>this is good, but you can do better. MORE please!
Of course I can _do_ better. That was just a toss to show how _fast_ I can work. Delving deeper into the comic subconscious we discover that the inkwell motif had already been explored in the exploits of Max Fleisher's Ko-Ko the clown. The series, combining live action, animation and stop-motion cinema was called "Out of the Inkwell." You can imagine from whence Ko-Ko emerged and to whence he returned in each short.
http://www.silentera.com/DVD/outoftheInkwell1DVD.html http://www.dvdtoons.com/reviews/223
I'll let you in on a trade secret if you promise not to disclose it to anyone... ever! It is the first line from Jean Genet's Querelle.
*"The notion of murder often brings to mind the notion of sea and sailors. Sea and sailors do not, at first, appear as a definite image -- it is rather that "murder" starts up a feeling of waves.*"
A demonstration of how it works:: The notion of ______ often brings to mind the notion of ___ and ____s. ___ and ____s do not, at first, appear as a definite image -- it is rather that "____" starts up a feeling of _____.
Which, inserting "inkwell" into the first blank, gives us: The notion of inkwell often brings to mind the notion of cat and boots. Cat and boots do not, at first, appear as a definite image -- it is rather that "inkwell" starts up a feeling of shoe polish...
And there you have it: Warren's Blacking the image of the cat hissing at its reflection in the highly polished surface of the boot. Now how you wrangle this image into something to do with iron works and puddlers is your business (and your cartoonist friend's). I just evoke the spirits, it's up to you to harness them.
Now you try it. Remember the magic sentence: "The notion of puddlers... (I get "ducks" for the feeling but you might come up with something different).
The Sandwichman