The twisting, bumpy road of creative thought

     One of things people say to me that drives me crazy is "oh, you are just creative". It sort of assumes you wave a magic wand and rabbits appear out of hats. Creativity, for me, is all about hard work. Sometimes I go kicking and screaming when I get an idea because I know it will be a long, bumpy road with no map.  You don't know whether you can get something out of your head into reality or will it be a dead end. But you have to do it or your head will explode.
    This latest light bulb came after becoming aware of so many quilters that I follow on blogs going through shattering times. I feel helpless to encourage them and share compassion. I had a visual idea jell in my brain with no discernible way to bring it to reality. I thought maybe if I traced its development, it would encourage someone else to keep the fires going.
    Stella Niagara, where we have our guild quilt retreat, has a teeny chapel on the Niagara River. If we get the keys, we can go inside. It has these gorgeous windows that are made from chunks of rich color transparent glass set in black grout. When viewing from inside, the light coming through is magical and glowing. I photographed this during 2021 pandemic time.

     So that was in my head. One of my favorite musicians, Chris Wilson, lost all of his bookings and income during the pandemic and was able to broadcast on Youtube live concerts twice a week, which became a lifeline. One of the songs Chris will sing is called, "Stained Glass" by Jim Shirey. It talks about dashed dreams and shards of glass. If "you take one step back, and let the sun shine past, you won't see shards, you'll see stained glass." You can hear and see Chris sing this if you go to 34 minutes in the video. So that was also in my head.
     As I read of deaths, surgeries, illness, and more in blogs, besides praying, I wanted to do something tangible. I make and send comfort quilts, but these people could make themselves a better quilt than I. 
     One morning I woke up and in my mind was a stained glass butterfly in a window with the sunlight streaming through. Butterflies are profoundly meaningful to me after surviving a heart attack 4 years ago. However, I have never cut a piece of glass nor wanted to. I looked through etsy and Pinterest and found that stained glass mosaics might be an answer. It had to be small as I have to mail these. It had to be held together by a frame of sort and have a hanger attached to hang on a window. I could find nothing like that.
     I wrote my idea to Vicki, who is a quilter, dyer, makes glass items and has done mosaics, asking for some help. Vicki directed me to some tutorials/videos that I viewed. She also sent me a box of glass scraps!
     I went to a local stained glass shop and brought my sketches, pictures and idea to the owner who gives workshops. I took an open studio workshop with her and she showed me how to nip shards of glass, gave me a 5 x 5 frame with clear glass, and how to glue the shards down. She recommended shards of clear iridescent glass for the background. She could not give me any help with grouting as she uses resin over the glass. I left with a butterfly glued on the glass and a new tool to nip the glass. More to continue.