NightBlooming Knight- Errant Summer Solstice Quest for the Renewed Birch Draped Barrette

And on the Solstice the Knights shall Ride!
A knight-errant is a figure of medieval chivalric romance literature. "Errant," meaning wandering or roving, indicating how the knight-errant would typically wander the land in search of adventures. NightBlooming has a quest for those that would dare to take it. Though a challenge, the reward is great!

As NightBlooming's signature style is well known to our customers, we're offering up this pair of a fork and a dangle finishing pin as a reward for the one who can unravel this riddle! The answer lies within one of my sold items, so the better you know NightBlooming’s work, the easier this may be.

You can see the full quest and enter here!

The Prize: Renewed Birch Draped Barrette
The birch is highly adaptive and able to sustain harsh conditions with casual indifference. Proof of this adaptability is seen in its easy and eager ability to repopulate areas damaged by forest fires or clearings. Bright and beautiful, the birch is a pioneer, courageously taking root and starting anew to revive the landscape where no other would before. Paradoxically, while the birch is a brilliant symbol of renewal, it is also symbolic of stability and structure. The druids also held the birch as the keepers of long-honored traditions. This barrette captures these meanings in one elegant design. 

Built upon a silver French barrette, this piece beings with a brass leaf coated with a sparkling brown enamel. From each end of the leaf hangs golden chain and glass leaves that come to a point at an intricate metal Celtic knot. At the peak hangs a golden filigree leaf and a flashing blue-green leaf. 

The Renewed Birch Draped Barrette has a clip length of 1.5 inches and a total length of 2.25 inches. 

We'll do another quest for the Autumn Solstice! So even if you don't win please try again then :)  



Rules
Use the clue to find the right listing, then look in the item description or photos to answer the question. When you think you know the answer, convo me!

The contest will run for a week  (closing at 12am on Tuesday the 30th of June), and a winner will be randomly drawn from all those that submitted the right answer.  

You are allowed only ONE GUESS and cannot amend your answer, so make your submission count! The winner will have the sticks shipped to them for free++ anywhere in the world!  ++Free shipping is via First Class USPS. If you would like a different shipping method or insurance, a small charge will apply. 

Once the winner is announced they may check out with the sticks. Best of luck to you all! 

You can see all the sold items here.

The Quest
Your Hint:
The Romans were fascinated by the unusual qualities of the delicate maidenhair fern when it is immersed in water; under water it glistens with a silvery sheen; but when removed, it is perfectly dry, for water will not cling to it. Because of these seemingly magic qualities, the maidenhair fern in Roman mythology was said to represent the hair of Venus when she arose from the foam of the sea, thus the name maidenhair. The plant’s Latin genus name Adiantum comes from the Greek words Adian-tum, meaning “unwetted”.

These sticks might just hold a bit of that magic.

The Question:
Praytell, how many droplets hang from the dangle on these sticks?  Enter here by replying with a convo!

Introducing Eilistraee Colorless Herbal Hair Conditoner

Eilistraee, also referred to as "The Dark Maiden," is a fictional deity in the Forgotten Realms. She is a goddess in the drow pantheon, and her portfolios are song, swordwork, hunting, the moon and beauty. She is worshipped by song and dance, if at all possible, in the surface world under the moonlit night among the woods. Eilistraee is represented by a drow female in the nude, dancing with a silver sword under the moon. 

Her hair is long, silver-white and often illuminated with moonlight. This herbal mix seeks to capture such a glow for your own tresses. 

This herbal hair conditioner is perfect for moonlight white hair, or for cooler-colored locks that could stand some herbal conditioning, but don't want to have the color changed at all. You'll find it leaves your hair with amazing shine and volume. Please note this mix CANNOT lighten your hair, only impart transparent tones to your natural color. 

Ingredients

Certified Organic Zizyphus Spina Christi (Sedr) , Organic Aloe Vera Powder, Nettle, Wheatgrass.

• Certified Organic Zizyphus Spina Christi (Sedr) – Conditions hair in a manner similar to that of henna, providing body, aiding in detangling, scalp conditioning, and provides shine/sheen to hair. 
• Aloe Vera – Contains many of the products necessary and effective in fighting hair loss: Biotin, b-vitamins, zinc and inositil. It also contains anti-bacterial properties that keep the scalp healthy by controlling scalp infections that can prohibit hair growth.
• Stinging Nettle Leaf (Urtica dioica)– Often called nature’s conditioner, Stinging Nettle is natural deep cleanser useful for oily skin and hair that promotes hair growth.
• Wheatgrass- Smooths the hair cuticle and helps alleviate itchy, scaly, scalp conditions.

