Making a Cat out of Glass

by **Syveris** on September 28th, 2013, 12:28 am

19th of Fall, 513 AV

Syveris shivered, looking at the ice-covered Courtyard. All that ice and all that cold annoyed her. The storm that had hit Wind Reach the day before had been bad, and the cold still lasted. Virat had been busy for the day, and asked her to go back later. That meant that she had been walking around Wind Reach all morning, without really doing anything, and that was starting to get boring. Syveris supposed she could have gone to the Inclement Weather, but her previous experience in the club hadn't been good at all, and she wasn't ready to go there again without a very good reason.

She was starting to think boredom was a very good reason.

Sighing, she wondered if she should just get out of Wind Reach for a while, but the chilling wind made her change her mind quickly. Syveris tightened her scarf around her neck, sending one last angry glance at the sky and turning the back to the Courtyard, entering the Inner Warrens once again.

As she walked between the rocky walls, she tried to think on where to go. She was bored, and she wanted to do something. Anything. Running her hands on the rocks in the wall, she wondered if Virat had already finished whatever he was doing. It looked complicated, but he seemed to be almost finished when she entered the Reverie. Shrugging, she decided to go. There was nothing much she could do, anyway.

Making an abrupt turn, she started to run toward the Reverie. It would help keep her warm, and it was always nice to exercise. Drawing a deep breath, she ran. It wasn't long before her lungs started to ache, but she kept running, her breath each time more and more irregular. When she finally stopped, it was in front of the Glass Reverie.

Syveris leaned against a wall, drawing sharp and irregular breaths. It took her a one whole minute to fully recompose, and she wondered if it had been a smart move to run all the way to the Reverie. Well, it wasn't like she particularly cared whatever could be considered a 'smart move'.

She took a glance inside, searching for Virat. The Inarta was talking to another fellow glassworker, near one of the Batch Ovens. She scowled. Maybe he wasn't finished after all. She leaned against the wall once again, her eyes fixed on the two glassworkers. She could wait for them to finish talking, if it didn't took too long.

And it didn't. Virat soon looked up, and his eyes met his apprentice's. Smiling, he waived to her, and Syveris watched as he exchanged a few more words before the other Inarta walked away. She went to the cabinets, opening the door and picking up her tools. The fire of the Reverie was very welcomed, and she was relieved to stuff her scarf on the place of her tools. Closing the doors, she walked to the center of the room.

Virat smiled to her once again, before pointing to a Marvel.

"Ready?" when Syveris nodded, her mentor talked again. "You've done enough vases and bottles for now, and your molds are not challenging anymore. So..." he paused, seeming to enjoy the expectant look on the younger Inarta face. "I thought about teaching you how to sculpt..."

"But I have done that before." Syveris interrupted, furrowing her brows. It hadn't been anything complicated, just some beads, but still...

"... a toy." he finished, smiling at the look Syveris gave him. "I thought about a small cat. Do you want to do it? You can shape the glass well enough, and it isn't really complicated."

"Yes!" Syveris almost screaming, excited. She had seen others do some small toys, and she had been really eager to try and sculpt one. She had asked Virat once, but she was still too inexperienced, and so, she had decided to just wait for her mentor to say she could do it.

by **Syveris** on October 5th, 2013, 2:40 pm

"Very well." Virat said, amused. He raised his hand when Syveris reached for her Blow Pipe, stopping her. "Syveris, I've told you many times and I will keep telling you the same thing until your excitement stops getting in your way." Blushing, the girl dropped her hand, waiting for her mentor to talk. She knew it was useless to interrupt him and tell him she remembered, just had forgotten in her eagerness. He would say it anyway. "Always think before you start making a piece. To lose time only because of eagerness is a stupid thing to do."

"Yes, sir." she mumbled, sighing. "So, I will be making a cat." Syveris began. It annoyed her a little, that she had to tell Virat everything she was thinking about doing with the glass. Sometimes she ended up saying obvious or stupid things. But she had accepted that this was his way of teaching someone as impatient as her. And the Avora had to admit that it worked fairly well. "Which means that I'll use a small blow pipe, to have more control of what I'm doing. And I want to make a cat standing up, with his tail raised. And I'd better take the tools I'll need first."

When Virat nodded, she chose the tools she would need, accepting Virat's suggestions. Finally, she reached again for her blow pipe, not wanting to admit she was going to grab one slighter bigger than she needed. Syveris still couldn't understand how Virat seemed to know every mistake she would do. She reached for the batch oven, taking the incredible hot glass with her pipe, after quickly grabbing the tweezers.

