so mundane - so absolutely ordinary - that I just think it would make the most hysterically funny bead ever. Seriously, there are beads that I make that, when they're finished, I'm literally standing at the kiln laughing at them. I don't know, I guess I have a dumb sense of humor.

I do occasionally make intentionally 'weird' beads, too. Like monsters or silly characters. But those never strike me as being quite as funny as my everyday, ordinary stuff made mini.

And it's these beads, these silly little sculpturals - that keep lampwork fresh for me. It used to bother me that I seem to have a split-personality when it comes to beadmaking - half deadly serious and half whimsically ridiculous. I wanted to have a 'signature'. I wanted people to look at my work and say,"That is a Laurie Whitney bead. I'd recognize her work anywhere."

But now, not so much.

Because I use a completely different part of my brain to design and create this:

than I do for this:

It exercises my creativity, stretches my abilities and keeps my job from being too much like work.

What about you? What do you do to keep it fresh? Where do you get your best ideas?