New competency in clarity

by **Alexandra Gainsborough** on April 15th, 2018, 10:05 pm

22th Spring, 518

After spending a little time last season working her craft Alex felt a little more confident in her abilities. The fact that she spend so much time traveling before she found her way to her home in Alvadas made her feel rusty. The inferior tools, improvised work space and lack of guidance or support didn't help either. Wind reach really was a great place to work on your skills if you didn't mind the lifestyle that came with it.

The day before Alex made sure to start the fires and get everything ready for a hard days work. She was happy that she had taken the time to prepare because when she came in this morning everything was laid out for her just how she wanted it and the glass was ready to work. Now that wouldn't keep her from double checking things and after taking a look at the molten glass everything looked perfect.

Moving over to the table with her molds neatly in a row and ready to use she picked up the first one and cleared any dust that had settled. Moving it as close to the kiln as she could she grabbed her tongs and opened the door. The head from the kiln flowed into the room wrapping her in that familiar warmth. For the first few seconds it felt good on her skin, then it just became how. It was time to get serious now and get to work. She reached in with the tongs and carefully plucked out the liquid filled crucible. The next several moments were always tricky. The petite red head would have to move this heavy pot filled with molten glass over to the mold and pour. Moving as quickly as she could she struggled with the weight and the heat. Taking a few steps away from the kiln would fix at least one of these issues but she was to focused on the task at hand.

Carefully she managed to get the crucible into position and slowly she allowed the thick fluid to slowly spill over the edge. Down it flowed into the molds slow and steady finding every low point. After draining about half of the container she shifted her weight onto her right foot and slowly started to pivot in that direction. Getting back to the gaping mouth of the flaming chamber she set the pot back inside, getting things back up to temperature. Deliberately she tossed the tongs a few feet from her and quickly rubbed her right arm with her left hand. The feeling of the heat intensified for a few seconds but soon felt like she had somehow wiped away a fraction of it.

Grabbing the next set of tongs she moved back into position. This set has a different mouth on it that allowed her to easily pick up the molds. This time she was pushed to the edge of her weight limit. Her arms began to shake as she moved back towards the flames. Biting her lower lip gave her that extra little bit of strength she would need to continue forward and set the mold inside. Again she tossed these tongs onto the other before closing the door to the kiln.

She rubbed her arms with her hands and walked over to the tongs letting out a little sigh. Bending down she picked each of them up only to return them to the table.

by **Alexandra Gainsborough** on April 18th, 2018, 4:55 am

Alex took a few moments to lead the heat on her skin dissipate. The warmth had returned to feeling good, like being wrapped in a blanket next to the fire only without the blanket. It was moments like these that made her feel alive, like she was taking in the essence of her craft and melding with the process. Not only was she shaping the glass but the glass was also shaping her, her way of thinking and her thoughts on what might be.

One sheet of glass was all this little kiln could handle at a time so Alex would move back to making jars. She had a request from one of the shops that dealt with herbs, they wanted colored glass. It was something she had worked with in the past and hoped to find the additives here. This place being a workshop for mostly ceramic works she knew she might be able to locate a material or two. Blues and greens were often requested as they offered some protection from sunlight. Brown was another often requested color for liquids specifically.

Heading out of the room she moved into the supply area. Having a membership here did offer her access to much more than she expected. Unable to read most of the labels she would have to go off of sight, smell and texture. This made it very difficult to find what she was looking for. Cobalt oxide was a black powder that would make a brilliant blue color. Black and white powders filled many of the containers and after opening a dozen or so she set the one in hand down and let out a little sigh. In her native tongue she spoke clearly to herself. "I need to learn how to read these. I need to find a translation." She took a step back and looked over each the shelf filled with containers of all shapes and sizes. This was going to take quite some time if she was going to have to go through all of them.

Just then the thought of fire crossed her mind. If she were to burn some of these materials she would be able to tell what color some of the might produce. Copper and cobalt burn blue while other items would burn a variety of other colors. Still some wouldn't change the flame at all. A small smile pulled at her lips and she gathered up about a dozen containers.

Arms full she marched herself back to her work area and set the lot down on her bench. She opened the first container and poured a little of the material onto her tongs. Swiftly opening the door to the kiln she slowly inserted the tongs into the kiln and waited a few moments for the material to burn. It only took a few seconds before it began to ignite and release a silver flame. The next two containers did not seem to react as she expected and turned into a liquid and left slight coating on her tongs. It would take a few more attempts before she got a blue flame burning off of the material in one of the containers. She tried it a second time just to be sure, and sure enough a bright blue flame burned for a few seconds just as it had before. She didn't know if it was copper or cobalt but either way it would produce at least one shade of blue she could work with.

by **Alexandra Gainsborough** on April 18th, 2018, 6:06 am

Excited by her findings she rolled up onto her tip toes and reached up to the sky with tongs in hand. Her heels quickly found the ground again and so did the tool. She grabbed all but the jar that she was interested in and rushed them all back to the room they came from. She did her best to put them back in order but in her haste it was more of a fill any empty slow kind of idea.

