My Brambles

Eavesdropping...

8/9/2022

"Grrrrr..." growled Ffion as she paced the tiles in the castle throne room. "I have got to find out what this is all about," she muttered to herself. "Dad is still down in the library and Dulbbe still has not returned!" Just then one of the cook's helpers entered the room carrying a tray of food for the King. Realizing this was her chance, Ffion took the tray and offered to deliver the meal herself. "He is currently unavailable," she told the server. "I will take it in to him."

Shortly Ffion was in the library and at the door to room 101. "I don't know how they do it. This tray is heavy," thought the princess.

On her way to the library she had to set the tray down several times both to open closed doors and to give her arms a rest. "How heavy could a sandwich be?" she had asked herself again. She was about to set the tray down again to open the door to room 101 when she noticed that it was already slightly ajar. "I think I will peak in just to make sure I don't disturb him," she decided. Looking into the partially open doorway she could see her father was standing with his back to her and was surprised to hear him arguing with someone else. "Who could be with him?" she thought. Deciding not to interrupt them, she continued to stand in the doorway, not realizing that she still was holding the heavy tray with his lunch.

"I told you already, I must know where the tablet is and who has read it!" shouted the King. "And don't tell me my question is incomplete. That is the knowledge I seek!" As her father started pacing in front of the table he had been standing by, Ffion realized that he was yelling at a crystal ball. Normally this would not surprise the princess as crystal balls were a common thing in a magical land, but she had never seen one with a Dragon in it!

In response to the king, the crystal replied, "The Dragon tablet in question contains the History of the Nyte Shades and the Enlightenment of the Dragons. It also contains knowledge of Dragon magic and it's transformations. As all the Dragon tablets knowledge is contained in this crystal sphere, the location of the tablet is known but not who may have accessed that information," continued the crystal ball. "Now that is something," thought Ffion, but before she could say anything to let her father know she was there, the crystal continued. "The tablet is in a pocket."

"What do you mean - in a pocket? I know that a Borrower has the tablet and that it is probably carrying it!" growled the King as he slammed his hand on the table making the crystal shake. "But where is it at is what I need to know!" The only response the King received was "Your question is incomplete. What knowledge do you seek?"

Realizing that she was not going to overhear anything new about the Dragon tablet other than what she had already heard through her father's yelling, Ffion decided she had better let him know that lunch was served...

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The Royals and their Minions...

8/2/2022

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While Dulbbe is following up with the address tag on the key he found in the tunnel to see who this Arnie is, Drat, with his connections, has already figured out who has the Dragon book and is waiting at Arnie's home. "Oh no! There is Dulbbe. Why is he coming here?" Drat thinks to himself. "Is the Shadows' King now involved too? This tablet is moving up to how important it really is," sighs Drat.

Meanwhile, Druzzy, the Troll King, and Hir'aeth, the Gooblin King, are both in their throne rooms wondering why they have not heard back from their minions. "I must have that tablet," mutters Druzzy to himself and not for the first time grumbles about replacing Drat if he doesn't show up soon. Hir'aeth, on the other hand, is thinking of ways to embarrass Druzzy by getting the book first. "I can picture the look on that stupid Druzzy's face when I get that Dragon tablet. Wonder what would happen if I was to then give it away to that little Wish Dragon, Hungry?" chuckles the Gooblin King. "It will be bad enough for me to get it first, but even worse to give it away... old Troll face will be burning red!"

As the others are out looking for the Borrower with the Dragon tablet, still others are stuck waiting for answers and some of them were not waiting very patently with their tempers fraying just a little...

"This is driving me crazy," growls Ffion as she paces the throne room waiting for Dulbbe to return with some news. "Dad has gone and locked himself up in the library with some stupid crystal ball and I have to stay here waiting for anyone to return with news. I might just have to start training some minions myself since Dulbbe is one of Dad's."

