Nymbol's Secret Garden

We have the Wagon. Now we need to get things going on our Nymbol Gypsy Wagon  and rolling puppet stage. FaerieWorlds is rapidly approaching and time is flying by. I have thrown down the creative guantlet and other powerful forces are aligning to aid an expert, artisan hand. I am sooooo excited. An advanced thanks to Tim Leonard, Ryan Wright and Matt Hoar. I obviously wouldn’t be able to even think about this if it weren’t for their mad skills. I will post more as we move along.

Magic. That is really all I can say. This weekend Nymbol and troupe were honored to host the wonderful and talented SJ Tucker. SJ was a solo Siren for this visit but is usually seen in the company of Betsy Tinney and Alexander James Adams as the group Tricky Pixie. SJ played Saturday night to a packed NSG space of 45. This was the first time we have hosted something other than a cast party at our studio and it was great fun. Nymbol, Serriffina, Blarney, Nymphaea and a host of new characters showed a little “blooper reel” from a recent project and got quite a few “please don’t encourage them” laughs. (Thanks Caven Keith for the awesome video work)

Nymbol’s Secret Garden is Soooooooo happy to announce that SJ Tucker  is coming to play in our little studio this coming Saturday night. We have room  for about 40 folks to sit down and enjoy an amazing evening with one of our favorite friends from FaerieWorlds.  I can’t begin to tell you how awesome this is going to be.  Tickets are $10 at the door to be collected by some Wee Faerie. Get there early to enjoy a little banter and Sound check between Nymbol’s Troupe and SJ. We are shooting a little the night before and hope to do some more with everyone else there too. It’s gonna be good. Any questions,.. ask here or email us at nymbolssecretgarden@whidbey.com.

After a couple of summers at FaerieWorlds, different Renaissance Faires, and moving about in public we have discovered some things about ourselves, our troupe and our creature friends. We love the one on one interactions with people and their ability to be drawn into the Nymbols World. What you see below is a concept about to be made reality for the upcoming summer and beyond. This “rolling stage” will allow us interact with folks on a very intimate scale and keep the illusion that a stage allows.

Our little wagon will be driven at times but different creatures in Nymbol’s troupe. There will a bench seat so that a small child can get on board and help drive or just take a photo. It will be environmentally friendly, 4X4 monster drive (flintstone technology)  For that added magical power  3  large and very creepy looking insects will hover above and keep the wheels out of the muck. If we do get stuck somewhere it will just add to the show as the troop panics and asks for a helping hands. The side will drop down for story telling and songs selected from our 2 hour variety show. The Oracles in our troupe  will be able to lower the back door into a table and do a Tarot card, tea leaf or face readings. We will craft the interior the same way we do our stages so the creature wranglers are always out of sight but can see the audience. We also plan on having some merchandise available in the form of faerie dust, a variety of girly, smelly things, some”Nyblets” (mini Nymbols) and a T-shirt or two. The wheels and axles are on their way and we start building in April. I will post photos as we progress. Please let us know if there are any other events this summer you think “Nymbol’s Secret Varga” should attend and we will get rolling that way. Literally. 

There is a small update to our wagon quest. I have been looking for supplies, fauning over old wagons and wheels and trying to figure out how to approach this. My answer right now,….Craigslist. I have been looking ocassionally but finding exactly what you need for a project like this is a bit of a long shot normally. But nothing about anything Nymblish is very normal.  Today we are driving over to poulsbo to look at this wagon to see if this…….

can be turned into this

Our weekend actually began on Thursday morning when I realized that if I took 3 seats out of our van all the stagecraft would fit in the back. We were off to a good start as I wasn’t looking forward to downtown Seattle with a trailer. Just before 2p.m. we rolled into Seattle and started setting up our stage on the bottom floor of the Renaissance Madison Hotel. This was going to be very different from camping in Eugene for a long weekend but we were elated to find that we had a huge space to set up our stages and gear. In a shade over three hours we had packed in, assembled and powered everything up. Why were we not just checking in to the hotel now? Whose idea was it to save money by spending the night back on the island. Mine??? (errrrr)

