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Summer School... Really???

6/28/2022

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 sent 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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Summer School... Really???

Even A Princess Needs a Crown...

Letting the inner glow shine...

Dulbbe looks deep ? ? ?

Greetings

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