Storage: The powder can be stored in the freezer for well over a year, so long as it is kept in an airtight bag or container. The mud can be kept frozen for 6 months.  We're offering it in a 10g sample size and a 100g full size. 

I've been wanting to do a blend for white hair for awhile now, I hope you love it :)

Rehabilitating Damaged Hair Naturally E-Book

I'm very excited to get this up and for sale!  Based on an article I wrote several years ago, this e-book is the compilation of years of knowledge and experimentation gained along my journey from damaged to long, natural, healthy hair. 

The focus of this book is on growing hair long, but the techniques within apply to hair of any length. More than 30 full pages of text, pictures, charts, diagrams and recipes, this e-book is written in an easy-to-relate-to tone.

Even though this book is the result of hours upon hours of work, writing, editing, and developing the graphics, I wanted to keep the price low.  It comes out to about 16 cents a page, not counting the cover, title page, or references.  I did this because it's knowledge I wanted to be accessible, and also, if people come across the PDF elsewhere online, they might be willing to purchase their own copy if they feel they benefited from the knowledge within.

So what's inside?  Here's the table of contents and a few sample pages!



.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*´¨)
(¸.•´ (¸Table of Contents:

1| How my journey began
This book is the culmination of years of research and trial and error along my own path to healthy hair. Learn how traditional hair care destroyed my hair, and how I found my way back to healthy hair following natural methods.

2| Understanding healthy hair
This section breaks down the structure of the hair so you better understand how its affected, for good or ill, by things you do to it.

3| Understanding types of damage
Heat, dye, chemicals, and harsh styling tools all damage hair, but they each do so in a different way. Learn about each of these types, what causes them, and how to prevent each type of damage. 

4| Tools of the Trade
An overview of the basic styling tools you'll want to have to style and protect your hair.

5| Coming to grips with reality and your hair type
Learn about your hair's natural state and how to work with it rather than against it.

6| Diagnostics: Finding out what your hair needs
Clarifying? Protein? Moisture? We've all heard that our hair needs these things, but what are they? And now do you know which ones your hair needs? Find out in this chapter with a few simple tests that you can do with things already in your home.

7| Treatments
Explore different types of natural treatments for your hair, including ones that impart protein and moisture. Inside this chapter you'll find recipes and information about oils, butters, rinses, and herbal muds.

8| Color
Hair color is closely tied to identity. Learn what might drive you to color, and what non-damaging color options exist. 

9| Trimming
Take control of your hair by learning about self-trims, microtrimming and split end hunting. This section also gives tips about selecting a pair of hair shears and busts the myth of split end repair. 



This guide is does not exist to market my own products. The things I make are mentioned because the products I make and sell were ones I developed on my journey to healthy hair. I will never claim they are the only way or the best way for every individual. The best hair care routine and products are the ones that work for you. To that end, I’ve included several other recipes and treatments that you should be able to try with items you have in your house, or ones you can easily acquire at your local grocery store.

I truly hope you enjoy the book, and I'd love to know what you think!

There is a second e-book in the works, this one all about coloring hair with henna, cassia, indigo, and other herbs!

NightBlooming Knight- Errant Spring Solstice Quest for The Eternal Rest Combs

And on the Solstice the Knights shall Ride!
A knight-errant is a figure of medieval chivalric romance literature. "Errant," meaning wandering or roving, indicating how the knight-errant would typically wander the land in search of adventures. NightBlooming has a quest for those that would dare to take it. Though a challenge, the reward is great!

As NightBlooming's signature style is well known to our customers, we're offering up this pair of a fork and a dangle finishing pin as a reward for the one who can unravel this riddle! The answer lies within one of my sold items, so the better you know NightBlooming’s work, the easier this may be.

This time we're drawing two winers and each will get a comb!


The Prize: Eternal Rest Wild Rose Hair Comb
In some pagan mythologies, no undead or ghostly creatures (particularly vampires) may cross the path of a wild rose. It was thought that to place a wild rose on a coffin of a recently deceased person would prevent him from rising again.

