Solo Feathers and wire and some more

[Taylani]

57 Fall 513, Outside Windchaser Pavilion

The fall air was warm still even as light faded and the Drykas began to set up for the night's entertainment. Entertainment meant different things for different families, so the night time before sleep in Endrykas was a collection of different events. It gave it almost a carnival air, in Taylani's mind as she moves from pavilion to pavilion. In one area families gathered to tell stories, in another someone was playing the lyre and another was singing, still another women gathered to discuss the day..or perhaps who was warming whose bedroll currently.

For all of this activity Taylani felt isolated. Felt almost like the stray cat in a barn. Not really wanted, but useful in some way so that she was kept. It might have been unfair to feel that way, Fallan had worked hard to incorporate her in the way of the Drykas. His family didn't mistreat her, as much as they didn't push so she was grateful for that.

No it was just a by product of going from the only child of two people who had given up all hope of children to being pushed into a culture where the only worth she brought was what could spring from her womb. So she walked but did not really participate in any of the activities. So she made her way back to Fallan's family's pavilion but did not enter.

Instead she sits and brings out her jewelry kit once more. More and more often she finds herself with this apparatus, and she was teaching herself how to craft without using the metal working techniques her mother used. Today she had found two small feathers, an iridescent blue coloring to them that she loved. She wasn't sure how long feathers lasted, or if they lasted forever. They weren't meat, or tendon, or sinew so she didn't think they would rot. She had seen many people use them for adornment so she wanted to experiment with such as well.

She held the two feathers up, trying to decide. Did she want them in her hair, or on her ears -though her own ears were not pierced she always used herself as a model. She liked both ideas, but she only had two matching feathers so could only do one. It took her several long minutes of waffling back and forth over and over to decide. Finally she decided she was going to make a pair of earrings. That means she would need wire, pliers, and cutters as well as her hand drill.

[Taylani]

Settling down, trying to ignore the noise of the Drykas around her, Taylani bent over her project. Red hair slips over her shoulder to curtain her face from both sides, further blocking out all others from her focus. Blue eyes stare intently on the feather, looking at it from all sides trying to determine the most stable part to drill a hole through. The base of the feather had a hollow tube where the soft fibers were connected, and which connected to the birds body. Taylany was amazed at the hollowness of the tube but did not focus on it.

Instead she picked up her hand drill, looked at it, then looked back at the feather tube. Perhaps she wouldn't need that, it looked thin enough to where she might be able to just puncture the tube with the wire it self. She sets the hand drill to one side, and picks up the wire spool. Using the wire cutters she shears off two lengths both approximately three inches in length. Then she used one of her metal files to file the end of each wire to a point.

This was hard work, and annoying because metal rasping on metal was enough to set her teeth on edge. However it must be done so that the earrings would fit through the ear easily. That brought another thought to Taylani's head, she knew other people have gotten more then just their ears pierced, how would that work? What kind of rings could be crafted to fit in other parts of the body. Taylani made a mental note to look into that later, if she could. So many resources that she had at her finger tips in Syliras -and wasted- were not here in Endrykas. That caused the melancholy to try and creep back in, but the dancer pushed it off.

Once the wires were both filed sharp on one end, Taylani picks up one feather and chooses one wire. Holding the feather close to her face, the dancer pushes the sharp end of her wire into the hollow feather tube. Slowly, slowly the wire worked through the thin membrane, and Taylani let herself feel proud that she had known to not use the drill. That would have just destroyed the delicate tube. Once the wire was inserted about an inch in, Taylani picked up the pliers and bent the sharp end down, making a little hook that would allow the feather to dangle from a patrons ear.

Now she could just bend the other wire around so that the feather can't slide off, but Taylani wanted to give the feather a little help. Since the feather was an shiny blue color, Taylani chose two beads, one white and one blue form her collection. She threaded the beads onto the wire, and then uses the wire to bend the other side to keep the beads and feather from sliding off.

[Taylani]

Sighing, flexing her fingers just slightly though they weren't too stiff yet, Taylani set aside the first earring. The next step would be a little more difficult because with earrings you need to duplicate the process as exactly as possible. If she pushed the wire through just a little higher or lower on the feather tube then one earring would hang lower then the other. Symmetry was very important in earring fashioning.

So she picks up the next feather, the first thing she did was note any differences between the two. They obviously came from the same type of bird, but there was no telling if it came from the same one. Both matched identically in color, and in shape, however the first feather was a little bit longer then the second. This means she would have to pierce the feather tube a little lower then she had the first.

She picks up the wire, the second, that had been filed to a sharp point. Her finger presses against the blunt end of the wire, pushing and pushing until finally the metal slides through the thin layer of cartilage to poke the other side. Again the pliers were raised and bent the sharp in into a hook-shape. Now Taylani holds up the first feather earring, and compares it with the second. If one was shorter then the other it was so little it was imperceptible.

Nodding she then picked up another two beads, one white and one blue, and pressed them into the wire, then bent the wire again so that the beads and the feather can not slide off the wire.

There, now both the earrings are done, and she was satisfied with the results. They were a little gaudy for her, even if she had of had pierced ears, she wouldn't have chosen to wear these. However everyone's tastes are different, and she did like the shiny blue of the feather. She pulls out two small sponge-like pieces of cork, ripping them into small chunks. She then selects two, and presses them into the sharp points of the earrings. Safety is always important, even when accessorizing.

[Elysium]

Taylani

This grade will be given upon request, if and when the PC chooses to be unretired.

and so, the journey continues...