While Ffion is wearing out the tiles from her pacing, Hunter, the Shadows' King, is in room 101 of the library seeking the crystal ball that Dulbbe had just recently discovered. Hunter is so concern about losing the Dragon tablet and that a Borrower is now involved, that he is distracted enough not to realize that the green cloth that normally covered the crystal is now laying on a nearby table. "Where is that tablet?" the King muttered to himself. Since the crystal was uncovered it responded with "Your question is incomplete. What knowledge to you seek?"...

Speaking of Dulbbe, he found his way to the address that he discovered on the back of the key tag and was now waiting at the door after knocking several times. "The Borrower must not have returned yet," he realized. Soon he decided to hide behind a bunch of bushes to wait for the Borrowers so he could catch Arnie when she returned. Little did he realize that close-by another minion had also been watching the Borrower's cottage and was now watching Dulbbe too.

"Hmmm. Now it appears another is in the game. The problem is do I tell Druzzy?" pondered Drat, the Troll King's minion. "At first I thought the King only wanted the book to brag about, but lately he has been acting stranger than usual." As Drat was used to waiting for a King, waiting for a Borrower to return home was not a problem. Taking a small sandwich out of his knapsack, he ate silently while watching both the cottage and the rock troll hiding in the bushes. "I must remember next time to pack cheese sandwiches instead of sticky jelly ones," he idly thought before taking another bite.

While Drat sat and ate, the Troll King was plotting what he would do when the Dragon tablet was finally delivered to him. "That stupid Gooblin King's eyes will bulge when he sees that I have the tablet. Finally I will have the power to destroy him!" laughed Druzzy. "The power it will give me will make me the ruler over all of these realms as I know one thing that Hir'aeth doesn't. The tablet is supposed to be the secret of Dragon magic and with that, I will be Ruler Supreme," Druzzy said as he smiled. "I am a busy troll as I have an Empire to create and pillars to topple."

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Making Plans. . .

7/26/2022

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As Arnie was thinking of the things she could do to the Wysp if it was tricking her again, others in the Realms were also making plans...

"Awena, now that my son is heading back to the mansion, what is it that you are not telling me?" asked the Dowager. "After I read the story of the Nyte Shades, you changed slightly. Others would not have noticed, but I have known you long enough to tell when there is something wrong. What is it old friend?"

At first Awena could not look directly at Griselda but after a moment she lifted her head up and spoke.

"There is a prophecy about the Nyte Shades and I believe you are part of it. It was written long ago and is not very clear, but from what the Sleeping Sisters have determined about it's contents there are a Dragon, a Nyte Shade, and a Fae who will hold the key to the little Wish Dragon's fate."

After a short pause, Awena continued in a low voice, "I believe that Fae could may be you as you were the one who was able to open the enchanted book when no others could."

"I feel that you are wrong, but tell me more about this prophecy," answered the Dowager. "There are so many other Fae involved in this mess with the Dragon tablet that you must be wrong." So, as Awena and Griselda discuss the prophecy, others were also busy...

"Sir, what are we doing here in this dark part of troll town?" asked Fiddlefaddle quietly as he leaned into the Baron so no one might overhear him.

"Come on Fiddlefaddle!" chided the Baron. "We have to go in to talk to Hewy. I heard he was still playing rock and roll with a band here at the Goat Troll Tavern." He might be able to tell us more about the Borrower. Also we need to hurry so we can get back to the Mansion before mom realizes that I did not go directly back after leaving her with Awena."

"Sir, are you sure this is the best option? I have checked with some of our old friends and only one of them said that the Troll King was looking for the Borrower," asked Fiddlefaddle, the Baron's faithful BAT man.

"I still think that checking with Drat (the Troll King's top minion) might be more beneficial," he continued.

"Come on you scaredy-cat! If we talk to any the Troll King's minions or the Gooblin King's, then they will know what we are doing. Now, just follow my lead," said the Baron as he walked into the Troll bar right past the sign that read "Aged Goat's Milk Today's Special - 100 Proof" as they looked for Hewy...

