Fort Building 101
January 8th, 2008
Last night, I was feeling a bit cranky, so I took my laptop and sketchbook into bed and camped out there for awhile. I did some work on my website, adding some of my latest art pieces to the store and then I did some sketching for some pieces I'm working on for the upcoming "Tiny Enormous Show" at Nahcotta next month.
Sketching and working while surrounded by cozy pillows and kitties was a nice change of scenery. It reminded me of staying home sick when I was little and making a fort of blankets and pillows under the kitchen table. I'd lay under there with my jammies on and draw. Sometimes I'd pull the phone in there with me and call up my grandparents to say hello.
I love forts made of big fuzzy blankets still. Like a snow fort, but without the cold or a fort we'd make in the woods, but without the bugs, a cozy indoor fort is a fantastic place to re-connect with your childlike self, imagine, day-dream, draw, nap, journal, meditate, listen to music or just plain relax.
It can be hard for us adults to find excuses for fort making. We figure, why make such a mess? What will my husband think? What will my kids think? Well, they may think you're weird, but that's not such a bad thing. 
Tell me, if you were to make a fort, what would you make it with? Where would it be? What would you bring into it with you?
10 Responses
Ha! This post made me smile. There are gale force winds tonight and earlier this evening I was considering how nice it would be to have a fort to shelter in! I’ve only been living here a few months and this is my first storm. I’m on top of a small mountain and get the full force of the wind at the best of times but still I wasn’t quite prepared for just how ferocious tonight has turned out to be. And it’s been a little scary! I’ve even been considering sleeping UNDER the bed as the roof sounds like it might take off! And I only want to get swept up by a storm if it can take me all the way to Oz!
So tonight if I were to build a fort, it would have to be storm proof, very cosy, and come with a plentiful supply of coffee and chocolate. And a good book to read, of course:)
Posted by: Bad Faery | Jan 8, 2008 at 9:05 pm |
Oh boy I like this one! My favorite fort is the weeping cherry tree in my backyard! My boys and I love to have picnics under it’s thick canopy in the summer. We pretend that faeries live in it and come to join our feast. It may not be fluffy but it’s definitely comfy!
Posted by: thirteenmoons | Jan 8, 2008 at 9:08 pm |
WOW – your entry brought back great memories of so many forts we had when I was growing up….always felt safe – had fun…let our imaginations run wild in them…also when it was lousy outside…our forts were blankets on the bed….used to bring in books, or paper and stuff to write with – draw with…
Thanks for sharing – the memories are lovely
Peace–Ellie
Posted by: ELLIE | Jan 8, 2008 at 10:05 pm |
When I was a kid in Alaska–we made snow forts outside. We made huge snowballs then stuck them together with more snow until we had high walls all around—then we made big piles of small snowballs and had a snowball fight until our stash of snowballs was used up….guess I would make a snow fort, if I had the chance now, but I live in California where it never snows (sigh)
Posted by: aurora fox | Jan 8, 2008 at 11:34 pm |
My goodness, Wikipedia has an entry for everything!
If I made a fort, it would be out of the many blankets and throws we have in the house, and I would use the tall-backed dining room chairs in the living room as the “walls.” I would bring Claire in with me, and all her toys, and use a flashlight to make shadow animals. Then we’d curl up together and nap.
Posted by: Kathryn | Jan 9, 2008 at 12:30 am |
OMG, this is delightful! I haven’t thought about this in ages. Like others have already said, I too, loved conjuring up memories of building forts. My cousins and I used to build them with blankets that we hung from tall barstools that had a basket weave seat – they were the perfect height for the pillars. And I remember also building a fort in the snow with them in Mammoth Mountain with slides that we carved around it outside. Fun times. And I love the thought of “fortifying” ourselves as adults by creating personal sacred space and blocking out the craziness of the outside world. What I want my fort to be is converting our open shed in our backyard into a art studio/meditation room. It would be bright, clean and inviting and very zen! My own little sanctuary right in my backyard.
Posted by: Jenn | Jan 9, 2008 at 1:29 am |
yummy fun…i did build forts as a child, mostly under the dining room table. now that i have twin four-year-old girls, we are starting to build our own forts together. can’t build them under our pedestal-style dining room table, so we’ve opted for the grand piano. it makes a great fort! we get under there with our flashlites and read books. so much fun. childhood should last forever….
Posted by: Kelly Warren | Jan 9, 2008 at 9:45 am |
My fort would be made out of all of the handmade quilts and afghans that people have given me over the years…and my kids, my husband, and my dog. We would be under the big old dining room table that came with the house. We would eat cheddar bunnies and cuppy cakes. And drink juice. Lots of juice.
Posted by: Sarah | Jan 9, 2008 at 10:37 am |
As as child in the midwest we would make forts out of a snowdrift by tunneling in from the side, then we would make a variety of rooms, and in one or of those rooms we would tunnel up and make fort walls where we would have snowball wars. I now live in sunny Florida and haven’t seen snow since forever and wonder how me managed not to somother outselves.
Posted by: Rebecca | Jan 9, 2008 at 7:12 pm |
A fort, huh? Man, that’s been a while. My fort would have to be part tree, part grass with a bed of flowers nearby and a bed of herbs at arm’s length, too. The sun would have to dance through the leaves so I would be warm but not hot and cool but not cold. There is a ridiculously HUGE pile of blank journals, lined and unlined, a sweet new set of markers, a book of prayers and poetry, a pile of dark chocolate, an unending tureen of delicious dark roast coffee with cream and sugar perfectly blended. There is a lovely pile of pillows, too, because I get uncomfy quite quickly.
That’s it, I’m never leaving this place.
Posted by: tammigirl | Jan 11, 2008 at 7:55 am |