Born on the pavement of the Motor City. Literally.

It started like this;

Do you see the photo above, where a small piece of orange reflector is glued to the taillight of my 23 year-old Toyota Camry stationwagon?

I discovered this problem my first week in Detroit, five years ago. 

The moment i saw the hole in the plastic lens, as me and Maxx (my wonderful old pooch) walked past the car, I worried about being stopped in this, my new home-town.  
I didn't have it in New York. If I did, I would have been ticketed yesterday, if you get my meaning. 

That's why, "the cracked tail light," has forever-been used as a legal-device in the real world, as well as a dramatic device in movie and TV scripts. 
Fortunately, street-sweepers haven't visited this block in a long time (though they have since), so I spied small red and orange plastic shards at the curb by the corner. 

That's where accidents happen; at the intersection of Crash street and Crunch avenue. 

From then on, if I saw any auto accident-plastic; red, orange, white or clear plastic shards connected to whatever housing was with it, I'd pick them up.

Maybe it replaced the "sea-glass," collecting hobby I had for years at Gateway National Park on the east coast.

Back then, I wanted to make something along the lines of a tiffany lamp.

Now, over four years in Detroit, I had a box of plastic shards and pieces, along with broken tail light assemblies, gaskets and other auto-ephemera. Looking at it, I thought the same thing; maybe I'll make an automotive-angled tiffany shade. 

I started the project last autumn and immediately stopped it.
Too much, too soon.
A few days later, walking through a dollar-store, there they were;
small, inexpensive night-lights that I could learn, practice and re-create with this stuff...! 

You can buy them practically anywhere and most lights and lenses are interchangeable.

Dollar Tree, Home Depot, Lowe's and practically any $.99-cent and-up store has them, costing between one and two dollars. There, now you know where to go if the light goes out!

This is not to say i won't be doing bigger pieces.

I've already started making sconces, assorted light-fixture housings, globes...etc.

One other thing;
I no longer wander Detroit streets and avenues looking for fender-benders, like I did in the beginning.
I go to scrap yards now.

I love scrap yards....and in June, they decided to show the love back!

Thank you Parts Galore !!!!!

We became friends and they even gave me a tee-shirt!