Late the next morning we were back and things looked very different. When we left only a couple of vendors were set up but now the space was crammed full of all sorts of wonderous thing to check out.   At this point Nymbol and Serriffina came out of hiding, Caven Keith grabbed his video camera and we were off.  There were many new friends to be made, old ones to say hello to, and lots of mischief to be had. I think we were successful on all fronts. Throw in a Time Travellers Ball, A Masquerade the next night and you have all the makings for an epic weekend.

On Saturday Sam and I taught a puppeteering 101 class along with one on puppet making. In between classes we did a very quick but fun skit with all those involved.  It made me laugh anyway. I hope they had fun.

There are some highlight moments I need to share. Most of them were caught on video so I will be brief.

Brom - WOW! Nymbol and Serriffina cornered him and he was a great sport to put up with most of Nymbol’s silliness. His work is beyond amazing and he is a nice guy to boot. Think Bruce Wayne outside, Batman inside.

Daniel Merriam. A wonderful surprise here and we were blown away. Aside from Daniel’s awe-inspiring art, Nymbol was particularly smitten with Daniel’s wife and muse. If his book is not in your art collection you will be sorry. stunning.

Toby Froud and Ignatz. Two great guys who chummed around with Nymbol and made much merriment on camera as well. Ignatz and Nymbol partied a little too hard Saturday night and Nymbol was found under some pillows in the lobby in the morning.

Byron Dazey. If you want to get a feel for the show and see lots of great photos please check out Byron’s wonderful  shots of FaerieCon. A super nice guy combined with a serious talent. Take a look and you will know what I mean. FaceBook  or Byron’s own Site.

Wotan the Faerie Smasher. Yes,…..he is Nymbol’s arch nemesis but he added his own  blend of chaos to our Sunday show. I hope the video Caven shot catches  the magic of the moment. We certainly laughed all the way home.

We are already planning big for this summer and hope to see a few new friends at FaerieWorlds this summer. We are soooooo looking forward to it.

We have finished putting together our class workbook, concepts and puppets for our class. We are getting excited. It is time to dial in all the other details and pack. We are soooooo looking forward to not only that but roaming around with Nymbol and Caven with his video camera. It’s gonna be fun. If you are around please make sure you find us.

I Think you will like two of our new friends below. We actually like the white eyes.  kind of freeky. It means any where they look is where they are looking if you know what I mean.

These new puppets are called nymbol Croodlys. This is the logic for the name. Creature + Hoodie + DYI . Plus to “croodle” means “to cuddle” in the urban dictionary. I find myself checking that more and more these days just in case. This was a positive check.

These functional puppets were created with the idea that they would look cool, be made from Recycled material, be inexpensive at about $5.00 a puppet and are fast to make. About and hour to get the basics done. The longest has taken 3 hours*. All the material for these puppets came from our local thrift store. The base for the puppet was a fleece hoodie just a couple hours before. The size is perfect to use almost any infant clothing you can find at the thrift too. Imagine my joy to find a $2.00 pair of carhart overalls. The bottom even has all those snappy things so it works perfectly for a puppet. We were playing with them tonight and trying to find some fun voices. Their personalities are coming out.

*unless you are Sam and weave a bunch of hair for your puppet or make a custom vest and vambraces out of an old boot.  A nike one I might add.

The hotel is booked, the creatures are getting excited and we are in a crazy state trying to get some last minute things together. Sam and I will be teaching a class on puppet making and puppeteering while we are there. If all goes well we will even be doing a mini show with class participants in between the fashion show and the costume contest.

We have a plan for FaerieCon. Our friend Caven Keith will be joining us with his amazing skills and “wicked pissa” video camera so we can shoot Nymbol’s new friends and any antics that might ensue. We did this a couple years ago at the FaerieWorlds Masquerade down in Eugene and are really looking forward to doing it “proper” this time.

