Whimsical Whittling

[Palla Frostfawn]

10th of Summer, 514 AV Palla was feeling cheery. She walked into her shop with a spring in her step, and sat down at her carving table, mind filled with inspiration. Palla had brought her journal to her shop today, deciding she would sketch some of the images that came to her mind, as she was sure that she wouldn't be able to carve every single one of them in a day. First, Palla opened her notebook and sketched out some of her ideas. She decided on carving some waves. She carved a row of waves, first choosing wood slabs that were the the general shape that she wanted. She started on the first piece of wood, carving two lone waves. She first roughed out the shape, and then oned in on the details a bit more. She carved loose lines for the water on the wooden waves, and then she sanded it down. Palla carved holes in the waves, and made pegs to stick in them for later use. She repeated the process of making waves until she had five sets, and then stuck the peg through the hole. The wooden peg was a bit bigger than the holes. Palla had made it so the wood would stick together, but as a result, she had to pound the peg into the holes with another piece of wood that didn't seem like it would be good for anything else. When Palla finished, she decided to make the piece of wood into a mallet. At her skill, one would expect it to be easy, but the wood was much harder to carve than Palla was used to due to its density. Still, she ended up with a decent looking mallet, and she decided it would serve its purpose well enough. Palla then put her newly made carving tool aside and tried to start something new. She had so many ideas in her head, all designs with hidden meanings. She started to draw one out in her journal, opening up her ink vial and dipping her quill into it. she began with a curved line. Curves and swirls, yet they somehow seemed to form an animal. A sly fox, usually thought of as a creature that would be angled with sharp points now sat in front of her, baring a softer side. Palla smiled at it and started drawing something underneath the first sketch. She began to draw a mouse. Not a rat, one that would be thought of as sly and sneaky with sharp teeth, but an innocent mouse, one that only wanted to get food. Of course, this was only how the animals were portrayed in Palla's mind, but she drew them as she imagined them. Palla could not do the pictures in her head justice, but she could get a general idea of what she wanted to carve. Her drawings were terrible, and Palla was the only one who could even begin to interpret them, but that was good enough for her. After all, it wasn't as if customers would see the drawings.

[Palla Frostfawn]

Palla was interrupted by the sound of the door opening, and she quickly closed her journal, glad that the ink had dried. She pushed her journal off to the side, walked to the front room, and cheerfully greeted the customer. "H-Hello, how may I help you?" The large Akalak man that had walked in, looked at her, and smiled, as if she was a small child or a baby. Palla knew that the Vantha were somewhat short, but she didn't like how she was being looked at. I may be young, but I'm not a child! The Akalak finally spoke. "What a cute little shop you have here. Every carving is so new, so young, just like you, child. I would like a carved box." Cute? Child? I would expect that from a wise old woman, not an Akalak that looks not too much older than me. Still, Palla bit her tongue and swallowed her pride. She showed him where the boxes were, and let him choose one. He picked a small spice box, and Palla replied to his action with "T-That'll be five gold mizas if you like the box." The Akalak looked at her, gave her that 'aren't you so cute?' smile that Palla despised, and said "Okay, I'll take it." He handed her the five gold mizas and walked out of the shop. What was that all about? He acted like an old woman, and even though the Akalak may age differently, he can't be too much older than me. Can he? Palla had just sat down again when another customer walked into the shop. This time, it was an old woman, whom Palla wouldn't mind being treated as a child by very much, but luckily, Palla didn't have to listen to the lady treating her as if she was a baby. "Hello, Palla, or at least that's who I assume you are." said the woman before Palla could even speak. "H-Hello ma'am, I am indeed Palla. How may I help you?" "Do you have a carving of a flower? Anything will do, but I'd like if it was a relief carving of a flower like a daisy, a sunflower, or anything similar." Palla found the shelf with a few wooden flowers on them, and showed them to the woman. The lady pointed out a daisy, admittedly not one of Palla's best pieces, but a decent one nevertheless. "Could I buy that one, please?" Palla smiled one of her fake smiles and said "Sure, ma'am. That'll be one gold miza." The woman handed Palla the coin and left, giving her a smile and a wave goodbye. Palla sat down at her table and started to draw a bird. Usually she wasn't feeling so whimsical, so carefree, but today was somehow different. Palla dipped the quill into the ink and then drew lazy lines on the paper, trying again and again until she found she had made something that somewhat resembled a dove. She smiled at her sketch of a dove, made up of few simple lines that gave the general shape of the bird. It wouldn't make a very complex carving, but it would do. Still, somewhere in the back of her mind, even though she had improved slightly, Palla knew that she would be wasting her time carving simple things. Palla carved the dove in a slab of wood quickly, first using stab cuts, next following through with a V-tool, and then decided on something more complicated. Palla started to try to carve something a little more complex. Or rather, a lot more complex. A butterfly. While the shape was quite simple, the designs on the creature were usually not so. Palla tried to sketch out the butterfly, scribbling down an image. It looked like a very messed up butterfly until she tried to draw designs on it. She inked lines that came out from the center of the butterfly's body and got thinner as she went, much like veins of a leaf. Still, Palla decided to try to carve it anyways, not relying on her terrible drawing. She started by caving the general shape in one of the pieces of wood by using her V-tool. She carved a butterfly with bigger wings on top and smaller on the bottom. The bottom wings were rounded and the top wings a bit more angled. She had the general form down okay, but it was downhill from there. Next, she tried to carve the lines on the butterfly's wings. First, they looked okay, but they seen ended up looking like a spiderweb gone wrong. Palla decided to make another carving and start the next one. After all, the shop was for selling carvings, and what she did just now wasn't exactly sellable.