Completed Herblore 5

Gemma helps her dad fill comissions

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The Diamond of Kalea is located on Kalea's extreme west coast and called as such because its completely made of a crystalline substance called Skyglass. Home of the Alvina of the Stars, cultural mecca of knowledge seekers, and rife with Ethaefal, this remote city shimmers with its own unique light.

Herblore 5

Postby Gemma Parker on March 2nd, 2019, 8:28 am

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Winter 78th, 518 AV, 18 Bells

Gemma took the jar from the pot and made sure she turned off the fire. She was done with that now that she had waited the needed 12 bells. Now it was time to make her salve. She went to the table and got her materials ready, making sure she knew which step was first.

Gemma took the first jar and set it to the side, uncovering it. She prepared cheesecloth over the bowl and poured the oil into the cloth and bowl so that the plant would be strained out. She squeezed the leaves to get all the oil out, then put the leaves to the side and moved on to the next jar of oil she had made. The oil was still hot, so she had to be careful, but she was sure she could heal herself if she did get injured.

She took the resulting oil and measured out several quantities. The ratio she was looking for was one cup of oil to every ounce of wax. In front of her was about sixteen cups of oil, so she needed sixteen one ounce bars of wax. She took the wax from a box her dad had, since it was for him, and brought the oil back over to the stove. She had left the double boiler on the stove, so now she just needed to restart the fire and boil the water again.

She filled up the bottom pan of the double boiler and put the wax bars into the top pan. As she watched, the wax started to melt. She was doing 4 batches at a time since her pan wasn’t big enough for more than that.

Once the wax was melted, it was mostly clear. But when she poured the oil in, it became almost solid again. The oil had cooled enough in that short time that when it came into contact with the hot wax, the wax congealed. Gemma stirred the oil and wax together, and when it was ready to be used, she brought it over to the table. She left the fire on, but turned down the air so the fire would burn lower. She would need to reheat this again.

She was filling little containers of one ounce each, which her dad used for sales to clients. She poured the mixture into the containers, but pouring from a pan was not ideal, so she instead poured it all into the measuring container that had a little lip for pouring out liquid. She used that to then fill a few more containers, leaving the lids off for now. She would let them dry first before capping them.

She saw that the wax was solidifying again, so she went back to her double boiler and put her container back in the second pan. She also began to prepare a second double boiler. She could probably handle two at a time, right? Yeah, no problem. She soon had dozens of little containers, but she was not done. Not by a long shot.
Last edited by Gemma Parker on March 8th, 2019, 10:24 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Herblore 5

Postby Gemma Parker on March 8th, 2019, 3:39 pm

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Gemma was making salves. She had already managed to get one pot of liquid salve going by melting beeswax into infused oil. Now she needed to finish that process while trying to get another started at the same time. She had heard it said that multitasking was just doing multiple things poorly at once, but she was determined to prove that wrong.

While pot number one was on and boiling, she took another jar of infused oil and poured it into pan number two, after having set up the bottom pan with water so it was again a double boiler. She then went back to pan number one and got started. She wrapped a towel around her hand and held the handle of the pan, carrying it with care over to the table. She poured it into the measuring container she had used for the oil, trying to be steady but also fast, but not so fast that she poured the oil over the side. When she was done with that, she put the pan back on the stove and poured more oil into it before rushing back over to the table, dropping the towel on the table.

The oil and wax were already starting to solidify, so she had to move fast. It might have been better if somehow the whole room was warmer, but she couldn't change that now. She poured the salve into the containers, doing her best to be slow enough to not splash, but fast enough to get this done in time, before it solidified. But even as she was filling the fifth container with salve, she found that the salve had hardened inside the container. She would have to heat it up again, but already her oil was simmering on both stoves. She brought the glass measuring jar over to the counter and put it down before dropping two more containers of beeswax into the two double boilers. She tried to spread the wax out so it would melt all at once, but in the end she had to do some stirring.

When she was done with that, she had just a moment to rush back over to the table and move her filled jars over, making room for the new empty jars that she laid out on the table for her next two batches.

She grabbed the towel again, not wanting to burn herself, and grabbed the second pan with the towel, bringing it back over to the table to pour out into the vessels. She tried once more to pour out the oil and wax without spilling, and in the end only spilled a small amount by trying to go too fast. She could hear the wax and oil from pan number one boiling behind her, and she didn't want to lose the batch by letting it burn. She might have been going too fast, but she had to keep trying or she would lose what she had started to make, and she couldn't have that.
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Herblore 5

Postby Gemma Parker on March 8th, 2019, 5:40 pm

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With the two pots now both ready to be poured, Gemma had to work fast, but she could not afford to spill the precious salve. Next time she would probably have to work slower, but for now there was nothing she could do but keep moving. The jars were empty and on the table, ready to receive the healing salve. Gemma took her towel and wrapped it around the handle of pan two, pulling it over with both hands while the fire still boiled the water in the bottom pan of the double boiler. Her hands were shaking a little bit, but she was sure she could keep going at this pace for a few more batches, even if her shoulders were already aching, and sweat was on her brow.

