Baubles and Charms by the Witches of Da'Baalen

Quinn Redwater:
I'm on the road back to Ad Astra's main headquarters. The location of which I cannot write of here, but it is quite far indeed from the land I've just visited. Scotland. I've been to the land of moors and bagpipes and silly plaid skirts worn by men playing bagpipes. I was visiting a group of 7 women scattered all about Scotland, though their names and actual addresses I will not tell anyone as I'm fairly certain any one of those women would know as soon as I utter the words and would steal my wits from me the second the words were out. They call themselves the Witches of Da'Baalen and each says they were indeed the original inhabitants of the close-by Isle of Man. They left when the land was taken from them, though they will not say by whom, just that the island was forever "fouled by their presence" so they tell me.

Some years ago, I was referred to them for a very specific and potent charm by a friend within Ad Astra, who told me they are little known even among those in our tight-knit society. But that their baubles and charms he told me are the most potent and successful, but carry a hefty cost. Typically, a bit of one's own life force. Since I seem to have unlimited years, the Witches love when I visit as I'm quite generous with my payment for their gorgeous charms. These women have otherworldly talent for cutting gems, pouring their magics into them for various purposes. they fashion the charms so they may be worn or you can buy the gems alone and carry them in a pouch or pocket.

Though the Witches are quite secretive and select about who they do business with, they gave me permission to write this article. They said it didn't matter if I wrote it down for the whole world to read as long as I didn't publish their locations or names. They said beyond those two bits of information, no one would believe a word I wrote, other than the few who already know of them and are likewise sworn not to reveal their names or locations. I am only allowed to refer someone to them if I trust that person with my very life. It seems many trust me, but I am afraid I can't quite say the same, even though, being one of those with the "Bimini Syndrome" and seemingly immortal, I don''t really have need to trust anyone with my life. I have things far more important to me, though, that I don't trust anyone with; the names and locations of those 7 lovely ladies being one of them.

I've brought back with me, this trip, a sparkling giant 3/4" globe of crystal, cut by the loveliest of the Witches. I'll call her Red, as she's the only one of them with red hair. She said it's meant to draw only truth from anyone near the person wearing the charm. She added two smaller gems, which she said also protect the wearer from harm coming from any who might be upset about what they may unwillingly divulge to the wearer.

A wonderful charm for anyone surrounded by deceit, which frankly, would be nearly everyone.

Golden Dew necklace from Feynan

From the desk of Lady Winifred Jones:

Found in the fey like forests of Feynan, a land found through one of those grandly dangerous portals along the Amazon in South America, Golden Dew drops appear in the giant flora called Dragon’s Foot. A three pronged purple flower with scale like color splotches in darker purple along the sides of the plant’s stem. These plants are over 10 feet tall when fully grown and once a year, seem to weep with golden drops of dewy sap out of the center of the three petals, which curl inward and look a bit like toes with a point at the top looking ever so like a claw on each toe.

The sap is gathered and allowed to harden under water for a few days. Through this process, they turn to a stone like state, and somehow become much heavier than the sap that was placed in the water bath a few days before. Because I have quite a long and friendly history with the local winged people of this region, I am given the rare opportunity to trade with them for these precious gems. They hoard it mostly for personal adornment. Indeed, almost everyone in their villages is nearly dripping with jewelry made from these golden gems.

This necklace has been added to a necklace made with tiny glass beads one of the villages in Eastern Feynan is famous for. Their color and sparkle is second to none in the whole region.

The Feynanions attribute a multitude of “miracle” healings to wearing this gem as often as possible.

New Phoenix Feather Bracelets from the Land of Morya

Phoenix feather Bracelets:

From Dr. Jimothy O'Braughn, Explorer for Ad Astra:
As many of those within Ad Astra know, I specialize in finding and collecting the feathers of the crystal phoenixes of Morya. Their tail feathers have strange crystal formations that many use to turn into stunning jewelry pieces. Indeed, the royal families of Morya for centuries have made their jewels exclusively out of these rare specimens. The birds themselves are not rare, in fact they are quite prevalent in Morya, but their tail feathers are only "in bloom" as the locals say once every moon cycle. The tail feathers bloom on one day of each cycle and only a few drop off. To capture one of these birds and pluck the feathers is a serious crime in Morya and as many know, the Moryan prisons are not a place one wants to spend even a few hours, let alone the month long sentence most get slapped with for harming one of these precious birds. So, in order the collect these feathers, one must rely only on hunting and scavenging through the forests of Morya. The forests there are not entirely benign, being filled with various poisonous and carnivorous plants and quite large and aggressive blue bears that have been known to terrorize villagers who dare to build their homesteads close to their dens.

