I think for me, it is certainly "necessity is the mother of
invention". I am great at using tools and materials for things they
might not be considered for by their respective manufacturers.

I make a lot of different things I use in the shop or on the job
because I am too impatient to go buy them, and something inside me
likes the challenge of designing and making my own jigs a fixtures.

I don't really have too much of an artistic leaning to a lot of the
things I do, but I enjoy the practical aspects of solving a puzzle. I
would figure out how to make a make a jig to cut extreme angles on
trim before I would ever think to make your articulated chain.

I think my artistic inspirations (such as they are) are generated by
me seeing a shape or construction method or idea of something I like,
then going back to the shop and workging out the details to make my
own version.

Robert