This comb, as beautiful as its mythology is somber, may just keep evil from crossing your path. 

Built upon black metal, this comb has a trio of lucite leaves gracing its surface and a copper rose with a glass pearl in its center. The comb has a total length of 2.5 inches and a usable length of 1 inch.

We'll do another quest for the Summer Solstice! So even if you don't win please try again then :) 



Rules
Use the clue to find the right listing, then look in the item description or photos to answer the question. When you think you know the answer, convo me!

The contest will run for a week (closing at 12am on Wednesday the 27th of March), and a winner will be randomly drawn from all those that submitted the right answer. 

You are allowed only ONE GUESS and cannot amend your answer, so make your submission count! The winner will have the sticks shipped to them for free++ anywhere in the world!  ++Free shipping is via First Class USPS. If you would like a different shipping method or insurance, a small charge will apply. 

Once the winner is announced they may check out with the sticks. Best of luck to you all! 

You can see all the sold items here.

The Quest
Your Hint:
Christians hold the lily as a symbol of chastity, innocence, purity and piety. In early Christian art the white lily is symbolic of the Madonna as the flower is associated with the virgin Mary. It is typically depicted in a vase or held by Gabriel in Annunciation paintings.

This stick, done in pure silvers and warm golds, would be a fitting gift from an angel.

The Question:
Praytell, how many metal petals hang from this stick's dangle?

What the hell happened with our international postage rates?

If you ordered recently, especially if you're an international customer, you no doubt noticed a pretty significant hike in postage rates.  It surprised me, too.

I knew postage rates were going up, but they've done that before.  The last two or three times it's happened it was a small enough increase that I didn't raise the shipping prices on Etsy to compensate.  Etsy shipping is a game of guessing and averages, so sometimes I lose out a little on shipping, and I'm okay with that.

So when I heard there was going to be another round of postage hikes, I thought I'd wait it out and adjust as needed, not figured it'd be THAT bad, I mean it never had been before, right?

Wrong >_<

The night of the first postage increase I lost about $4/ international order.  And I have a LOT of international orders.  So, sadly, I really had no choice to raise my shipping rates this go round.

The rates went up a little to US and Canada, but anywhere else outside of the US the rates went up a lot.  Here's the complete list of international postage changes:

So what does that mean in more NightBlooming-specific terms?  

• The cost of shipping a single/pair of hair sticks went up about $4
• Heavier herbal products (bottles of oil and 8oz hair salves) had their rate increased a bit more
• Packages are still not insured/tracked unless you decided to pay the extra to upgrade from First Class Package International to Priority Mail International.

I hate this as much as you guys do.  I love my international customers and always prided myself at keeping my shipping rates as low as possible.  I don't make any extra money on it.  It's the bare minimum I can charge to cover my costs, my shipping program, and packing materials.  Please rest assured, that's the same.  If I can find places where I can adjust it back down, I will.

So what do we do?

For my international customers here's a few things we can try:

• Group Orders- If you guys want to go in and have a bunch of people buy a ton of stuff and then have one person repack and reship it from within your home country it'd save some shipping costs.  Depending on what was going into a group order, I could send it in a Flat Rate Box.  This is especially worthwhile if there's a lot of heavy items (large bottles of Triple Moon Oil, Moondust in glass bottles, 2 ounce and 8 ounce Panacea Hair Salves, etc).   I haven't tried this yet, but I'm willing to have a go at it if you guys are :)  
•  Lifting of Custom Order Restrictions- Right now there's a limit of one custom order per person per order (i.e. you couldn't be on the custom order list for more than one item at a time).  I've been a little soft on that recently, but it still stood as the official policy for me to fall back on in case I got overwhelmed with customs (again).  For international customers, I'm raising that limit to 3.  You could probably talk me into more if my list is manageable  So if you have a few ideas, we'll get them all done at once so you can combine shipping.
• Holding Items to Combine Shipping-  I'd be happy to set items aside so you can build up a few things and then have them sent all at once together.  The caveat to this is that you still have to pay for each item up front, but I'd adjust the shipping cost and refund you the overage.  

I'm racking my brain on how to keep this manageable for you guys, but I am utterly open to more suggestions. If you have any ideas, please leave them in the comment box below!