Timestamp: 74th of Winter, 518 A.V.
Kelski hated taking orders from the Sun’s Birth. But she did what she had to do in order to get paid. The Midnight Gem ran off of custom orders far more than it ran off of business that came in off the street. Most of the business was of the variety Kelski appreciated; rings for marriages, earrings for anniversaries, and even ornate hair ornaments for events in The Gated Community.
Today she had an order for twenty signet rings with the Sun’s Birth emblem on them. An eight-pointed star wasn’t hard to do, but the Dragoon that had ordered them (and prepaid) had been specific that he wanted them all the same with a carnelian cabochon set in the middle. It was a big order, but one that wouldn’t be hard to fill. Kelski could cut cabos in her sleep and set them just as easily. It was making the rings that were harder.
Luckily, she was set up for such things. Kelski had a way to repeatedly manufacture intricately designed rings after the initial first ring was crafted. All she had to do was craft the first one out of wax, make an investment mold out of it, and pour the rest of the twenty rings out of actual silver, as per the order.
Starting out was easy. She pulled out her journal that contained sketches for past gang-affiliations and turned to an open page. She sketched what she wanted to create, knowing the Sun's Birth emblem from heart since it was branded deep into her ass. She took her time, carefully drawing out the ring, making notes on how she wanted to construct it, and shading it with charcoal when she was done. The sketch was her guideline, but her true talent would guide the creation of the ring.
She had a dozen ring molds and so she selected a size 11 wax band of very plain design. It had been molded from a ring mold already... she kept several on hand for such purposes. The order had called for all the rings to be the same size eleven band, but she’d figured it into the cost for those that were given the rings to come in and have them sized to fit with no additional charge. For that reason, the band would be plain. It was the Sun’s Birth design that would be fancy… something she wouldn’t need to touch to size.
Kelski gently nudged the wax band into her jeweler’s vice, padding it with thin wood, and then took out a sheet of wax. Cutting a flat circle out of the wax the exact size she wanted the sunburst design to be only required stamping the circle out of the mold. Once that piece was free, she set it aside, then took the same sheet of wax and carefully cut the eight long triangles that would form the sunburst. Spinning on her bench, she opened one or two drawers before she found the wax needle she needed. It was only a thin wooden dowel with a thick sewing needle driven into the end.
Concentrating on her magic for a moment, Kelski called up djed, converted it to res, and concentrated on expelling her breath into the room and keeping it in a tight bubble around the ring. Once the ring was in a controlled bubble of reimanced air, Kelski could control the temperature of the air inside. She made sure it stayed warm enough so that the wax remained pliable but not melt. The act itself caused her to concentrate hard, working on her control, absolutely focused on maintaining that internal air temperature around the ring. Luckily, the next few steps were easy enough she didn't have to break her concentration on the bubble around the ring.