Dishware for an Endal [Part Two]

by **Syveris** on October 25th, 2013, 8:45 pm

79th of Fall, 513 AV

Three days had passed, and when Syveris walked into the Glass Reverie, she was feeling renewed. After she had thought long and hard about everything that happened, she decided that maybe she was over thinking. Wind Reach surely would survive Fall and Winter. Maybe there had been some strange occurrences, and the hunters had been having trouble to find the game, but she was sure things would be alright. Inartans were made to survive, and survive they would.

The Avora hummed a soft tone as she made her way towards her mentor, who was already sorting his tools. Syveris wondered if she would ever be able to enter the Glass Reverie before him. It seemed as if the man lived there, since she never saw the Reverie without him. That might just mean that she was always late, but still. Syveris snickered to herself. Things were still great, despite all the troubles. She had even managed to learn a few more things about falcons, and so, her mood had improved greatly.

"So, ready for the day?" the Avora asked her mentor, mimicking the question he always asked in one way or another, before Virat had the chance to say anything. The man only shook his head, amused.

"I've shown your drawing to the commissioner, and he said it looked alright. The idea, not the drawing itself, of course." Syveris huffed when Virat teased her, but said nothing. Everything she said would ony amuse her mentor even more. "I asked him, telling you were a very good and dedicated apprentice. He allowed you to do the plates with me, as long as you 'don't mess it up'. So, are you ready for the day?"

"I asked you first, but alright. Yes, I'm ready!" Syveris replied, the normal excitement washing over herself again. She doubted there would ever be a day when she wouldn't feel it while she was in the Glass Reverie. "Any instructions before I begin?" she was extremely happy that she would be able to work with her mentor on a real commission, and didn't want to disappoint him.

"The work will be a little different today from the usual way we do things." Virat raised his hand, interrupting Syveris before she could even ask what he meant. "I'll be here, but I while you do one plate, I will do another one. It'll be faster that way. Which means that I'll still be here to help you if you call me and need help, but I won't be watching what you're doing all the time. You've done plates before and I doubt you will mess it up, we have trained enough. Oh, yes... We will be making crackled glass. Just submerge the hot glass in the water, but not for too long. Now, to work. Ask me for guidance if you need. And tell me when you're about to submerge the glass on the water. I don't want you to do it for too long and ruin the piece." when Syveris nodded, Virat turned his back to her, and began to sort his tools. "When you're ready to fuse the piece with the punty, just tell me. I talked to a colleague and he agreed to help us in this part."

Syveris drew a deep breath, and looked at the drawing she had made three days before. This was the first commission she was doing together with Virat, and the Avora was decided to take it as careful as she could. It was for an Endal, and she didn't want to disappoint her mentor. Besides, she wouldn't have anyone guiding her through the whole process, for the first time. The Avora was touched by the trust her mentor had, and she would work hard to deserve that trust.

The Endal hadn't asked for a pattern other than the crackled glass, and so, Syveris didn't thought she would have too much trouble with the dish. Remembering what her mentor always told her, she studied the drawing, trying to picture in her head how she would achieve what was on the paper. After reaching to a conclusion, she sorted out her own tools, putting what she would need closer than the remaining objects, but keeping all of them within her reach. Syveris knew she still found the planning part harder than the actual confection, so she was aware that she might have overlooked something. Keeping the tools near would, hopefully, solve whatever impasse she might come when working. The Avora took a medium sized blow pipe, and sent a glance to Virat. The man was already at work, and so, she focused on her own. She could do it.

Syveris heated the tip of the pipe, reaching with it inside the crucible and then turned the pipe, wrapping the hot blue glass around the tip. When she reached a size she was satisfied with, the Avora took the glass off. Syveris smiled, looking at the still small slug. The creation had begun.

x Poppy

by **Syveris** on October 31st, 2013, 11:27 pm

Syveris turned to the marver, running the glass slug on it, creating a shell around the piece. She spun the pipe in her hands a few times before raising it, and pressed her mouth to the other end. She had to concentrate now. Too much air and the piece would be ruined, deformed in one way or another. Too little and she wouldn't get anywhere. Then she blew, gently at first and then increasing the pressure. Substituting her mouth for her finger, she kept spinning the pipe, watching as the size of the slug increased slightly.