We have also just finished a little trailer for our Nymbol’s Secret Island show.  Caven also shot our very first show and put together this  teaser to give you a little insight into our collective efforts. The next show will have a new name, new puppets, new humans, new pirates, new songs, new stories and even new gags. In other words, it is New. We are really looking forward to starting this journey and I hope quite a few of you join us along the way.

look for us at FaerieCon and smile,…..You may be on camera

Click HERE to SEE our TRAILER

There are some new friends coming to Nymbol’s Secret Garden and we thought you might like to see how they got here. At the beginning of this coming February Sam and I are going to teach a couple classes in puppeteering and puppet construction at FaerieCon West in Seattle. It looks like the event will be lots of fun and hope we are able to add to it. For our classes we only have about an hour and a half to teach folks how to make a puppet. Given that each of Nymbol’s friends have taken about a week  to complete there isn’t enough time. This past week Sam and I have come up with a more digestable process and hope to teach our fae friends the skills and give them all the know how they need to convert a couple ordinary stuffed bears found at the local thrift store to what you see here. The one at the top is named ZW (Zippy Wren White) and the one at the bottom is being quiet about her name thus far but I am sure she will let it slip in time. They are already cracking us up with their antics. We are still experimenting and playing and all the while our little studio continues to fill with all sorts of new creatures. If you aren’t doing anything on the second weekend in February please come visit us in Seattle. We have big plans.

When I spent my first year away at school I tried my best to create my own Christmas Card. Along the way this morphed into the Cass Family Christmas Card. For the last 20 years (wow) we created  a yearly card with modest success  except the one where we discovered the joy of two kids in Diapers. A couple years ago I did my first photographic Holiday Card because of this new character I created named Nymbol.   Being an illustrator at heart it was hard for me to “cheat” but something in me had changed and I certainly didn’t spend any less time on it. This year, with the help of our wonderful new friends Rob Marsanyi and Caven Keith we are able to bring you the next evolution in the “Nymbol Family” video Holiday Card. I am so Thankful to all of those who put their talents and soul into what has now become Nymbol’s Secret Troupe. A group that seems to grow, morph, improve and bring smiles to faces far beyond the shores of our Lovely Island. We have truly been blessed and kissed by the Faeries and at this time of year I hope we can share even a little of the fun we have had on our new adventure.

So to all of your out there  a very politically correct Merry  This, Happy HoHo That, but not a Bahhhh humbug allowed in the lot.

Nymbol and all his friends wish you and yours a truly Merry Holiday and a very exceptional New Year. I hope our paths cross sometime soon.

click ME or the image above to see the video

We had lots of fun trying to get just one decent take and had fun with the process. the Bloopers they are now on Vimeo

5 or so years ago a very good friend of the Cass Family got married in Zurich, Switzerland. The effect that this had on the family is that the girls, despite growing up in the rainforest of the NorthWest, know what the Holidays are suppose to look like. We weren’t planning another trip to Zurich but we decided that a quick jaunt to the very Continental city of Vancouver B.C. by train would be a great start.  As the train left the station we had the feeling that the holidays were getting closer with every passing mile on the swaying train track.

4 hours later including the border crossing we were ready for an adventure.  The entire troupe save Bloobie had squirreled away in our bags and they wanted out. We checked into the hotel, had a nap and then got down the first order of business. Ice Skating, followed by High Tea at the Fairmont Hotel and finally, the Christmas Faire at night a few blocks away. Hot Mulled Cider, Spiced Wine, Sausage and Sauerkraut, Lederhosen and Mountain Horns.  There was even a Merry-go-Round. What more can you ask for. O.k.,………I would like some snow but it was a grand time and we are already planning to do it again next year.

Click HERE if you want to see how well Nymbol did Ice Skating