"Has anyone seen Hungry lately?" asked Dewin to the others who had volunteered to be one of the Wish Dragon's teachers. "He did not shown up for his Belching Lessons this morning and you all know that he needs to learn the delicateness of control."

"Do you blame him? You should be teaching him something useful, like how to fly. So what if Hungry makes huge fires because he can't control his belching? I don't know why anyone would want to control belching." The CAT thought as he rubbed his tummy thinking of a tasty meal or two.

So where was Hungry? At the moment, he was hiding behind a tree and waiting for Nemmer and Scarlet to walk past his hiding spot. He had seen the two of them walking down the trail and he was not in the mood to have to answer any more questions. Questions, questions, questions were all that he had heard in the past several days. Every one of his teachers always asking him questions and expecting him to have the right answers (at least according to them). It was a bright sunny day and he wanted play for a while. The problem was, who to play with that would not tell him that he needed to go back to school... "I bet Meen could teach me Leap Frogg'n instead. Now that is my type of lesson!" Hungry finally decided.

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Arnie On The Trail...

7/19/2022

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As Arnie walked down the trail in the direction of the Goodies' cottage from the instructions she got from Squirrely, she was running the names of the three sisters through her head. It wasn't like she had ever met them before and the tales she had heard of them that she knew it would be good to get their names right. "Lets see. One is Goodie Good," she mumbled to herself. "Another is Goodie4U, but I just can't remember the third one."

"It's Goodie2Shues young Borrower," a voice said from behind her ear.

Arnie jumped, startled that anyone could be this close to her. Normally Borrowers are hard to sneak up on, but this time she was caught fully unaware. Turning around quickly she looked everywhere but did not see anyone. "Who said that?" she asked. "I did" was the response again from behind her. Turning around slowly this time, the owner of the voice did not hide. It was the blue Wysp!

"You! I should stick you in a jar and drop you off of a cliff!" growled Arnie. "You tricked me and I owe you one." The Wysp only stared at the Borrower, not saying a word until Arnie spoke again. "What do you want and why are you following me? Go away!"

"If I go away, how will you get in to see the Goodies? They won't see you without an appointment which can only be made through me," said the Wysp.

"Why is that? I thought the Goodies will speak to anyone?" answered Arnie even though she knew the Wysp had to be up to some kind of mischief again. "And why am I even wasting my time talking to you? You just want to trick me again."

Normally the Wysp would be thinking of another way to trick the Borrower, but this time she was way madder at how she had been magically frozen and forced to answer that stupid troll's (Dulbbe) questions in the tunnel. "I am trying to make it up to you," she sweetly told Arnie with a smile.

"Then tell me why the Goodies won't see me without making an appointment with you?" asked Arnie.

"They are very busy and by the way, it is because you are also going the wrong way. That would really mess up my schedule book by the time you figured that out," replied the Wysp. "They live on the other side of the forest." Realizing that the Wysp might be right (grudgedly she had to admit that she didn't know exactly where the Goodies lived). Leave it it to Squirrely to not know his right from his left or up from down when he sketched her this map. After all, he was a little nutty and only good for knowing where he hid his winter stashes of tasty nuts. Arnie decided that if she must, then she might as well take another chance with the Wysp.

She couldn't waste any more time in trying to get answers about this tablet. "Okay. I will follow you this time, but if you trick me again, I already have a bottle in one of my pockets that you could fit into and I know of a very high cliff to drop you off of!" Which was a tempting thought Arnie smiled to herself thinking of the little Wysp.

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The Mice & Birds Are...

7/12/2022

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While Ffion is running around naked in her room, trying to get the birds and the mice to help her dress, (for every princess should have mice and bird friends to sew their clothes and clean their houses). Alas, she has only me.

Sew (oops...) So, its time for me to warm up the sewing machine, dig out some silk material, and put on my tailor outfit.

Now I am afraid I don't let mice into the house and the birds are my hubby's domain, but I do enjoy playing with colors.

Especially my favorites of blue and purple here in Ffion's fabric. A little bit of spray and a whole lot of color... meanwhile...