She then walked to the Glory Hole, heating the glass again. The Avora would need to heat, run the glass in the marver and then blow in the pipe a few more times until the slug reached the size she needed, specially since she wasn't very confident to put more pressure than she needed to, fearing that the piece would be ruined, and so, it would take a while to grow the slug to the proper size. It was continuous and hard work by itself, but Syveris loved it just the same. It was part of the process, and although it wasn't her favorite one, it was still creation.

When the glass was in the size she thought was needed, she called out to Virat, pointing her chin to the end of the pipe. Her mentor send a quick glance to it, and then raised his own pip, turning back to his own work after Syveris nodded. His slug was slightly bigger, and so the Avora went once again to the Glory Hole to increase the size of her own glass. Once she was finished, she called Virat again, and, this time, her mentor nodded. Syveris smiled, and then returned once more to the ovens in the back of the Reverie, heating the glass once again to begin the second part of the work.

She grabbed the paddle and gently pressed it to the top of the glass. She tried to be as careful as she could, not wanting to press to much. Little by little, the glass flattened under the pressure of the tool, while she kept spinning the pipe, creating what would become the plate's bottom. She called out to Virat once again, and saw her mentor motion to the colleague he had mentioned before.

Soon, there was a boy holding a pipe with heated glass, approaching her. Sending a glance to his face, Syveris noticed he was very young, and probably an apprentice like herself. However, this wasn't time for talking, and so, she took her tweezers, and used them to grab the pipe and guide it to the middle of the glass in her own pipe, fusing the two hot glasses. The boy's hands were steady, enough for Syveris to trust him not to shake when she released his pipe. If he did, though, it could make her cut the glass in the wrong place. She wasn't sure if she would be able to save the piece if that happened, so the Avora got a firm hold of her own pipe, supporting it.

Syveris pressed her shear near the end of her pipe, drawing a line on the glass. Then, she tapped the pipe. However, nothing happened, and she frowned. She repeated the process, biting her lips when the piece still remained glued to her pipe. Worried, she wondered if she had done something wrong. Pressing the shear once again on the glass, she tapped the pipe, with a little more force and a little closer to the end of it. Syveris breathed out audibly when the piece finally was separated from the pipe, relieved.

The boy handed the pipe he was holding to her, and walked away. Syveris heated the glass once more, returning to her workplace and taking her puffer, to create a small opening where she had cut the glass, by pressing its tip slowly into the glass. Then, putting the tool aside and taking the tweezers, she used them to enlarge the opening. The enlargement was a repetitive work once again, as she needed other five trips to the Glory Hole before the opening was wide enough to satisfy her. Syveris remembered the first time she had attempted to do a plate, how her eagerness had made her try to enlarge the opening too fast. It had deformed the border of the plate, and ruined the whole piece. She had learned her lesson, and wasn't going to make the same mistake again.

And then, it was finally the time for the third and last part of her work. It was the hardest, and the one she had taken the most time to get it right. Even now, she wasn't sure she would be able to, but Virat had trusted her enough to make the commission alongside with him, and she wasn't just going to disappoint him.

Taking a deep breath, Syveris walked to the Glory Hole once more, spinning the pipe inside it, waiting for the piece to heat enough to become malleable again. As she waited, anxiety grew inside her, and she had to focus at the heating glass not to become overwhelmed by it. Normally, she would accept that she was doing her best, and would stay calm. However, this time, the dish was for an Endal. A commission, and she did not want Virat to be looked down because of her.

