Solo Carving the Symbols

[Eleret]

Fall 71, 512 AV morning ledger2 gm -- ink, vial of 1 gm -- glass jar 25 sm -- linseed oil, 1 cup 5 sm -- charcoal, 10 sticks 5 sm -- brush, tiny 4 sm -- parchment, 2 sheets 1 sm -- brush, small total: -7 gm Eleret had put a lot of thought into what she wanted the final tileset to consist of. Not only the materials -- the wood from her home Isle, wood as much a thing of land and sea as the Konti herself, shaped and prepared by her own hands -- but the set of symbols she would use in her fortune-telling with these tiles. She fully expected the set would be added to over time, as she developed in her skill and needed to ask questions she couldn't imagine now. But for the present, it would be as complete as she could make it. The Konti sat down first with parchment and ink at the room's small table, First, she needed to draw out the symbols she had chosen, both test run and reference material for the carving which would follow after. Small and spare, they were, as befit the little discs she would etch them into. A minimum of details, just enough to convey meaning to Eleret herself -- these weren't intended for anyone else to use, after all. She dipped her brush into the ink and set it to the parchment, drawing a single loop, carefully placing a dot in its center. Below that, she drew a set of crosshatched lines; beside them, another group of lines which crossed like the spokes of a rimless wheel. These were simple designs, easily drawn, ones which would be relatively straightforward to carve; she progressed through their ilk quickly, filling one page with sketches and spilling over onto the top of the next. The others, the last four, she wasn't quite sure how to portray simply -- with some symbols, reduction just didn't come easily. Eleret set the tip of her brush against the parchment, then paused, ink bleeding out into the fibers before she lifted it up again. Holding out her left hand, she studied the lily mark on its back, then began to sketch its outline. In approximate fashion, but close would do; in fact, when she had finished with all five petals, Eleret realized the flowing lines wouldn't translate well to carving at all -- not, at least, at the scale she had to work in. So she drew it again, using the first sketch as a reference; and again; and yet a fourth time, with each iteration replacing some of the flower's natural delicacy with a starker and more stylized depiction. The last sketch, the one she thought she'd be able to carve in wood, Eleret compared back to the original inspiration on her hand -- and felt that any resemblance between them existed solely in her head. But that was where it most needed to exist.

[Eleret]

Eleret had picked out others which proved almost as difficult -- such as the one she couldn't not try to make closer to realistic than purely representational. Her first sketch of a flame was all curved lines and reaching points; it looked like fire, in outline and manner, but would be a pain to try and etch into a small space. So she drew another, paring down the reaching tongues to a simple candle-flame, adding an interior line to suggest the ripples one might see within fire. A third iteration gave the Konti something she thought actually feasible, black lines of ink which could be translated into graven channels. The third of her 'difficult' symbols was somewhat less difficult -- the leaf-bud shape was simple enough to stylize, the problem was her dithering over which form to use. Eleret sketched out two new leaves at the end of a twig -- the simplest of leaf-forms, no more than an oval -- but found that design wanting. She tried a closed bud, but decided that while simple, it didn't convey what she wanted either in picture or in symbology. She drew the brush over the parchment again, sketching out a half-opened bud -- three little oval leaves in the process of unfurling from their common center. The Konti considered that pattern for a bit, then drew it again, tweaking the lines further still. That design, she thought could work. The very last icon she needed to draft was simple in concept, but tricky in design. She wanted a branching fan of coral, simple enough to be easily carved -- and so vastly reduced from reality's complexity -- but one which could not be mistaken for antler or tree. Eleret thought for a while about corals in all their myriad forms, mindfully refraining from chewing on the brush handle as she mused. She finally decided that if she split it low and had several branches of near-equal length, each with spurs of their own, the pattern wouldn't look like anything but coral. Particularly to her own eyes. She inked the brush anew and set it to the parchment, drawing several lines which radiated asymmetrically out from a common center. The Konti gave them each little nubs to indicate spurs of coral growing off, then studied the drafted symbol. The angles didn't seem quite right, so she drew another with quick, sure strokes, changing the positions of the main branches. It definitely looked better, that time -- and after adding the little sub-branches, Eleret decided it looked pretty decent, all things considered. Which meant she could move on to actually working in the wood.

