It started as a three-panel shoji screen headed for the trash -- the rice paper was befouled by an old and sick beloved kitty. It had been in the laundry room for two years, stuck in a corner. Then that corner became my Gardening Shed and the screen was in my way.
But just before I dumped it, I thought "trellis".
Two of the panels went into almost immediate use, just by removing the rice paper and shoring them up with garden stakes.
But I had an idea for the third one -- to dig out all my stained glass equipment, cut simple rectangles of glass and tart up the shoji screen. I didn't want anything too complicated because I haven't done any stained glass work in 10+ years.
So I cut all my pretty little rectangles, was thrilled with my design, and carried the cut rectangles out to where I'd set up my grinder. And halfway there, I dropped the stack of glass.
I was devastated -- I didn't have any more of the stringers and frit glass I'd chosen. I wept, swept the glass into a trash bin, and then left the project alone for a couple of days.
Then I re-cut some new glass. And I hated it. I cut some different glass. I hated it.
And then it occured to me to return to the trash bin, dig out those broken bits of glass, get out the soldering iron and do some real stained glass work. My cutting and soldering isn't up to what it once was, but I'm still pretty darn happy with the end product. ;)
