Solo [Job thread] All In a Day's Work

Sometimes a job is just that, a job.

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Considered one of the most mysterious cities in Mizahar, Alvadas is called The City of Illusions. It is the home of Ionu and the notorious Inverted. This city sits on one of the main crossroads through The Region of Kalea.

[Job thread] All In a Day's Work

Postby Karin on February 20th, 2016, 9:30 am


7th Bell, 7th Winter, 515 AV, the Patchwork Port

The horizon looked bleak today, grey and overcast all the way out to sea. The cool feeling to the air settled on her skin, refreshing her in the early morning as Karin walked the short distance to the workshop.

Moored boats clinked and clacked softly, as their sails rustled under the gentle breeze that pushed and pulled on the fabric, whilst the tide sucked softly on the underside of the hull. All in all, Karin found it incredibly relaxing.

Soon enough, she found herself at the workshop. To let her in was Ferny, and she nodded good morning to him as she found her way to her makeshift workstation.

Recently she had been working on a couple of doorknobs, for an elderly couple that had come in just a couple of days ago. They'd wanted something simple, so Cadog had given the task to her, and as she regarded them with a critical eye, she realised she was happy with how they had turned out.

Putting them aside to be varnished later, she stood up again. Fern had left the 'shop, and so she popped her head around the door to ask him what she should do next.

The reply she got was, "Could you do some tidying? And then in a bell I'll come in and tell you." With a slight huff, the girl moved back inside, and eyed the broom balefully.

However, she wasn't too bothered by being asked to sweep. With broom in hand, the wood chippings were soon in a neat pile in the middle of the floor, ready to be thrown out.

With a slight hum on her breath, a tune she didn't fully remember, she went about the room, methodically placing all the tools in their correct spaces, and cleaning the work surfaces.

By the time Ferny came back in, the place looked clean again. Not perfect by any stretch, Karin didn't have the patience to get the mop out, but at least clean and tidy. Ferny was obviously happy with it, and nodded his approval, before directing Karin over to the workbench.

"Today, Dad asked me to show you how to varnish. You willing?"
Karin inclined her head in agreement, "Yes." She had been expecting this. All the tasks she'd been given to do had always seen her giving over her piece to Cadog to varnish, but now it seemed she'd get to learn even more.

"Okay, let me fetch what we'll need. Can you grab the sandpaper from over there?" Karin walked over, and did what he said, feeling the rough quality of the paper.

When she returned to the workbench, Ferny had placed a small jar of paint, or paste next to the item that lay on the bench. It was a beautiful piece, a purely decorative carving of a dolphin leaping in flight.

And then the realisation slowly dawned... They were going to let her varnish that? She blinked in surprise, and then found a smile creeping across her face. She could do it.
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[Job thread] All In a Day's Work

Postby Karin on February 29th, 2016, 9:51 am


Ferny let out an exclamation, apparently having forgotten something. That left Karin alone with her thoughts and the dolphin, for a few ticks. She examined it, carefully.

It seemed to be carved from one block of wood, and it was light in colour. She couldn't tell what wood had been used, but as she gently touched it, it felt light and smooth.

There was some good craftsmanship here. She thought it was Cadog's, as she'd mostly seen Ferny working on repairs. Not that it really mattered. Before not too long, Ferny returned, brandishing a range of brushes triumphantly.

"Okay, let's get started. First off, you'll need to smooth over any rough parts with the sandpaper. After you've done that, come find me again." He wandered off again, and Karin wondered if he actually ever intended to stay still.

But it wasn't a problem. She had been told what to do, and so she looked over the piece again, this time not only with her eyes but with her fingers, checking in the crevices and over the stylised ocean waves at the base.

There was some slight roughness in the very corners of the dolphin, and she gently picked up the sandpaper, folding it so that it was able to reach the cracks, and rubbing it backwards and forwards.

After a little while, she blew out the dusty flakes of wood, and felt the corners again. It seemed that the whole piece was ready, and she yelled out to try and bring Ferny in without having to get up.

Thankfully, he responded to her yell, and sauntered over. He checked the piece, and apparently found everything to be in working order. "Okay, the next thing that we need to do is to do the base layer. Have you ever painted before?"

Karin shook her head in the negative. "Well... It's like painting, only not with paint but with varnish. Here, have a brush. We'll be using this medium-sized one to make sure we cover everything in a good layer."

The girl took the brush, and experimentally felt the bristles. It was a new brush, hardly used, and the bristles felt beautifully soft on her fingers. The lid was off the pot of varnish now, and the smell of it filled the room quickly.

