It's really too cold to be on the back porch this morning, but I'm out here, anyway, in the big fuzzy robe I got for Christmas (I feel like Fozzy Bear when I wear it), with a cup of coffee rapidly chilling on the table.  I spent the weekend in the house, setting up a work area in the sewing room for wire and resin crafts, and I just need a little fresh air and sunshine.

My wire jewelry-making skills are slowly improving.  Two of The Granddaughters came over here Saturday night and raided the bowl into which I was tossing rings as I finished them.  None of the rings were worthy of retail sale, but the girls thought they were magnificent.  

The Granddaughters (#1 and #3) also went home with the four pastel pencil portraits I did a few months ago.  Those pictures have been piled up in the sewing room, under various stacks of sketchbooks and fabric, awaiting final tweaks that I will probably never make.  I figured it was best to get them out of here before they get ruined.  [It just occurred to me (this instant) that I never sprayed any fixative on them.  Must remedy that soon.]   I told The Granddaughters to tell their daddy to make frames for them.

This morning I have been playing with UV resin, trying to create 3-D-ish flowers and bugs that can be set into bezels and such.  I am mixing clear resin with various colorants (mica, alcohol ink, watercolor paint) to see what works and blobbing it on silicone tape, hoping I can gradually build up the shapes and peel them off the tape.  I'm not having much luck stirring up black resin that will cure hard.  My little UV lamp only works up to 60 seconds at a time, so I'm having to babysit the resin to cure it.  If I get the hang of this, I'll want a better lamp.