But to be able to do it, she would need to concentrate. Decided, she focused all her attention on the glass piece. It was ready.

x Poppy

by **Syveris** on November 2nd, 2013, 12:01 pm

With a last breath to prepare herself, Syveris took the glass out of the oven. She started spinning the pipe with one hand, while supporting it with the other, watching as the plate began to take its final shape. Little by little, the opening enlarged even more, until the the half sphere began to flatten, and to form a plate. After a few spins, the sides still weren't completely round, and so, Syveris kept spinning the pipe, a little slower this time, trying to shape it as perfectly as she could. It was the fastest part of the whole process of making a dish, and yet, was the hardest one for her, the one she had to pay more attention to.

Finally, the plate was shaped, and Syveris thought it was as rounded as she was capable of doing. Without stopping the spinning movement, but making it slower, she walked back to her work table, and took the leather to polish the sides of the dish, its back and its front. Once she was finished, she eyed the blue piece with critical eyes. It was good enough on her opinion, and she hoped it would also be the same for the Endal.

"Virat." she called her mentor attention, turning to face him and seeing that he was already submerging his own piece in the water. The man pointed towards another barrel of water, and Syveris submerged the piece in it. Her heart clenched when she heard the faint sound of glass cracking. Although this was what the Endal wanted, and it was how it was supposed to be done, it was still hard to shake the feeling that she had done something wrong.

"Take it off, now." Virat ordered, and the apprentice obeyed quickly. The plate that came out had small cracks running on its surfice. Then, after a nod from her mentor, Syveris rested the plate on the break box surface, carefully, and picked up a shear.

The Avora kept working, twisting the pipe as needed, while she cut the glass around the punty to free it. Finally, she hit the tool slightly, and the plate was freed. It was finally ready, and Syveris sighed, tired from the work, but extremely satisfied with it. Glasswork wasn't ever easy, but when it required constant trips to the Glory Hole and too much spinning, it tired her more than normal. But the longer the piece took to be ready, the higher the challenge, and this was what made her so excited about everything.

"Take the plate with the glove already and put it in the annealer." Virat's voice made interrupted her thoughts, and Syveris searched for the thick glove, putting it on her right hand. "You might have submerged it on water, but for too short to actually cool the glass down, so you still can burn yourself if you handle the glass barehanded. And, if we do not put it on the annealer, the glass can crack even more, and then, it'll break."

Nodding, Syveris grabbed the plate, careful not to ruin the piece. Looking more closely at it, the piece was beautiful, with a deep blue color that suited the cracked surface. Beautiful or not, she wasn't going to do many cracked pieces, she was sure of it. The sound of the glass cracking was still in her mind, and she didn't like it. Somehow, the sound made her feel as if she was destroying the plate after so much work to create it.

The Avora stored the piece in the annealer, taking the glove off and walking to stand besides Virat. Syeris wiped the sweat out of her forehead, before sighing.

"Well, that was fun. Maybe I will do more of this length work."

"You certainly will." her mentor smiled to her. "Do you think you could do another plate today?" at her groan, Virat chuckled, and then patted her on the shoulder. "I'm just kidding, Syveris. We have time to finish it and deliver this commission at the requested time. Tomorrow, we will do the other two plates, and after tomorrow, we do the bigger one together. Alright?"

The Avora nodded, before waving goodbye to her mentor and walking out of the Glass Reverie. She was tired from the day, but still, she was happy. Glassworking was amazing, and she couldn't be grateful enough to be able to work in the Reverie.

Humming, Syveris made her way to the Kitchens, hungry. A good meal would do her good now.

x Poppy

by **Skerry** on December 1st, 2013, 11:33 pm

Grades

Syveris

Skill	XP
Observation	5XP
Glassworking	5XP
Organization	2XP

LORES :

Notes:
A highly descriptive thread, well worth the XP. A job well done, I must say. Write on!

Remember if you have any questions about or problems with your grade then feel free to PM me.

x

Completed Dishware for an Endal [Part Two]