Dulbbe had been making his way down the tunnel where he discovered a key.

At first he almost missed it, but then he saw a tag attached to it because Borrowers are very possessive and hate to lose anything - especially keys. So they always have a 'return to owner' tag on all their keys.

Dulbbe now knew who had been in the tunnel, but now just needed to find out where this Borrower could be. Hopefully the return address on the back of the tag would help... meanwhile...

Arnie, having made her way out of the tunnel through the hole she had found when she first discovered the Dragon tablet, threw her hands up in the air and was slowly figuring out that she might just be in over her head. Mumbling to herself, "If I knew what was good for me, I would just go and get rid of this tablet." The problem was that Borrowers really have a hard time letting something go without at least trading up, and that this was the first thing she ever had that wasn't owned by someone else (well at least through the Borrower's Chain that is).

Her friend Squirrel, hearing her mumbles, sat on a tree branch and looked down on Arnie as she climbed from the hole. "Funny you should mention one of the Goodies' sisters. Why not drop by and visit with them. You know the Goodies are always good for something. After all, they are the biggest gossips in the Realm... even more than the Twitter birds. They supposedly know something about everything."

At this point Arnie was willing to try anything! Soon she was heading off to see what goodies she could discover with the Goodie Sisters.

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Wax on... Wax off...

7/5/2022

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What does china painting eyebrows have in common with the movie 'Karate Kid'?

Every time I have to wipe off an eye brow when I am not happy with it, the saying goes 'wax off, wax on' in my head. Paint on... paint off (*lol*). Now in the long run (in the movie), the waxing was to teach the hero some karate moves.

I know with painting eyebrows it teaches me patience - as the eye brows really set the emotional look of a face. But even getting Ffion's eyebrows right wasn't enough for this character.

I love the smokey eyed look and wanted just that for Ffion. That is a challenge within itself as I have to blend several paint colors but also fire the paint in the kiln several times between colors. Otherwise the colors can all turn to into a muddy-same tone look.

Ffion decided she didn't like the "street walker" look the first time around in the painting process. This resulted in another pour, cleaning, sanding and then several china firings for her to be happy with her second look.

Ffion did at least like the synthetic mohair Monique wig I picked out for her and the shade of her eye color. They added to her sassy attitude and she isn't even dressed yet!

So yes, now on to my next couple of challenges for her. Her crown, completing an outfit she will have to approve of, and I am even thinking some wings for her.

Keep posted to see how this caterpillar comes out of her cocoon soon.

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Summer School... Really???

6/28/2022

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The King had ordered Dulbbe to follow whomever had been in the tunnels behind the waterfall in their garden. "If it is the mysterious Borrower with the Dragon tablet, bring both to me at the castle. No, change that, whomever you find, bring to me. I have some questions that need to be answered," the King had ordered.

While Dulbbe was searching the tunnel, Arnie, the Borrower, was feeling pretty gloomy. She wasn't getting any help finding out what it was that she had found and felt like she was just running around in circles... or actually very long tunnels. She realized that she needed to find someone, and soon, who could get her out of this mess she was slowly finding herself in.

In the meantime Hunter, the Shadows' King, after revealing to his daughter, Ffion, what he knew of the book that was in the tunnel before the Borrower had removed it, thought maybe it was time for her to meet the Sleeping Sisters. (That story was available to subscribers only - but it is never too late to sign-up or by sending me an email to read it).

Hunter then sent out his messenger, Meen, the Pkysee, to summon Awena of the Sleeping Sisters for an audience at his castle. "Tell her to hurry!" he had told Meen as he sent her off on the mission.

The problem was that Awena was busy with the Dowager and her son, the Baron, trying to figure out what they could about the Borrower who had the Dragon tablet. Plus, who did Hunter think he was "summoning" her to show up. "Humpf!" she thought as she heard the message.

