Beaded Hemp Necklace, Tiny Tale, and Hint of Tye Dye

From Leah -

One of my bosses at work had me make his fiance a necklace. He told me what colors she'd like, and is paying me to make it for her. :)

It's actually Playdough beads I mold together and let dry, and then I added clear glue to them, and then the necklace is braided out of hemp cord.

We make a lot of these. I have sold a few now.

From Sarah -

Here's my tiny tale, and an illustration I did for it. I think it needs one or two more or something, but this is all I got around to, and I'm glad I was able to finish! :)

~~~~~
Once upon a time, during the reign of King Percy on the mirror side of the Old Country, there lived a boy named Leonardo. He was a prince, the youngest of the two sons of King Percy. Most unfortunately, a war broke out between the Mirror countries, and halfway through, as it looked as if King Percy and his people would win, it was discovered there was a spy in their very midst, although they could not discern who it could be.

For a good while after Leonardo knew this, he shirked his studies to watch his family and servants closely, determined to be of use to his country although he was nine years old and mostly deaf. One day, he observed that when his mother the Queen entered the room, his brother winced when he bowed, and he thought that maybe it displeased the brother to show respect to the queen. He must have been the spy!

That night, Leonardo sneaked into his brother's room to find some evidence, but all he discovered out of the ordinary was a desk set up in his brother's armoire, strewn over with papers, pieces of plants, and strange devices. How would those help someone spy?

When Leonardo brought up what he had found at dinner, the brother's face blanched. How could Leonardo suspect his own brother of such a thing? The plants were for his studies, and he'd set up the desk in the armoire so he could lock it away and none of the servants would disturb his work in their cleaning. He had winced when bowing because he had taken a tumble after a choice flower he'd tried to pick on a hillside that morning and hit his knee on a large rock. Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, since Leonardo had raised suspicion on the prince, the aspiring botanist was locked up in the cleanest room in the dungeon to await the outcome.

Finally they found the real culprit, the kitchen maid who would sneak outside at night to tap out messages to her lover in the next town. She did not know he was a rebel, and was unaware she was giving away important information when he asked for it. The kitchen maid and her lover were hanged despite her penitent tears, King Percy's army won the war, and the brother was released from the dungeon to be reunited with his plant studies. Leonardo went back to his studies as well, and they all learned much and lived studiously ever after.
~~~~~


I did the illustration in color pencil and markers.

I tried to implement some color theory practice into my illustration as well. I used a split complimentary scheme in general, adding to the individual outfits their own complementaries and using analogous-type shades to mix it up... I think it sort of worked.

Here are some close-ups of the suspicious look on Leonard's face, and the wince on his brother's. Haha.

BONUS, my sister Leah and I did some tye-dyeing this weekend! It was super fun, but I don't have all my pictures and stuff together in time so I will post about that next week. Plus, this post would be super long, then.