"Make sure you mark the spot where you will want the cat's head right on the beginning. That way, it'll be easier to do the piece in the rights proportions, and you won't make a mistake later on." Virat said, watching his pupil. Nodding, Syveris started to turn the pipe, pressing the tweezers near the top, marking where she would sculpt the cat's head. She didn't apply much pressure, and it took much longer than what probably was needed, but she didn't want to make a mistake right in the beggining, so she would be careful. A small sphere began to form on the top of the piece, and Syveris used the paddle to push it to where she wanted the head to be.

As she kept working, the glass and Virat's voice, suggesting one thing or another, were the only thing she focused her mind on. She loved glassworking. It completed her, filled her with a calm happiness and a sense of fulfilment that even her adventures outside couldn't compare to. She doubted she would ever stop doing glasswork. She smiled, taking the tweezers again and using it to pull the cat's tail from on of the glass' end, and after that to pull the cat's nose from the small circle that would become his head.

"Turn the pipe more, or it will fall." Virat's voice warned, and she did it, almost automatically. She sculpted the cat's legs, feeling the glass become harder. She would probably have to heat it again sometime soon. Syveris twisted the pipe once more, running the paddle along the glass to define better the parts she had already sculpted.

by **Syveris** on October 6th, 2013, 1:23 am

"Remember to turn it often, otherwise your piece will fall." Virat reminded her once again, and Syveris nodded, before walking to the closest Glory Hole in the middle of the room, a little uneasy that her mentor wasn't going with her. However, she was also proud. It meant he trusted her enough to do this alone. It was a small thing, but it showed she was getting better. She wouldn't disappoint him.

Syveris placed her piece inside the oven, carefully turning it around each time it threatened to fall, heating the glass until it glowed with heat. Her heart skipped a beat when she turned the pipe just a moment before the piece would really fell. Only when she took it off the oven and went back to the work bench did she breathed, relieved that she had managed to do it.

She kept working, using the tweezers once again, this time to pull the ears out of the cat's head. She couldn't help but giggle, like a kid winning her first toy. It was like that, in some way, every time she created something, every time the glass was taking the form she wanted it to take.

Time passed, while she focused on nothing more than working on the glass cat, pulling and pressing. It was exciting and soothing at the same time. Syveris could never put into words just how much she loved to create glass pieces. She heard Virat chuckle, and sent him a quick glance, watching as he smiled gently to her. Her mentor knew. He knew how much glasswork meant to her, and Syveris was sure it was a feeling they shared.

Finally, she went one last time to the Glory Hole. When she came back, she just added a few more details, twisting the cat's tail a little on the tip and pushing its ears slightly forward with the jacks. She did it slowly, trying to make the final piece as perfect as she could. Then, she raised the pipe, showing the final work to her mentor.

Virat smiled, his kind eyes evaluating the finished piece. Syveris drew her breath. This was the time she feared the most, but also the one she looked forward to. The evaluation of her mentor. The time when she was going to be told how well she did, where she could improve and what had she done right. This was the time when Syveris would listen more intensely than ever, because it was when she would know how to improve her work.

"It's very nice, Syveris." Virat told her, softly. "It can do some improving on the proportions, but it's something you will learn as you keep creating figures. Also" he pointed to the very tip of the cat's tail. "I suggest you cut this end a little. It isn't harmonious with the rest of the piece. But other than that, congratulations. I'm sure you will soon know more than me." he laughed when he saw Syveris' eyes shine with pride. "I bet that lots of people will buy on your stall when you open one."

"Thank you, sir." Syveris smiled, looking dearly at her piece. When Virat made a dismissing gesture, she stored her cat on the annealer, and walked slowly towards her cabinet. She stored her tools inside once more, taking her scarf and putting it around her neck. Turning back, she waved goodbye to her mentor before walking out of the Glass Reverie, her boredom from the morning long forgotten.

by **Skerry** on November 13th, 2013, 2:11 pm

Grades!

Syveris

Skill

Glassworking	3XP
Sculpting	5XP
Observation	2XP

Lores :

Notes
Nice, simple thread. I really enjoyed the interaction between teacher and pupil. You did a good job of describing the process and Syveris's love of glassworking.

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Completed Making a Cat out of Glass