[Eleret]

Eleret selected a disc and set it flat on the table before her, securing it with a small clamp on either edge of the smoothed face. When she was sure it was well-fastened, she selected the smallest of her gouges, picked out a length of charcoal, and turned the parchment around so that the symbol she would start with was positioned as close to the item as possible. She paused a moment to study her pattern, a simple set of six straight lines, then took up the charcoal and carefully drew it yet again -- this time on the surface of the wood. Checking it for fidelity one last time, Eleret wiped her hands off on a bit of cloth, then picked up the gouge and carefully set the blade against the wood. She cut carefully, taking the time to insure the lines remained straight. Her first pass was very shallow, just enough to define the symbol, giving the carver a chance to double- and triple-check that the pattern etched into the wood did indeed match what she intended to carve. Deeming it acceptable, Eleret then made the second pass, cutting more deeply into the disc and making the symbol indelible. When the symbol was finished, the Konti did as she had done throughout the prior steps of this project: she flipped the disc over and repeated the process on the other side, carving in the same symbol all over again. Eleret picked it up afterwards, turning the disc back and forth, comparing the two iterations of the symbol. They weren't exactly aligned, nor exactly identical, but she didn't mind that. Nodding to herself, Eleret deemed it acceptable and set it aside. She took a moment to clear her immediate workspace of shavings, then continued on down the set, starting with the easy ones, the straight lines and regular angles -- much as she had when drawing. Then on to the circles, and finally the irregular shapes, ending with the most complex of all. Each was cut into both sides of a blank disc, shallow and cautious at first, then more deeply to firm the design. Each was given a once-over at the end, not so much to check alignment or fidelity, but to ensure the carver had left out nothing important -- nor made any major mistakes. Most of the time, once she'd reached that stage, any mistakes had long since been done and discarded. Inevitably, the symbols which gave her the trouble in carving were the same ones she had struggled to draw.

[Eleret]

They were simple, stylized, pared down severely from the natural complexity of what they represented. But they had curving outlines, or many little lines which amounted to no more than nicks to be made in the wood. They were more fussy to etch into wood than they could ever have been on parchment -- and though Eleret had tried to draw at scale, it was on these that she truly realized how little space there was to work in on the disc faces. She cut too long, or went out too wide, or didn't curve back quickly enough for the lines to meet where they needed to. She got quietly frustrated, and cut too deep. She cut the symbol on one side right -- or at least good enough -- only to become overconfident and botch the other immediately after. At that point, Eleret realized she needed to step away... before she ran out of 'extra' discs and wound up not being able to finish all the symbols she wanted to have. That would be a problem, if it happened. So it needed to not happen. Setting her tools aside, Eleret unfolded herself and stepped away from the table. She reached her arms up towards the ceiling, feeling the pull of the stretch down her sides and even into her thigh muscles, if weakly -- and realized just how stiff she had been getting from such a long period of continuous work. A glance out the window told her it had been a while indeed. She needed to do something different for a bit. Something active seemed to be called for. Eleret's wandering glance settled upon her suvai, and she nodded to herself: a bit of practice would suit perfectly.

[Eleret]

Picking the weapon up from where it rested, Eleret moved over to the clear side of the room. She promptly set it back down, first and foremost running her body through a slow series of stretches. She began with her neck, tilting her head to either side and holding for several ticks; held each arm in turn across her chest, then reached over each shoulder towards her back, other hand securing the upraised elbow. She leaned down to help stretch the muscles of her back, then bent further, her hands brushing the floor and the pull reaching down into her calf muscles. Eleret finished off with a set of lunges, then plucked up the suvai and returned to her original position -- standing, feet shoulder width apart, shoulders squared with her feet. Eleret shifted her stance again: left foot forward, right foot back, her torso slightly turned to match her hips. She paused there, spending a moment to envision the sequence of blocks she would run through; then she suited action to thought. The Konti brought her arm sweeping up, forming a continuous line with her side and back leg; she held it there a moment, then came back down to the initial position. The inward block next, a strong sweep of her forearm over her chest, torso partially pivoting with the motion. Then out, her arm nearly straightening, weight leaning on her back leg as she braced for an impact which, of course, never came. Finally, down, arm coming down with the blade turned out, pointing past her knee. So went the sequence. Returning to her starting stance for the sixth time, Eleret held it for a breath, then ran through the pattern again at a slightly faster pace, setting the rhythm into working memory. A third time, recalling the words of her instructor defining and critiquing the movements. She focused on each action, on using the tension of her muscles to put force into each movement, on the way her muscles and balance shifted through each cycle. It hadn't been so long ago that she was taught the moves, and Eleret could still hear the voice of her trainer echoing in her mind, detailing exactly what she got wrong about each. She strived not to make the same mistakes now. Eventually, she felt she had done as much as was reasonable, the kinks worked out of her muscles, her mind recharged and ready to once again confront the tedious intensity of detail work. Eleret returned her suvai to its place, laying it down carefully, and then returned to the table liberally covered with wood.