She dipped the brush in, and loaded all the bristles with the varnish. But before she could move to place it on the dolphin, Ferny stopped her. "That- that is far too much varnish. Scrape a little off, otherwise it'll be blotchy."

With a blush, the girl did as he said, scraping some of the varnish off. This time, Ferny nodded approval, and she hesitantly placed the brush on the easiest part, the dolphin's long, smooth back.

With slow strokes, because the varnish was more resistant than she realised, she stroked the bristles down the dolphin's back. With a short interlude from Ferny, "Make sure to cover everywhere equally!"
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[Job thread] All In a Day's Work

Postby Karin on February 29th, 2016, 10:04 am


Her brush strokes were long and gaining in swiftness as she got the hang of it. Dip-stroke-repeat. However, as she reached the more textured wood at the base of the dolphin, she realised that her technique was now lacking.

"Uh, Ferny? This brush isn't going to cover the base very well..." She trailed off as she looked at the other brushes. "So should I use a smaller brush?" The wry smile and nod that accompanied it told her that she was correct.

She picked up a small brush, and with an after-thought, gently wiped the larger brush on a scrap of cloth that lay nearby. After she placed it down, Ferny picked it up, placing it in a tub of clear water.

However, she wasn't looking, as instead she concentrated on brushing over the knots and whorls that made up the waves. They were tightly curved, and Karin wondered how to make them like that, whenever she tried to do anything like that she either carved too broad, or made everything so thin that it snapped instantly.

The varnishing was slow work, but she was enjoying it. She dipped the brush in the varnish, and scraped some of the excess off on the side, before painting it over the froth, making sure to get even less in the cracks, so that it didn't fill them up and take away from the overall quality of the piece.

Occasionally she realised that by the time she had botched a part, it had already dried, and that worried her a little. But with reassurance from Ferny that it was not for sale, simply personal enjoyment, she relaxed again.

Still, varnishing was harder than it looked. After a particularly bad over-varnish, where she had accidentally splotched far too much on one specific bit, Ferny suggested she sandpaper it off and go over it again.

The entire piece was covered now, in a light layer of varnish, and it was only the one blemish that ruined the entire look. Karin frowned, annoyed at herself for getting something so wrong.

Ferny nudged her however, and told her to look up. "You've been working for a long while now. Go outside and breath some fresh air, the fumes are pretty strong in here."

For once, she didn't particularly want to get up and go outside. Not because she didn't enjoy being in the fresh air, but because she wanted to finish the project off. It seemed silly to leave it, looking like it did.

But she took his advice, and stood up, stretching her arms and her legs before heading outside into the yard.

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[Job thread] All In a Day's Work

Postby Karin on March 23rd, 2016, 3:05 pm


After enjoying the outside for a good while, Karin felt refreshed enough to continue her varnishing job. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy it. She was enjoying it. But it was slightly different to what she was used to. By different she meant not as involved, or technically challenging. And it still managed to frustrate her when something went wrong.

However, it was still a job, and it was encouraging to see her work grow and get closer to its final state. If she worked on it long enough, she'd eventually get better, and eventually make things to the quality Cadog or Ferny did.

The scent-ridden air wafted over her as she re-entered the 'shop, and she paused to pick up the brush and pot again. It was time to really focus. She was going to get things how she wanted them to be. It was almost immediately after she was going to carry on painting that she realised she needed to get rid of the blemish that cursed the carving.

And... put the varnish down again. Instead, what she needed was sandpaper. There was a scrap lying nearby, and she picked it up delicately. Wrapping it around a small mis-cut of wood meant that it was easier to hold, and it was something she'd seen Cadog do, so she did that.

Now all she needed to do was be very, very gentle... The girl looked at the thick, crusty layer of varnish, and at the wood surrounding it. It lay on one particularly curved wave, something which Karin admired due to its smooth shape and absolute likeness to an actual wave.

She didn't want to mess this up, not as it was such a beautiful statue. The girl applied the sandpaper to the wood, and started to scrub it backwards and forwards. She started off rather strong, and suddenly realised as the woodshavings made her sneeze.

There wasn't too much damage, not that she could see, but she continued much more carefully from then on. She knew that it was important to make sure she didn't remove too many layers of varnish, and thus remove too much wood. She didn't want to alter the look of the thing.

Removing the sandpaper every other chime seemed to be the best way to go about it, and soon the unsightly mark was removed. Thankfully, Karin hadn't destroyed the piece, but there was a very faintly noticable dent where she had originally removed too much.