She poured the liquid into the measuring glass and set the pan back on the boiler, dropping in more oil. She then returned to the table and put took the measuring glass now full of hardening liquid and poured it into the glass jars one by one, again doing her best not to spill anything. This was getting harder and harder as her hands started shaking. But finally, she got the jars full with only a little bit of splattering around the jars on the table. She returned to the stove, dropped more wax into pan two, and took pan one, pouring out the ingredients into the measuring glass, pouring more oil into the pan, and returning to the table. With two double boilers running constantly, there was always more to pour, but she had to make sure she didn't spend too much time pouring or she would burn the mixture in the pans due to the heat.

She got back over to the table and filled up the second half of the jars, taking longer with this one as she needed to use her left hand to support her right as she poured, and even then she spilled some. She was seemingly getting worse with each pass as she tried to maintain speed and productivity to get her dad's order done on time. She pushed herself a little more, turning quickly when that batch was poured to put more wax in the now boiling oil in pan one and taking the now liquid salve in pan two to fill up more jars. But by the time she got over to the table again, she realized that she had forgotten to put out more jars. She thought quickly and put the pot down on the table, moving the filled jars to the side and opening new ones to pour into. And now she saw she was running out of jars. She would have to get more, but that would mean stopping production, which would totally throw off her rhythm. But maybe that was a good thing. Maybe what she was learning was that she should not always test her limits in such a way.

So finally, she filled up the jars she had, leaving hardening wax in the now cooling pan. She had to turn off the two double boilers and she frowned the she had not finished her work, but there was nothing that could be done about that now.
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Herblore 5

Postby Gemma Parker on March 8th, 2019, 7:08 pm

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Gemma breathed a sigh. She was done with as much of her dad's project as she could get done for the day. She prayed over her arms and hands, but she was just tired, not wounded. Maybe it helped a little bit, but she would have to recover on her own. Thankfully, there were herbs she could use to speed up that recovery. Unfortunately, she was really bad at remembering things like that, so she would have to ask her dad while she was out getting more jars from his shop. She also needed to drop off what she had made, which had since cooled. Lots to do, but it was good to stay busy.

She carefully sealed all the hardened salves in their jars and stacked them each in her satchel until it was full. She was not able to fit them all, so she had to take a blanket and turn it into a makeshift bag by laying it on the table and putting the jars carefully on top, then tying the blanket closed over them. The result was awkward, but she didn't really have the disposable income to pay someone to carry her dad's product to him. And if she was the one asking, she would be the one paying.

So she lugged the bags of salve, doing her best not to let the glass clink together too much. It took her probably twice as long as it normally would have, but by the time she got to her dad's shop, which was practically overflowing with sick people, she was ready to put these salves down. She went into the back room, squeezing through the people, all the while praying for them as she came near. She could see many of them feel better already, but she knew that this would only help them for a short while.

"Hey dad, I have the order." She said. I need more jars to finish." She called when she was done.

"That's great, Gems! Can you come here and help me with this while I get those salves out onto the floor? He asked. She came over to see what he was doing and saw that he was in the process of making a syrup. Sadly, Gemma didn't know how to make syrups.

"Dad, I don't know how to make syrups. What do I do?" She asked. Her dad was in a hurry, so he just said, "all the ingredients for that one are already inside. Just keep stirring it until it boils. I'll be right back." He said, carting the jars she had brought in to be sold to his customers. From what he heard, they were all here looking for that salve, so he just put them on the counter and started selling them to whoever wanted them.

He came back when he was done, and the syrup was already boiling. Gemma wanted to ask her dad about a recipe to help her feel better, but he looked super busy, so she didn't say anything just yet.

"Great, so you said you don't know how to make a syrup? Well there's no time like the present, because I need another batch just like this one." He said.

So basically a syrup is when you add a sweetener like honey to an infusion or decoction. So you already know how to make those two, so grab that dried elder over there and measure out five cups of berries, ten sticks of cinnamon, fifty cloves, and-" He counted on his fingers for a moment. "Ten spoonfuls of grated ginger, a gallon and four cups of water, and..." He ticked the items on his hands, trying to see what he was missing.