Even annoyed about the message, Awena did know of her responsibility as a Sleeping Sister to teach Ffion of her heritage. While Meen waited in the receiving room for her response, Awena started pulling out books and scrolls to send back with Meen until she could come to Hunter's castle herself to meet with Ffion. "This will have to do until I arrive," she decided after putting another book in the small pile. Realizing that there might be too many books and scrolls for Meen to carry, Awena sent for a small satchel to put them in for the trip back to the castle. Now if Hunter had been more willing to communicate with her or if Awena hadn't felt like she could solve the problem of the Borrower on her own, a lot of confusion could have certainly been avoided, but then that would have shortened the story (*smiling*).

Meen found that the satchel she received from Awena slowed down her hopping and jumping, especially after she accidently ripped the bag hopping over a tree stump. But she also knew that the King was waiting for her return and did not seem to be in the best of moods. For once, she headed (mostly) straight back to the castle.

When Meen entered the King's waiting room with all the books and lessons she received from Awena for Ffion to start studying, Ffion walked out to hear the message from the Sleeping Sisters. Poor Meen was trying to hold on to all of the books, lessons & scrolls since the satchel had finally ripped all the way open, that some of the scrolls fell to the floor and started to unroll.

Ffion picked up the one that fell closest to her which was titled 'Awena's Primary on the Language of Flowers'. Now this could be interesting.

Then she heard Meen tell the King, "Sire. The Sleeping Sisters are not available to come now, but send these books and scrolls so that Princess Ffion may start her schooling immediately until they are available to come to answer your summons."

"Schooling! It was "summer" - who wanted to be doing schoolwork when there was fun to be had out in the Realm!" screamed Ffion in her mind. She watched to see what her father's reaction from the Sisters message would be. When he jumped up from his throne, a small smile escaped her lips... that was until she realized that the King was demanding Meen to find the Royal Tutor to begin her lessons. "Oh no. There goes summer!"

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Even A Princess Needs a Crown...

6/21/2022

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Before I started painting Ffion and creating her hair, I thought it actually would be wise on my part to maybe do her crown first. After all, one of the reasons why I bought my magical shrinking fabric was to use it for Ffion's outfit. A wig wouldn't be able to handle the heat required for this fabric and to be honest... something like a crown or hairstyle can sometimes change how I decide to paint her.

So I began to sketch out a design of sorts for the shape of her crown and when I had what I wanted, I cut it out to make a pattern.

Next I laid out my pattern on the fabric and traced it with a felt marker. You might notice that I traced it twice. Since this is 'winging it' as I like to say, when I am trying something new I never plan on it turning out right the first time... well at least not normally for me. This is what I call 'practice and learning how it is done'. *smiling* Never be afraid to try something new and don't give up after the first time if it doesn't turn out how you expected it should. Some of our greatest accomplishments come from many trials and errors.

Here is how I am developing the basic shape of the crown. Now on to painting and enhancing the Princess's magical crown.

Also if you missed my faery hats... click here to see how I played with those in the Tutorials.

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Letting the inner glow shine...

6/14/2022

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One part of my dollmaking is not only looking at the overall character but what type of character it will be. Will it be an outdoorsy type or an underground character? Does it require tattooing or a wash layer (a wash is where I paint a layer of color over the porcelain that changes the base color)?

The Blue Eemp on the left was poured in a liquid white porcelain, fired in a kiln, and then I painted it with a blue porcelain china paint to give her this magical skin tone. The other Eemp was poured in French Glow liquid porcelain which is a natural light beige tone without changing the color of the porcelain. All I needed to do after the kiln fire was to do the face painting with a blush and lip color with the eyebrows. (Remember - I also have to kiln fire the paint to the porcelain so it can't be rubbed off.)

Now Dulbbe was poured in my favorite color and the one I use the most in my characters - Tender Beige.

I like Tender Beige because it has a nice tan overtone to it like a suntan which any outdoor type of character would need. Also, Arnie is poured in this color as any Borrower running around looking for things to borrow would certainly have spent a lot of time outdoors. Especially as Borrowers don't like slinking around in the dark shadows - its undignified. They like to borrow things when others are not looking, not like a sneak thief in the night.

