Bloop

The most tactile of my animal sculptures has to be the puffer fish. It seems there is an almost irresistible force that makes people reach out and touch their spiney surface. It’s like we know that the spines will be sharp and poke us but then we want to make sure so we reach out and touch them to actually feel the poke.

I guess it’s part of how we learn as humans. We don’t know what ‘hot’ is until we experience it by touch, or what a cotton ball feels like if we pinch it. From the time we are little we learn by touch, connecting what we see with what we feel so that eventually we just know what something will feel like by looking at it. Even so, we still need to touch that puffer fish!

Since the puffer is a highly poisonous fish, which should never be touched as there is no antidote to their toxin, it’s good that we have my sculptures to touch instead. My little guy in today’s piece is harmless, so touch away!

In Japan, puffer fish are called fugu and are a very expensive, delicious treat. They are prepared only by trained, licensed fugu chefs. When I chaperoned my one of my daughter’s trip to Japan, some of the kids would try to order it when we had sushi. I think it was kind of a dare –luckily it was never on the menu at any of the places we ate. It would have been an uncomfortable place for me to be as a chaperone to let one of my charges eat a poisonous fish, even one prepared by a master chef.

My newest puffer sculpture, Bloop, is squeezing its way out through a porthole. I am so happy with the way this guy fits the opening – good planning combined with a little luck! I’ve layered two glazes to really emphasize the spines popping out as the fish inflates. He’s got a dark blue body with rusty orange spikes and is quite eye catching.

I am finding that the odder the found object the more interesting the finished fused piece turns out and this one is truly a one-of-a-kind. I have no idea why someone mounted a porthole onto what looks like an award stand but it captured my attention the moment I saw it. It took me a bit to know that it would be a puffer swimming out of it but once I had that image in mind, I knew it would be a special piece.

I had to add a piece of heavy steel to the back of the wood block to counterbalance the weight of the fish swimming through. Thank goodness for my machinest friend, Ann. I call her with the oddest requests and she always comes through for me. Sometimes the internal technical parts that don’t show in the finished piece make all the difference to the successful outcome.

So, here’s to spreading a little joy to the world, one puffer at a time!

Do you have a favorite fish?