The First Request II (Job Thread)

[Kelski]

Timestamp: 2nd of Winter, 517 AV

Continued from: The First Request I (Job Thread)

Next Kelski got out more already heated silver, poured it into long ring blanks, the thin kind for smaller ladies hands, and set them to cooling. Ring blanks were lovely long straight bits of squared silver when they came out of the molds. These would be perfect, in their delicate thin way, to form the channels on either side of the collar to begin fitting the stone into. She wouldn't bend them into rings after the fact but instead bend them into gentle more open lengths that accommodated the larger circle of the collar. Making the blanks required Kelski to reheat the silver into liquid once more, oil the molds, and pour. She had to do this multiple times because the blanks were so short, designed only to be long enough to go around a large man’s finger. Once these popped out of the molds, she laid them in a singular line, fluxed them, and after heating her solder iron up in the heat of the forge, touched them together with a small sliver of silver to make a bunch of short pieces of ring blanks into one long edging for her collar. She repeated the process and then took the lengths to the anvil where she placed the collar as well. Kelski took her leather covered hammer and began pounding the ring blanks into a nice curve checking it frequently so she could match the collar’s bend. Then once she was done, she fluxed both the collar and the ring blank, and used her hot iron once more to solder the top edge on the collar.

She repeated the process, forming a bottom edge as well, measuring carefully as she soldered so they were always equal distances apart. That formed the channel for her mosaic agate stones to go in. Next she checked the collar to make sure it was flexible enough to open up around her neck. It was… and then she went ahead and repeated the riveting process to punch holes in the far side – leather and silver both – before she rivetted the silver to the leather and studied her creation. She took the sliver to the buffing wheel and highly polished it. Careful applications of jeweler’s rouge which was rubbed in and buffed off was repeated over and over again until the collar had a high shine.

Next she cleaned all the remaining polish off carefully and retrieved her agate slices. She then began to cut them up small, using the little stone bandsaw, and began fitting them together. It was a tricky process. One just had to start and then glue the starting stone in, and then cut the next one and the next one until the stones fit in the channel. She did this actually at her lapidary wheel, pumping on it with her foot pedal to send it spinning so she could in essence sand away bits of the stone that didn’t fit. It was a slow tedious process of fitting the puzzle pieces of stone together and grinding then buffing away all the unwanted material until the stones shone with a freshly polished gleam. Once they fit, Kelski didn’t hesitate to glue them in place and start on the next one.

When she was done, she flooded the seams with liquid silver solder using her hot iron to hold the stone in place and make sure there were no deep crevasse between stones. She worked through the night until the entire collar was covered with the mosaic and it looked classy to her. Jaren was a late sleeper so Kelski had time to get the rest of it finished before she presented it to him.

(The silver band with its channel inlay of black and white and grey agate... just picture it rivetted to a leather slave collar and a tag added to the front.)

[Kelski]

The next step was to add a ring to the front of the collar where the tag showing her Sun’s Birth symbol of ownership was going to hang. To do this, Kelski had to create silver wire of a significant thickness to make sure the tag held, and the had to solder it to her channels on the top and bottom half of the inlay. Once in place, she’d have to have the tag made before she completed both connections because the ring would be solid and there would be no way to slip the tag on with both ends firmly attached.

Kelski took a bit of the remaining ring blank to the wire maker which was a double roller setup of heavy iron wheels. You could press the wheels together – which had channels you progressively rolled your nugget of silver through, getting smaller and smaller and smaller – and you could turn the wheels both directions. She laid the ring blank into one of the bigger channels and began to work it back and forth. It neatly rounded the squared off ring blank and smoothed it out, elongating it. Kelski was pleased with the overall thickness and length before she stopped working it back and forth. Once done she walked over to her bench, sat down, and pulled out her mandrel. She picked up a smaller leather covered mallet and began to pound the rounded wire over the mandrel to give it a horse shoe shape.