But ahhhh... a princess is special. She deserves a peaches and cream look to her skin tone. Something with a touch and delicacy of a beautiful rose to it. Which is why I pulled out my specialty color of English Rose for Ffion.

So why the importance to a porcelain base color? Because China Painting is all about working with translucence paints. They blend over the porcelain but they don't cover it up. The paints I choose will actually enhance this shade of porcelain and allow it's inner beauty to shine through once it is kiln fired to the porcelain. What makes my characters come to life is because their inner glow is showing through.

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Dulbbe looks deep ? ? ?

6/7/2022

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Doing as the King commanded, Dulbbee pulled his shades down on his glasses. First one, then the other as they were what helped him see that which was hidden. Each lens had a special magical purpose, but when both were used, he could see further and clearer than any normal pair of glasses would allow.

As he peered through the lenses towards the waterfall, he could see past the falling water and into the cave behind it. He wasn't sure but he thought he could just glimpse seeing something purple leaving the tunnel but that was all he could make out before it disappeared. Following the tunnel in the cave, he noticed something moving! Off in the higher part of the cave he realized there was a Wysp hovering in the air. "Your Highness, something has left the cave but there is still a Wysp in the tunnel," Dulbbe told the King as they made their way towards the waterfall.

The King commanded the water to part for him so all of them could enter and at the same time he used his magic to freeze the Wysp in mid-air. Wysps are quick and think themselves to be quite clever, but the King was in no mood to have to track it down when he knew that the Wysp would disappear.

As they approached the Wysp, still hanging in the air trying to figure out why it could not fly away, Dulbbe started asking it questions. "Was there a Borrower in the cave with you? Who was it?"

"I don't know," answered the Wysp. "Now my question, why can't I move?" Dulbbe responded by telling the Wysp that it would be able to move if it answered his questions. When the little blue imp realized that this was only temporary, it decided to stall for some more time and have a little fun with the funny looking troll before it would be able to disappear. "What are those glasses for?" it asked.

Dulbbe knew that Wysp's thought themselves quite clever and this one was no exception.

Realizing this tactic was not working, decided a different approach. Turning to the Shadows' King, he said, "Your Highness, this Wysp is just a dumb imp who doesn't know anything. I think we will have to search out the cave for ourselves since it probably is just lost in this cave."

"Lost in this cave am I," screamed the Wysp! "I would have you know that I outsmarted that stupid Borrower, tricked her into following me, and then left her in the dark at the end of the cave where all the water was. I even know her name!"

"Nevermind this one, your Majesty, it is only talking to try and get some attention," Dulbbe told the King. "Do you want me to begin the search for the Borrower or a smarter Wysp?"

Ffion, standing behind the King, had never seen a Wysp so upset. Later she would almost swear that the blue imp had turned bright red - it was that mad!

The imp was so upset that it had not even realized that the King's magic was no longer holding it frozen as it flew right up to within inches of Dulbbe's nose as it answered. "Her name was Arnie because I heard it through the trees as some nutty squirrel was shouting at her before she entered the cave. He kept squeeking away with 'Arnie, you need to put that back!' because he told her that whatever she had found would be trouble."

Hearing the Wysp's answer, immediately the King started towards the end of the cave in a run, leaving behind both a confused Ffion and Dulbbe. It was at that moment the Wysp realized that it could move and in a puff of blue smoke, vanished. "Good riddance," muttered Dulbbe.

"Dulbbe, what do you think has gotten into Dad? I have never seen him this nervous before..." Dulbbe could only shrug his shoulders before they both turned to start down the tunnel to follow the King.

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<<Previous

Eavesdropping...

The Royals and their Minions...

Making Plans. . .

Arnie On The Trail...

The Mice & Birds Are...

Wax on... Wax off...

Summer School... Really???

Even A Princess Needs a Crown...

Letting the inner glow shine...

Dulbbe looks deep ? ? ?

Greetings

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