"Honey?" Gemma offered.

"Yes! Ten cups of honey." He said. "Pop it all into that big pot over there and let it reduce by half, stirring every few minutes." He said.

Gemma was quickly grabbing each of the ingredients as her dad listed them, and tried to remember each quantity. She would have to check with her dad before adding them all to make sure it was correct. She was not used to making herbal remedies on this scale.

She started measuring out the liquids first, since those were the quantities she remembered. She poured the water into the big pot and put the honey to the side, then pointed at the other ingredients, trying to think of the right quantity.

"Dad?"

"Yeah, honey?" He called from the front of the store.

"How much of the dry ingredients?" She asked.

"Ten spoonfuls of grated ginger, ten sticks of cinnamon. Five cups of berries, fifty cloves." He said, listing them while pointing to each ingredient. "And can you stir the other one quick?" He asked.

Gemma groaned and went over to stir the other pot while trying to remember how much of each ingredient.

She went back and measured out the five cups of berries, pouring them into the pot with the ten sticks of cinnamon. She then grated a few roots of ginger and measured out the ten spoonfuls she needed, then counted out the fifty cloves, adding them all to the pot. She then struck her flint and steel to light the large stove, stretching as she did so. She was sore.
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Herblore 5

Postby Gemma Parker on March 8th, 2019, 10:21 pm

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"Hey dad, do you have anything to help speed muscle recovery? I'm really sore from making all this stuff." Gemma said.

Her dad was still busy, but he cocked his head and said, "I think I still have some fire and ice salve over on that shelf." He pointed toward the far end of the shop. "Next to the bumps and bruises salve." He said.

Gemma took a moment to stir the two decoctions before heading over to check if there was any of the salve left.

"Fire and Ice... Fire and Ice..." She looked through the shelves. But though she looked, she found nothing of interest for her. She returned, arching her back to stretch out the muscles.

"Nope, nothing there." She said. "Do you remember how to make it?" She asked. Her dad thought for a moment while exchanging salve for money. While he thought, she went back and stirred the two decoctions, checking the height of the one her dad had been working on when she got there. She saw the watermark and measured. It was probably about half, but she would have to check with her dad.

"Dad, you seriously have to start writing things down." She complained under her breath. But she was sometimes guilty of the same thing. She said she was going to write something down, but in the end she just didn't. There was always something else to do. Maybe after this she would sit down and write down the recipes.

"All right, honey, what was it you needed?" He asked.

"You mentioned Fire and Ice Salve for muscle soreness. Do you remember how to make it?" She asked.

"Fire and Ice." He thought aloud. "It gets hot and cold at the same time, so it would need some kind of chilly pepper infused oil for the heat, then probably wintergreen essential oil for the cool, diluted with a regenerative herb like goatweed. Maybe toss in some Arnica and Ginger for restoration, too. I think there was Peppermint essential oil in it. Maybe Menthol." He said. "But I'm not sure about the proportions, those are just some guesses." He said.

"Well I can play around with that, thanks, dad." She said. "Is this one ready for the honey?" She asked, pointing to the first pot of decoction.

"Let's check. Oh, yes, it's a little bit under what it should be, but almost perfect." He said, turning off the heat.

"Grab that jar over there and fill it up with this, will you? Then just add the honey."

"I think I know how to do this now, dad." She smiled.

"Yes, well, old habits." He said, giving her a smile as he returned to his work in the front.

She smiled back and shook her head. She was still learning, but she had come a long way even in this short time. She was becoming her own herbalist.

She covered her hands and grabbed the pot, pouring it into a large basin, straining it through a filter. She had to stop twice to throw away the decocted berries and cinnamon. She then took the honey and poured it in, stirring it into the hot decoction. Before long, she had enough syrup to fill twenty of the jars her dad had set out. She smiled as she labeled each jar and set them on a table just inside the back room to cool.

"Hey dad, can you take this last one when it's done? I'm gonna head out." She said. She was going to All Things Wild to see if they knew how to make this salve.
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Herblore 5

Postby Madeira Dusk on March 25th, 2019, 6:21 pm

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Gemma Parker

Skills
  • Herbalism: 5xp
  • Observation: 4xp
  • Mathematics: 1xp
  • Organization: 3xp
  • Endurance: 2xp
  • Socialization: 2xp
  • Philtering: 2xp

Lores
  • Lore of the process of making a salve
  • Mathematics: using ratios in herbalism
  • Organization: multitasking
  • Syrup: sweetener added to an infusion or decoction
  • Recipe: elderflower syrup
  • Recipie: 'Fire and Ice' salve

Awards & Retribution


Notes
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