Once she was satisfied with the shape, she took one end, cut it off square, and fit it to the collar’s upper channel. She had to work the ends with the rasps a bit, smoothing it out and squaring it off, before she could flux it and it with her solder iron again, lightly tacking it to the collar. Then she left it knowing she had to slip the tag on and then solder the other end after she had the tag in place.

Speaking of the tag…. There was a lot to do to make that particular piece of the collar. Kelski had already sketched out the Sun’s Birth emblem carefully and knew she had to work on it in clay before anything else. So the Kelvic rolled out a bit of jewelers clay, flattened it, and gently with an etching tool sketched out the pattern on the clay. Then she added the circle (also in clay) to the center of the emblem, and cut out points in clay to use as the sun’s rays. These she added to the clay circle those little triangles representing the sun’s rays. Finally, taking a sponge, she was able to smooth the whole thing out, remove the seams, and mark open up the hole where the thick silver wire would pass through.

Next she set the clay medallion tag, for that was what it was, on the edge of the hearth where it could dry quickly by the hot flames. She needed it baked into a hard clay for the next step of her project. Leaving it for a time, Kelski went to prepare her oil sand so she could cast the clay medallion tag, after it was dry, into silver.

[Kelski]

Oilsand and their boxes were a jeweler’s best friend really. Kelski had learned to utilize them in Lhavit under Master Li. The ancient jeweler knew the old ways and stuck to them. It was actually no problem for her to find scrap wood around the barracks and nail together some small simple square boxes – frames really – until she could use them for oilsand. Kelski had borrowed tools and nailed the small pieces together into rough squares - sets that matched - and on one had capped the end so she could fill them with sand she saturated with oil. Once oiled, the sand never melted to glass when hit with molten metal and would fill shapes she made in the sand. Those shapes she formed, like the dog tag she was making for herself, out of clay that could be reused as ‘blanks’ later.

Once she had the frames done and the sand mixed with oil in another bowl, Kelski took a mallet and began dumping the sand in the frames and tamping it down until it was hard. She overfilled the bottom from with its backing, knowing that much like brown sugar, the brown oily sand would tamp down and take less space than the loose sand. She laid the now forge-hardened clay pendant in the middle, face down, and then set another open frame over the bottom frame and dumped a bit of sand in over the pendant. She carefully tamped down more sand, adding more, tamping down more, and adding more… repeatedly until she had the top stacked frame full too. Then she took a hollow bit of copper pipe and shoved it through the top frame’s sand, twisting it as she did so, until she heard the copper pipe hit the clay pendant snuggled buried in the sand. She then carefully lifted the copper pipe now filled with sand and tapped it on her bowl of oil sand, gently blowing on the end to force the sand out of the copper. What she’d just done was cut a channel straight down to the pendant.

The next step was tricky. Taking a flat knife, Kelski gently and carefully pried the two frames apart. The sand lifted, still condensed in the first frame, leaving the flat sand condensed in the bottom frame still there and revealing the medallion. The first frame, the one on top, had a hole in it that lead straight to the medallion. Kelski carefully cleaned the hole making sure there was no loose sand or rough edges, and then gently turned to the other frame, the bottom one, and pried the medallion out. There was a perfect impression of the medallion left in the sand. She fitted the top frame over it, making sure the hole or channel lead directly to the void where the medallion was.

Kelski left the oilsand frame alone and went to do the next step.

[Kelski]

Pulling out her crucible, Kelski began to pull some of the lower quality scrap silver into it before she stoked the fire and let it heat up the forge. This was something her master wanted her to wear, so she wasn’t worried so much about metal quality and she wasn’t going to use the ingots they’d procured for her to make it from pure silver. It would be better tougher, that much was for sure. Once she’d filled the little metal dish, Kelski laid it in its rack over the fire and worked the bellows to increase the temperature.

Then she simply waited, heating the fire, and adding more metal to the crucible until it had the amount she needed for the pendant. Once it was liquid, she slipped on heavy gloves, picked up the vessel with tongs and moved it over to the oil sand frames. Gently tipping it, she poured the hot metal into the channel that lead straight down to where the void shaped exactly like the pendant was. She poured until the excess was perking out of the channel and then dumped the remainder of the silver into her already well-oiled wire mold.

