I paid a visit to The Glass Shoppe in Lower Hutt this morning to buy some copper foil, solder and solder flux.
The nice, friendly salesperson asked all about my project. The point was made yet again about just how ambitious I've been to take on a lampshade. He actually said, "That's like going to the Olympics when you just start playing sport!". I asked him what people normally begin with, and he said it depends on the sort of person you are; some people just like to dive straight into difficult projects. That made me feel slightly better, although truthfully, I still don't know just how hard a lampshade will be to make. I chose it simply because I wanted to make something pretty and functional.
I'm feeling rather frustrated now, however. Not because of how hard I can expect my project to be, but because I can already see that the lampshade is not going to be anywhere near as pretty as I had hoped. The pieces are too large and the shape frankly quite ugly. I should have asked Greg more questions and put more thought and planning into the design. If I had known that I was not going to be able to finish the lampshade this term anyway, I would probably have picked a different design, something more for its aesthetic than its simplicity to make.
Never mind, this is only my first project. I hope there will be more to come.
