Solo Building a forge

[Taylani]

Time stamp: 2nd of Winter 513.

The winter had come, the season had changed and it seemed as if Taylani should have changed. So much was different, the grasses were yellow and crunchy underfoot, Fallan's family had started back up the run, the skies went from being a deep blue of fall to a washed out blue of winter. Taylani had given up dance. No longer did she practice her positions, no longer did she stretch her body. Instead the muscles that she had used for dance was used for life out here in the grasses.

Instead of pirouettes and Grand Jete's she instead scrubbed pots, cooked food over a fire, and worked with Freedom. Instead of extensions and walk overs she performed tasks such as repairing a torn ragged hole in the tents. At least it wasn't crippling sorrow that she had always thought the complete and total loss of dance would leave her with, instead there was a little bit of confusion and a lot of just uncertainty.

So she looked to the future, and she knew that she could not just keep doing bare basics that a child could do when it came to jewelry making. For that she would need to get some equipment. Fallan, with his trading background, knew where she could find the supplies that she needed and she herself had found an outsider who could help her construct what she needed to. He had given her the instructions, and she had given the Miza's to Fallan to get her the materials, which he had left in the tent. He was working with Stormdancer and his leather so she had the tent to herself. No better time then to fail when no one is around.

She walked over to the supplies, and sat down, which was still easy enough to do and inventoried the supplies. There was was fifty units of ten inch ceramic tiles, twin six inch steel tubes, a connector that had three openings, there was the round bowl of copper that had a narrower neck then its bottom, and there was ten square feet of masonry and last but not least a pound of clay.. That seemed like enough, hopefully it was. She didn't need a large forge, in fact she really didn't want a large one since she had to carry it with her when they migrated. This will be bulky enough, perhaps next season she can invest in a wagon.

The first thing she did was pull the steel pipes toward her. This would be imperative she did this correctly. She took her hand drill that she often used to drill holes in beads, and stones, and pressed the tip into one side of the pipe. Using her upper body muscle she began to slowly crank, it was hard and it took a lot of effort to pierce the steel but when she did she stopped. She repeated the process many more times on this pipe, and then she repeated the process on the other steel pipe.

Receipt :

-1 cm 1 lb of Clay, -5 SM for copper bowl, -20 GM for 10 sqft of Masonry, and 4 SM 50 units of tiles.

[Taylani]

Once those were done, she grabbed her clear adhesive and poured some in the joint that had three openings. She only poured it in the two side openings, leaving the third opening on the bottom clear of the adhesive. This was probably a temporary fix, the heat would make the adhesive weaken, but it might work until they got close to a city who might have better supplies and know how. She quickly slipped first one pipe and then the other in the side openings, so that it made a long pipe with a middle opening at the bottom.



Next she took the ceramic tiles, and she began to paint them with the adhesive, and started to stick them against the bowl of the cistern. This was a lengthy process, and to Taylani the tiles looked ugly and definitely amateurish but it worked. Ceramic tile does not conduct heat well, so it would allow her to handle the forge even while it had a fire going inside.

Once the tiles were dry enough Taylani turned the pot over, and with the same trusty hand drill she began to press the tip into the bottom. Even after it punctured she kept at it, pressing more to the sides then straight now. Slowly, in this way, she widens the hole so that it fit the pipe end into it. Once she did this, she arranged the mason stones inside and looked at the finished product. She didn't use anything to cement the stones down, that would allow her to move it more easily.



It was crude, and it was rudimentary. But she could not wait till the morrow when she could test out her theory. Though she must remember to go and buy a bellow for her forge. In her excitement she forgot to buy rudimentary tools.

[Taylani]

Time Stamp 3rd Winter

The light of Syna rode high in the sky, but little warmth was given to the children of the grasses. Instead it was the winter warmth that was neither warm nor bone chilling cold that held the weather this day. Taylani moves back toward the tent she and Fallan had occupied until they decided on investing in their own pavilion or heading north again to rejoin his family. In her hands was the smallest bellow that she could purchase. Its accordion-like belly only a foot wide at its fullest capacity. It was still a little too big for her small forge but it would have to do. She also had purchased a pair of tongs and a cast of steel that she could place the metals that melted far more easily then Steel in.