Setting the crucible aside, laying her tongs down, and ungloving her hands, Kelski gently tapped the side of the oilsand frames, getting any air pockets out that might be in the metal. She tapped neatly and rapidly, knowing the metal cooled fast. Once she was done, Kelski set it aside and knew she had to wait.

While she was waiting, she took the already completed collar and began to polish it, rubbing more rouge on it and taking a cloth and wiping. It was such a heavy thing, but Kelski wasn’t sure how else to ‘decorate it’ like Jaren had ordered, without adding all the weight. She didn’t try it on. She didn’t want too. She could already feel how uncomfortable it would be around her neck. And though it was lovely work, the Kelvic hated it… with a passion.

The Kelvic didn’t think she should wear a collar. Wasn’t it enough that he would take all her work, pay her nothing, and he controlled her every move? The visible sign that she was owned wasn’t going to do her any favors nor ingratiate her to anyone for sure. It was just going to give people permission to treat her like she was nothing. In fact, it was even a reminder to herself she was nothing.

Kelski took her time polishing, and then when she was sure the pendant was hard, broke the sandoil frames apart and pulled out the pendant. It had a long bar of silver attacked to its back from being poured into the channel to get to the pendant, but the Kelvic was able to affix it in her vice and carefully saw the silver away flush. She flipped it over, studied the sunburst inscription, and nodded her approval. She then took the pendant to the buffing wheel and gave it a good buffing after she rasped the bit of roughness off the back where she had cut the bar away and tossed it in her scrap pile.

It was soon gleaming. She had only a little bit more to do with it before she faced Jaren.

[Kelski]

Kelski fingered the pendant holding the Suns Birth symbol on it. She ran a thumb across the embossed design, knowing it was a beautiful lie. The Kelvic moved over to her work bench, placed the pendant in a clamp on the drill press, and put a metal bit in it that would drill the hole in the pendant that would fit it through the clip. She set the wheel spinning with the foot pedal and began racketing the bit down, digging into the pendant and gently cutting a hole large enough in the pendant to hang proudly from the collar.

When drilling jewelry, Kelski knew patience paid off. She didn’t press too hard or rush the process, carefully smoothing out the hole until it was the perfect size. She took the pendant out of the drill clamp and walked it back over to her buffing wheel. Once there she gave it another good buff, rasped out the hole a bit more then buffed it by hand as well. She put her soldering iron in the fire to heat, and picked up the heavy collar. She slipped the tag on the collar, fluxed the one remaining loose end of the loop that would hold either the tag or a leash, and then pulled the iron from the fire after slipping on gloves.

She pressed a tiny bit of silver to the bottom of the loop at the same time she touched the iron to the loop, sealing the tag on it permanently. Once it was hung, swinging neatly, the Kelvic stared at the collar, gave it one last polish and set it aside.

As Her Master had ordered, Kelski then removed her clothing and the piled her multicolored hair on top of her head, pinning it in place with spare loops of silver wire. Strands cascaded down her forehead and neck, not wanting to be tamed. The Kelvic then reached for the collar, slipped it around her own neck, and buckled it at the back. She then rose, turned, and walked to the door – the only door – out that lead to Jaren’s rooms. She knocked once, waited for an invite that was forthcoming, and padded barefoot through the doorway.

Jaren was on the other side, and his eyes roamed her form. A half smile formed on his lips as he rose to greet her, leaving his desk behind and walking past his massive bed to his sitting room area. He stroked Kelski’s cheek as he got to her and then pointed to the floor. “You should kneel when greeting me. Rise only when I let you.” He instructed then watched as the Kelvic drop to her knees and bow her head forward.

He reached down then and hung an equally heavy lock on the back of the collar, where the buckles could not be pulled through any longer. The weight banged against the back of her neck as he reached down and stroked her hair once more.

