A woman came into the store yesterday looking for microscope slides — of which we were, shockingly, out. I helped her find some good children’s books while she was there, and in the course of the conversation, she showed me some amazing art projects she had made with microscope slides — rather like these seen at right, or like the one in the picture at left.

Hers, however, were elaborate collages with witty captions, which she had made full-size and then scanned and reduced.

Here and here are directions for a faux-soldered similar sort of thing, but hers were not faux, and were extremely cool. Here are directions for making real ones, and here. That last link has a lot of neat examples.

Here is one more, from a site for artist Lori Roberts.

The customer had been a fashion illustrator for a Chicago newspaper before her retirement, and her skill at graphic design was evident in her projects, but I really felt, having seen them, that I could also do something with the idea. As it happens, I have done some soldering, building circuit boards in a student job.

The lady from Chicago had seen the idea somewhere, and sought out a stained glass artist, who helped her perfect the craft. She said she usually made jewelry, but had also seen wind chimes and all sorts of other things.

I am looking for a book on the subject. If you know of one, let me know, please.

Today I will be singing a solo in church and leading the hymns, and then bringing home some Texas choirboys to stay overnight. There will also be a Father’s Day celebration in there somewhere, for which I must bake a cake. So the main thing between now and church is cleaning the house.