Whilst on a drawing trip during her time at Cumbria College of Art and Design Nicola became fascinated by the wonderful colours and textures on the fishing vessels in Maryport Harbour. Back in her studio at the college she set about trying to recreate the rusting, flaking colours of the ships in clay. Having successfully experimented with surface texture and glazes she developed a range of ship forms as a vehicle to carry her colours and texture. Having produced an extensive range of designs for boat forms she was inspired to create submarine shapes after reading about the submarine works in Barrow in Furness. Submarines have continued on from that point to be the core of Nicola's work. These subs do indeed float in the bath (upside down)