Day 43 of the 100-Day Project... hello!
Today was time for me to sign and number the most recent lot of painted stones; although it's currently quite cold (38 degrees/4C) and raining, Friday calls for dry and warming so it will be the day for finishing stones! I've talked about it, but I like to get my trays full before heading into the garage to apply the finish coats.
I call these "relationship stones" representing the two related and thread that connects us
It's typically a three-day process: Finish the backs; let them dry for 24 hours, flip the stones, finish the fronts, let the whole thing dry/cure for another 48 hours (also helps diffuse the fumes/offgassing) and then I can bring them back into the house for inspection, photography, cataloging and pricing.
It's actually quite exciting to be doing these for a show and now I am more determined to continue diligently with the 100-Day project as we will need all the ready-to-sell stock we can bring.
In the meantime, we had a nice sunny and warm morning so it was spent gardening rather than doing things creative... wanted to do as much as possible ahead of the storm front which arrived around 6:00pm.
Today's stone for the Retreat Project
Day 43 Stone Painting:
As per usual, I did start the day with painting another stone for the "Retreat Stone Project." It's going pretty well, and I feel like I am "on task" here.
I briefly considered postponing further work on these until after the May 3/4 event but thought the better of it... as it would leave me only 10 days or so to finish, and that's cutting it a bit too close for my liking.
Today's painted stone is pictured above.
This might not look like much, but let's add some perspective...
Now, with a show definitely in the pipeline, part of my busy work for the day was "taking inventory," and it is now time for me to start painting some of the small stones we take to shows, and which are very popular "impulse and add-on" items.
Here's that same little stone with a US penny for size comparison!
It might not sound worthwhile to make something that's going to sell for $5 each, but it starts to make a lot more sense when someone decides to buy ten of them, in one go.
And that does happen.
4 tiny stones in my hand, painted this evening!
Day 43 Summary and Social Media Bits:
Finished multiple stones today: As usual, a Retreat Stone, and then four tiny *"Faerie Stones."
Daily Twitter/X post: Check. Picture post with a group of tiny stones.
Daily Facebook Page post: Fail. Or maybe "pass" is a better term; leaving the event announcement post at the top of the feed.
Daily Instagram post: Check. Did a "nature as inspiration" update today.
Other Stuff: As usual, this Hive post; another decent day, quite a change to start working on small stones again; Daily shoutout to 
Day 43 completed; Decent day; glad to get started on smaller stones for the show, and really looking forward to seeing the last 40 days' work in its finished glory!
Meanwhile, also feeling gratitude for the fact that all these updates are helping the 
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