“So beautiful…. so very beautiful. Your lips were made for doing something other than speaking… that is for sure. But your black mouth… rise girl…. “ Jaren said, gently taking a grip on Kelski’s up swept hair and urging her up. “… and your black neither regions…. have me leery. I wanted to see for myself if the rumors of your darkened skin were true.” The man said, reaching his hand down and touching her intimately, pulling her flesh apart so he could see for himself that like her mouth, her other parts were darker too.

“There is a rumor going around that if I dip my wick into something that dark, my stones will turn back and fall off.” He said, his grip tightening and making the Kelvic stand up straighter, her eyes widening slightly in pain and fear. The man had her tender flesh in a sharp painful grip and his face seemed to twist lightly in anger or annoyance. He squeezed until she whimpered, then removed his hand as if satisfied. He coldly watched until her reddened flesh began to darken with a bruise that resembled the shape of his fist where it had gripped her other lips.

“Of course, I can always give you to one of the Dragoons to see if the rumors are true. And if he has no problem, try you myself….” He said with a grin, knowing the one he’d assigned to Kelski to watch her would probably be willing if drunk enough. Of course, if drunk enough, Darvin probably couldn’t. It was a tricky slope so Jaren decided to leave it alone. “So behave yourself, do good work, and we won’t have to even go down that path.” Her Master said, evidently still not done touching her.

“Beautiful. I may not decide to touch you, but I’m going to decorate you. I want your beautiful ears pierced, multiple times, and your nose for certain. I might even do your ears myself. I want you dripping in gems to advertise what I can give people.” He said, tracing his hand across her stomach and then up and over her breasts to linger on her chest. He pinched the sensitive darkened nubs, equally as rough, and pulled at them before slowly releasing his painful grip, letting the flesh slide through his thumb and forefingers. He nodded, more to himself than to Kelski, having made a decision. “These too… as long as you take well to the others.” He would find someone to do the work for him but he’d watch. The girl’s discomfort would be a turn on, for sure, without getting his hands dirty or bloody.

“Now…. my pretty little bird. Here’s your to-do list. Get started." He picked up a list off of a table and held out it out to her. It contained a list of all projects he wanted her to do. "And tonight, instead of sleeping on that pallet under the stairs, I want you to come warm my feet by sleeping at the foot of the bed. Wear nothing. I rather like looking at you….” He added before releasing the girl and dismissing her, knowing she’d scurry back to her workshop and get busy.

The jeweler snatched his hastily written list, the parchment crinkling in her hand. “Oh and Kelski? Eat something. Your hipbones are showing and I like my women with a little more padding.” Jaren’s laugh followed the Kelvic out of the room and echoed even after she’d quietly closed the door between them. She leaned up against it, tears welling in her eyes. The last thing she wanted to do was to let Jaren see her cry. She stood there for nearly ten chimes before she slowly opened the paper in her hands and read the list, mentally tallying the supplies she had verses what she'd need. It was so much safer to bury herself in her work rather than worry about what would or would not happen with her Master. But first she'd wash.... wash off any and all trace of his touch, and get dressed. Then she'd make something beautiful.

[Kelski]

Kelski

Experience: Jewelcrafting +5, Metalsmithing +3, Sculpting +1, Carpentry +1

Lores: JC: Adapting Ring Blacks For Inlay Channels, Metalsmithing: Riveting, JC: Cutting Agate To Fit In a Mosaic, Metalsmithing: Filling channels with metal to lock in a Mosaic, JC: Making Wire, JC: Shaping Lengths Of Metal Into Rings, Metalsmithing: Using Oilsand To Make Molds, Metalsmithing: Pouring Liquid Metal Into Sand Molds, JC: Finishing Silver – Polishing With Rouge, Metalsmithing: Drilling Metal, Jaren: Won’t Sleep With Her Because Of Her Coloring, Jaren: Will Decorate Her With Piercings,

Note: I gave a bit of metalsmithing for where she was working with the actual metal materials. There was one post with no JC in it, but the rest of the posts were all solid JC so I gave her the full 5 pts per thread.