LION OF THE TRIBE OF JUDAH

Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals."   –Revelation 5:5

• A generous soul donated the metal, remnant from some unknown vehicle, building, tool or structure
• My nephew Levi hammered the frayed edges flat with a rubber mallet and a good dose of insanity (picture floppy blond hair flying, mad glint in the eye, crazy cackling and flailing hammer)
• Andy helped me use the vice grip and a pair of pliers to carefully fold the edges back to give it a semi-uniform and semi-safe edge
• Fritz donated his mother's cast-iron trivets, which we spray-painted silver and added as embellishments
• Wendy used a series of improvised tools to pierce holes in the metal and insert the feet of the trivets to attach the embellishments (picture more floppy blond hair flying and flailing hammer, maybe a few mild epithets)
• Sam and Lilli helped me hunt through a large shoebox full of vintage push-pin letters to find the right letters, in the right sizes
• I spray-painted them silver and laid them out. I also lost the J, found and painted another one, and 3 days later found it on the bottom of my shoe
• Wendy glued the letters in place

And that's all, folks!