[Eleret]

Eleret laid out the materials she next needed close to hand: the little jar of walnut oil and an even smaller vial of ink; two brushes for the painting; a scrap of cloth to cover her work surface and catch the inevitable drips -- or to plot her work, as needed. It would be best to start with the ink, she thought, as oil was used in sealing and finishing wood; as oil would eventually be used on everything, that which needed to go under the oil should be applied first. Dipping the little brush into the ink, the Konti pressed its bristles against the rim of the vial to release excess pigment back into the container. Then she moved one of the carved discs over, setting the tip of the brush against the lines and painting them over in black. As simple as that, and it was done, the disc set aside and another centered in its former place. As she proceeded through the discs, Eleret lined up those she had done in order along the side of her workspace, with the one she had done first nearest to her and the most recent at the far end. A number of times, she had to pause to blot up ink which had welled up beyond the channel meant to hold it, or when her hand inadvertently drew outside the lines, typically a consequence of lapsed attention. Fortunately, with the symbols cut into the wood as they were, no amount of stray ink could change their identity; an occasional gray-brown stain outside the lines was not nearly worth starting all over again. When she finished inking one side of all the discs, Eleret paused for a much-needed drink from her waterskin. Then she took up the nearest disc, the very first one she had inked, and studied the painted symbol. It still gleamed dully, but from the minimal shine, she thought the dry wood had already soaked up most of the thin layer of ink. Between that and the recessed nature of the symbol, she would be well able to work on the other side without disturbing what had already been completed.

[Eleret]

As she turned the disc over to expose its unpainted side, Eleret hesitated. Would it in fact be best to continue with the ink? Where the other side was to be an inked symbol on an unstained background, this reverse side she planed to feature a pale symbol on a dark field. Given how the ink did stain whatever it touched, even inadvertently... here, she opted to begin with the oil. While she would need to apply a second coat later for sealing the entire surface, starting with the oil now would help keep ink from going astray when she painted the field. It proved noticeably harder to tell when she got oil in the wrong place, whether by stray drip or unintended overstroke. The sealant gave a slight shine to the wood where it was applied, but next to no color over its natural weathered gray. Eleret thus had to pay somewhat more attention in order to notice and blot up such mistakes; but aside from that, the second face of each disc went much as the first. When each was done, she moved it to the other side of her workspace, in order from first to last as before. When she had oiled the last symbol, Eleret stopped to consider the row of discs, and the light of the day filtering in from outside. It was now well into the afternoon, and as she wrapped her head around this fact -- there was a distinct difference between knowing that time passed as she worked, and knowing how much had gone -- her stomach reminded her that breakfast had been quite a while ago. She contemplated going down to get food from the common room... ... ...but she felt in the right mental space to finish this project today. There were only the background fields to cover now, which would go much more quickly than the wood-carving parts. If she took a break now, she might lose her stride. So Eleret took a moment's deep breath and turned her attention inwards, firmly willing her hunger back to quiescence. That endeavor didn't exactly meet with great success, but as her work reabsorbed her attention, she felt confident it would subside. She continued on.

