March 20, 2016

Listening to the botanicals...

Ever look at a piece of wood, a rock, or now, an aquatic botanical and just know in your mind that it would look perfect in that design you're contemplating?

Yeah, we've all been there. It's as if the material is just talking to you; screaming out from all of the others on the shelf-telling you, "Yeah, I'm what you're looking for!"

People tell us that we have a lot of different materials on our site. And as an owner, sometimes, quite frankly, I wonder if we have too many. I mean, in a given 'scape, how many different materials would you want to use?

That's why we came up with our variety packs; we figured that we could put together some materials that work well together; play off each other from a structural, textural, and color standpoint. Some are designed for specific purposes, such as creating an interesting, diversified substrate- and others are for replicating a specific biotope.

We even created some new packs that are just "done"- literally "an aquascape in a bag", in which all of the materials work perfectly together, and you simply "unlock" how you want to incorporate them in your 'scape.

In the end, creating a dynamic aquascape is as much about listening to your heart as it is anything else. The materials are merely the media by which you create your art.

It's up to you, the aquarist/artist, to be open to he process; to "listen" to both your heart and the materials, to bring to life what is already there...waiting to tell a story.

You know this already, instinctively, of course. Even if you may not have thought much about it.

We're here to help you tell stories. And it starts with listening to the stories that the materials themselves are telling. A simple concept for a Sunday morning- but interesting to contemplate, nonetheless.