Whether through luck or skill, I seem to find these feathers quite easily and so far have not found myself in many situations of personal danger in Morya. I have collected many different colors of feathers, in fact, I very rarely see 2 of these birds with the same colored feathers. Making the brightest and most attractive feathers all that more valuable. The locals of Morya also attribute many healing properties to these feathers, as well as protection of the wearer from physical dangers.

The phoenix lives for around a hundred Earth years and has a full life cycle each of our moon cycles. Meaning they are hatched, grow to adulthood, and "poof" out into cinders from which an egg appears from which they re-hatch.

I have brought back several examples this trip and have shown them below:

First Two Explorer Stories

Explorers 1 and 2:

Lady Winifred Jones: 28 yrs old, a scholarly single woman born in 1853. She was born into an aristocratic family and from a young age was encouraged to make learning and education her first priority. Her father and mother were considered by many to be rich eccentrics from very old money of mysterious origins. Secretly, they were members of a magical secret society called Ad Astra focused on otherworldly exploration and personal enlightenment, while maintaining a comfortable and prosperous public profile. She graduated from Bedford College with High Honors and went on to become a famous explorer in her own right, mostly to places only heard about by members of the same very secret society her parents belonged to. So much of the rich and scholarly members of society belonged to Ad Astra that it is almost a world unto its own.

Lady Jones is known among them as having a strange and unexplainable condition that gives her extremely long life and an extremely slow aging process. There are only 4 known people who have this same condition, and while it seems to crop up every now and then in the public domain as a strange and unexplained occurrence, most modern media as well as the majority of the public has explained her persistent existence on a matrilineal line of women with the same name who have daughters out of wedlock who, from birth are “trained” to take the occupation, household and overall societal position of their mothers’. Why such an elaborate method of fraud would be used just to make it look like the same woman remains the same youthful 28 years of age she did a hundred years ago has never been explained by people offering up such explanations.

Dr. Jimothy O’Braughn: Another of these 4 people with the condition known as the Bimini Syndrome so named because some thought Bimini was one of the locations of the Fountain of Youth. He also maintains the same age and youthful appearance gained when he turned 28 years of age. He reached this pinnacle in an unknown year, but some say it was before the 17^th century. While Lady Jones has a more public persona, which society uses strange manipulations to explain away, Dr O’Brien has no public persona whatsoever. He’s known by few outside of Ad Astra and has no public record of his existence anywhere. Said to hail from Celtic Ireland originally, he was worked within the society as an explorer for as long as anyone remembers and has never shown any interest in moving beyond his role as Explorer. He has no known permanent homestead, no family and seems to have zero interest in getting to know anyone past a scholarly and professional relationship.

His specialties lie in procuring rare and exotic phoenix tail feathers from Morya, a land which has a location no one is quite sure of as it is accessible through one of many portals located throughout Earth’s most inhabitable and lonely places. Ad Astra’s scientists can’t seem to agree on whether it is in a separate dimension or perhaps the portal takes one to a planet in another area of the universe. It is a strange place with an atmosphere that will form a pocket around any organisms on its surface to create a bubble of air that is safe for that particular species’ needs. Its atmosphere in general is thick and full of a plethora of gases that are poisonous to most known species, hence the need for the pockets of air to keep any living species present alive. The sky has a violet appearance during the day and becomes more like indigo at night.

Coming Soon... a Total Shop Re-Vamp

Who says Steampunk jewelry is the only kind that can come with a story. I will soon be joining my love for fantasy stories with my love for jewelry making. Each piece will come with a little background story written by me. I will have several separate fictional "Explorers" who travel far and wide, to earth, sea, sky, space, and beyond to bring back and document jewelry and treasure from the most exotic locales.

Once I get the details worked out and a few stories done, I will post them on here with pics of each piece. My blog will take on a new look as I transform it into a platform for my fantasy explorers to document their travels and findings. :)

Coming soon..... Stay tuned!!

New Baby Headbands

I have started making and listing crochet headbands for my etsy shop. My darling little girl was the inspiration for this new line of items. I love the new trend of floral headbands, but I always found the flowers tended to be so huge that they were a focal point rather than a complimentary accessory. Some of them are super cute and work well though. I hope I have created a nice balance between being big and eye catching and still creating an accessory that draws the eye to the child's overall gorgeousness!!
What do you think?: to see them go to my etsy shop: Fabled Charm Designs.

Inspiration

I've been feeling very creative lately, but I'm having trouble focusing on any one thing. Sometimes I need a break from jewelry and so I've tried my hand in the last week at decoupaging recipe boxes, making crochet headbands for babies, and sewing cozies for e-readers. Now, I'm interested in doing some pen and ink artwork. My brain is so scattered, I've just been creating, creating, creating, but I don't feel I've really gotten anything special done.

Though I've been feeling very creative, I think I'm a bit uninspired. Any ideas how to get out of this slump???