[Eleret]

Turning the first disc over to bare its blacked-in symbol, Eleret moved the oil jar to front and center and took up the wider brush. She dipped its end in the pale oil, letting the excess bead up on the bristles and drip back down into the jar. She layered that oil over first the bare surface of the disc, then also the blackened symbol, which was by now the next best thing to dry. When the oil coating was applied to her satisfaction, she again transferred the disc to the other side of her workspace and replaced it with the next. With the thought in the forefront that this project would soon be completed, Eleret felt a bit of excited anticipation which each disc she coated and then set aside. Each one represented one little step closer to finishing. She let herself dwell on that in a corner of her mind, sustaining her interest and attention in the work. But she balanced it with the constant reminder of steady pacing, of mindfulness, of avoiding haste. Particularly when she finished the set entire, and cleaned the oil from the larger brush only to dip it into ink. Where the oil would be somewhat forgiving of errors made in excitement, the ink would not be. Eleret paused with the brush held above the vial, watching black liquid bead up so very slowly until a single drop plopped down. She would not rush forward, not even a little; she would not be impatient to finish. Only when she felt she could truly abide by those guides did the Konti continue. With slow, smooth strokes she coated the reverse field in ink, using as little of the liquid on the brush as she could manage, the better to minimize mistakes. Having already done the oil field on the obverses helped with this less-forgiving step; Eleret had a better feel now for how much was needed to coat a field, and how tricky the symbols were (or in some cases, weren't) to navigate around. She also came to be thankful that all the symbols were small, and there were not even twenty of them to do.

[Eleret]

The sequence was simple, but required close attention nonetheless: The brush was dipped in ink, then blotted against the edge of the vial. She set the side of the bristles against the clear space between disc edge and symbol, and drew it downwards to release the ink in a thick line. This ink was spread ink outwards from that area with small brushstrokes until it would extend no further, with the painter ever mindful of the uncolored symbol at center. That was repeated until the entire background had been darkened, stray drops and smears blotted up as needed, as best she could do. Any last little gaps around the symbol's details were filled in at the end. Then, coloring finished, the one was set aside and the next brought forward This all went quicker than the carving, but slower than the oil-coating because of the greater need for care with the ink. As she progressed, Eleret found the task to be surprisingly soothing and relaxing; the Konti was rather surprised when she reached and found no more tiles waiting in the queue. Surprised -- but gratified. One more part of the process, done. Setting the brush aside, she took a moment to study the first disc, examining the light which glinted from the damp surface. It would need some few chimes more for the ink to be absorbed enough to be safely sealed over. Setting it back down, she sought something else to fill those chimes with. The means most readily to hand was in tidying up her workspace, reducing the disorder which had crept in throughout the work in progress. She could also cap the vial of ink and put what remained away, cleaning out the brush so it could later be used with the oil. Eleret filled another couple of chimes with a leisurely drink of water, noting absently that any desire for food had indeed receded -- temporarily. When that was done, she still needed to wait longer, so the Konti took herself over to the room's window and spent some time in idle contemplation of the street outside. But even that palled in short order, as there was something else she would much rather be doing. Eventually, and not a very long 'eventually' at that, Eleret walked the long way around the room to sit herself back down at the table.

[Eleret]

Picking up the first disc, the Konti turned it from side to side, gauging surface dampness from the sheen of the ink. There wasn't much of a glint now, which meant she would be okay to proceed. She needed only to run a quick coat of oil over the entire surface, no longer concerned about staying in the lines -- or avoiding them. Her chiefest concern now was not to apply too much, and judicious blotting of the brush moderated that. She also sealed the edges of each disc with some care before setting it aside. It was rather anti-climactic, Eleret thought, when she put the last one down in the 'finished' line and found no more awaiting her attention. There was nothing by which to mark the occasion, not even the small joy of turning to her sister and declaring, Look, it's finally finished! Though when the pieces had dried, she fully intended to take them over to her family's residence and show them off. There would be no surprises in their reactions, of course. Her mother would pronounce the work beautiful, and that would be as true in her eyes as it was of everything Eleret had ever made; Ne'len would recognize the accomplishment and effort put into the work, but never quite shared Eleret's joy in working with lifeless wood, any more than Eleret quite shared her passion for soil and plants. And Na'tera in her youth would only say That's great, Aunt Ellie, but why'd you want to do all that work, anyway?? Eleret's thoughts, half recollection and half future projection, inevitably turned towards the one member of her family who wouldn't see her creation, the one who was lost somewhere in the wide world beyond the Isle. "Someday, my sister," she murmured, as much hope as pledge. "Someday I will be able to share all of these things with you." But in the meantime, she had other matters to attend to. The renewed grumbling of her stomach asserted this quite definitely. Setting all idle thoughts aside, Eleret then applied herself to cleaning up the rest of her tools, leaving the discs out to continue drying while she sought out the inn's common room... and food.