She had purchased a pound of silver for three gold miza's. Spending this much money on this project, she was going to have to craft things that would sell otherwise she would be fast out of money. Fortunately the silver was not one solid block, but actually in flakes which she found fascinating. She always just imagined silver to be big rocks when mined, but apparently most of the silver mined come in flecks and small pebble-like stones. It made her job easier that they weren't large chunks. Three pounds of silver would do her well.

Entering her tent she moved toward the forge that she had built. It was set up off the ground so that the bellows could reach the small hole she had drilled to fit the pipes. This is where she would placed the nose of the bellows to 'stoke' the fire to burn it brighter and hotter. She drug the forge out of the tent, her first time she did not want to catch it on fire.

Squatting she pulls out her flint and steel, packs the dried dung that was used predominantly around here and also pulled some of the dried grasses to help catch on fire. She held the steel over the forge, and scraped the flint down it in quick successions, waiting till she saw a orange spark alight on the grass and start smoldering before she laid the flint down and bent to blow gently. Soon a flame started and she clapped her hands almost in childish glee.

The pipes with the holes drilled in them withstood the heat, though she imagined that they won't last forever. However they are not as expensive to replace so as long as she got at least a season's use out of them, then she would keep reinvesting. Turning she picked up the cast made of steel, and poured a small handful of silver flakes in it. She looked at the level of flakes and poured a little more. She then used the tongs and placed the cast directly in the flame.

Picking up the bellows, she place the 'business' end into the hole, and slowly squeezed air up, forcing it into the fire fanning the flames from within. Immediately the flames licked higher, and Taylani realized that when she did this she would end up burning more fuel so she had to toss another brick in there. She wasn't sure, was she suppose to keep blowing air into the forge, or would just occasionally be enough? She didn't want to waste her fuel needlessly so she decided to wait and see, try the conservative approach before she started fanning the flames constantly.

While she waited she moved to her pack and got out the clay molds she had already made. These were indeed meant to be one time uses, shaped into basic shapes of rings and earrings, and even a necklace. That last was difficult to get such a thin mold to hold its shape and still remain hollow inside, but not be too thick. They were dried, and only one opening. When the silver got melted she would pour it into these molds and then let it cool and harden. Once that was done she would be able to break off the clay, and wash the end results.

[Taylani]

On her knees beside the forge, Taylani leaned over to look into the steel tube that held her silver. It didn't look to be melting so she took the bellows again, and carefully leaned back before she blew two great puffs of oxygen directly to the flames. Once more the fire licked upwards with a dull roar, and she tossed another dried brick into the flames. It occurred to her that she might need, in the future, to prepare to make all of her silver jewelry at once to keep from using so much precious fire fuel.

She watched and studied the flames, realizing that it stayed at the larger more heated for a few chimes before dying back down. This seemed to indicate that she would need to use the bellows occasionally, not constantly but not too slowly either. Nodding, and humming quietly to herself, not even realizing that she was humming a familiar tune, Taylani continued to tend the fires. Slowly, ever so slowly, did the flakes of silver start to collapse in upon themselves, and a metallic pool began to to fill the steel tube. Smiling, thinking that pool was one of the most beautiful sights she had seen, the shiny cleanness of it awe inspiring.

She quickly grabbed the ring mold that she had made and allowed to harden over night from the clay and set it to where the opening was on top, and made a mental note to next time craft a solid base of clay so that it sat upright easier. With the tongs, the dancer carefully retrieved the steel cup full of molten silver. She transferred it slowly, keeping it far from her body as she could, and tipped it over the ring mold. It was far easier in her mind then in practice, for the flow of silver jittered in her nervous hand and some of the silver spilled over the side of the mold rather then inside. Plus it seemed she had melted too much silver for the ring alone, so she ended up grabbing the earring mold -shaped in small circular studs with a wire that pierced the mold that would end up being the post.

When the silver was depleted she set the hot steel down to cool, and used a thick rag to wipe up the excess molten silver from the molds themselves. She was surprised at how much silver was wasted, and she made a note to try and figure out a way to avoid that in the future. She stands, setting the clay molds with their molten contents aside to cool. She would give them over night, to make sure that the silver had plenty of time to set and harden.

She pulled the forge, using the ceramic tile covered bottom so that she didn't burn her hands, aside too tossing dirt onto the flames to smother them. It was not a perfect forge, nor was it pretty but it worked.