But, maybe that 'dent' was only visible to her because she had been staring at the dolphin amongst the waves for what much surely have been more than a bell, now.

Ferny took a look over her shoulder, and nodded. It was a very passive day in the workshop, but Karin didn't mind. It made a change from his usual antics, and it meant she could focus on her own style. If she had one, that was. She wasn't entirely sure.

After she'd smoothed the edges, the girl picked up her trusted varnish brush again, giving the amber liquid a quick stir. Soon, she was applying the varnish to where the light wood showed through, trying to be as careful as she could were the varnish overlapped the stuff she'd applied before.

The statue was almost finished, she was sure. It needed drying, and maybe some touches up here and there, but it sure looked ready to her. That made her smile, even if the fumes were slowly but surely giving her a headache.

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[Job thread] All In a Day's Work

Postby Karin on March 23rd, 2016, 4:56 pm


After waiting for about half a bell for the varnish to no longer feel sticky, the girl turned her attention back to the project. All that was left now was to give it another thin coat of varnish, and then it would be ready.

It was a simple task, and Karin found her mind wandering, as it so often did when she was doing a task like this. Something that'd briefly crossed her mind earlier came back again. Did she have her own style, when it came to woodcarving?

She felt like she'd been doing it enough to justify the question, but it was a tricky one to answer, because the girl didn't truly understand the difference in styles. Wood was wood, and it was carved with the same tools, so how could there be a difference?

Of course there was, but Karin hadn't experimented before, only carved what she needed to, or was asked to by Cadog. Perhaps it'd be worth her time to practice simply carving for carving's sake. She wanted to get her own style, she thought as she smoothed the paintbrush bristles over the cracks and whorls in the wood.

The intense fumes from the varnish were not only giving her a headache, but making her sleepy too. Taking care not to accidentally put any in her eye, she reached to rub across her face, stifling a yawn in the quiet workshop. Cadog still wasn't in the building, and Ferny was nowhere to be seen either.

She had an idea. Looking around, half-heartedly making sure that Ferny wasn't around (although she suspected that he wouldn't mind anyway), the girl picked up a small off-cut of wood that lay on the side. Her knife lay in her bag, and she picked it up, freeing it from its sheath.

Perhaps she should practice simply carving, like she'd thought about. It wasn't a bad idea... although inspiration was hard to come by as she stared blankly at the small, innocuous piece of wood.

What to carve, what to carve, what to carve... The girl pondered slowly, tossing the wood from hand to hand. She finally settled on a design, nothing fancy, simply a rabbit, sitting down. It wasn't easy, and maybe she should have chosen something easier, but the shape of the wood seemed to indicate that a rabbit would be a good idea.

By the time she'd finished, she had a roughly rabbit-shaped creature. Ponderously, she placed it in her pocket to finish later. She'd ask Ferny or Cadog later if she could keep it, but for now she'd look after it. Yes...

The drowsiness of the day was slowly sweeping over her, and she knew she needed some fresh air. In fact, it was probably time to finish, wasn't it? It might only be mid-day, but she needed a break for her lunch. So, with a satisfied sigh, she did a final look-over the dolphin. It looked fine, and that made her smile.

With a quick scout around for a pen and paper, the girl left a quick note for Ferny or Cadog. 'Gone for food. Be bac later.' And before she fell asleep, the girl headed out into the yard for her regular lunch break.
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10/7/17- All my threads are marked [open] and as such are open to all. :)
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[Job thread] All In a Day's Work

Postby Sayana on April 20th, 2016, 11:47 am

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Don't forget to edit/delete your grade request. If there's anything I may have missed, please PM me and I'll be happy to look into it.


 
Karin
Skills
  • Cleaning: 1
  • Organization: 1
  • Observation: 1
  • Carving: 3
  • Painting: 4
  • Endurance: 1
Lores
  • Painting: Basic varnishing
  • Carving: Smoothing out a finished work with sandpaper
  • Painting: Base layer and then a top coat
  • Painting: Not too much paint on the brush
  • Painting: Different sized brushes for different levels of detail
  • Varnishing: Use of sandpaper to correct uneven varnishing
  • Art: What it means to have an artistic style (or lack of one)

Comments: Lovely thread. You really got into the details about varnishing and I liked the little bit at the end where Karin was thinking about her artistic style when it came to carving. I might have been a little generous on the carving points since I awarded them for sanding, but I think it's still an important point to a polished piece of work and it's just another aspect to wood carving.

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Sayana
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