Returning to her work space once again she poured out half of the containers contents on the table into a large pile. Grabbing the blow pipe she held it like a staff and just looked at the pile of black powder. “Now its time to show me who you really are, copper or cobalt. Either way I know you are going to make a beautiful piece.” She said with a few short clicks.

She spun herself around turning her back to the pile of dust she had laid out and her face to the flames. She was a little surprised to see the door to the kiln open, this would have to be quickly rectified or it may lead to the glass shattering. The fire was still burning so it was less of a worry so she thrust the end of the blow pipe into the remaining glass in the crucible. Twirling the pole around she gathered a bit of glass onto the tip and when she felt like she had enough she pulled it out of the fire filled pit and spun back around. Normally she would be more careful with her setup and try to keep her materials close together. This would allow her more time to work the head and fewer trips back to the kiln for a reheat but she was just to excited to to think all of this through.

Rolling the glass lump into the mound of powder it began to pick a good bit of it up. Once the lump was thoroughly coated she returned the glass bump into the fire to reheat. The two substances began to merge with the flames to create something new. The glass became dark as they blended together on the end of the pipe. Still the inarta has no idea what color this would be until the moment of truth happened.

She pulled the pipe out of the flames. She licked her lips, adding a layer of moisture to them before pressing them to the end of the pipe and giving one quick puff. The glass expanded on the end of the tube only to reveal a brilliant, bright blue color. Holding it up closer to the flame she quickly got lost just gazing into the brightly colored bubble.

by **Alexandra Gainsborough** on April 19th, 2018, 3:17 am

Back into the kiln it went gathering more heat into the core. It was only a matter of minutes before it was out of the flames again and she crushed the little bubble onto the stone floor. Like bread she would allow the air to fill the little pocket then smash it down again and again until she was satisfied that the color has mixed through the entire glob of glass.

Once she was ready she pulled the tube out of the glass again and twisting it in front of her she licked her lips again and took in a deep breath. She took in several deep breaths before she pushed her lips to the end of the pipe and slowly expelled a little air from her lungs. The bubble would expand into a beautiful blue ball on the end of the stick. The glass started to cool and quickly she pushed it back into the kiln for a quick reheat. Twisting it she did her best to keep the shape as round as possible on the end of the pipe before pulling it out once again. This time she moved over to one of her molds and pressed the end of the pipe into it. Her hand slid up the shaft as she moved to the table and reached out for the other half of the mold. She set the second half onto the first and placed a brick on top of that before she worked her way back down the shaft hand over hand until she was once again at the base. She again pushed some air down the tube allowing the sides of the bubble to expand and fill the walls of the mold.

Quickly she ran her hand up the shaft again and moving back to the table. She grabbed a pair of sheers and cut the glass at the base of the mold dropping the pipe to the floor once again. Falling from this height the ceramic pipe did not fair well but that was the last thing on her mind in this moment. The sheers quickly found the cold hard floor as well while she grabbed the mold and slid it part way off the edge of the table. She grabbed a clamp and secured the halves of the mold together before positioning herself under it. She pushed hard rocking it onto its side, the cut part pointing up into the air. With some tings and a bit of steel rod she worked and shaped the cut section into the mouth of a container. She had to work with great speed as every passing second was one more degree of lost heat and soon the glass would be to hard to work. Had she been in Wind reach she would have had someone to help her with this but here in Alvadas she was all alone and had to make due with the tools at hand.

by **Alexandra Gainsborough** on April 19th, 2018, 3:59 am

The basic shape of the container was finished now she would just have to wait for it to cool. It would take time and she knew if it cooled to quickly she would have an issue with cracking so she moved it closer to the kiln. The pressed the mold against the edge of the bricks so it could absorb as much heat as possible. She needed the container to be solid but she also needed it to stay hot. Picking up the pipe from the floor she noticed the chips and cracks across the edges and let out a sigh. “Cheap tools” She said to herself in her native tongue before testing it once again. She pressed her lips to it and began to blow, as luck would have it the cracks and chips still held enough air. She would have to be more careful in the future, or better yet she would have to seek better tools.

She leaned the pipe up against the table and gathered the other tools from the floor. She placed them back onto the table and arranged the into the proper places. Renting a work space was horrible as she was not the only one to have access to her work space she thought.

Grabbing the pipe again she dipped it into the liquid glass and gathered a bit more. She was careful to work quickly with the first few layers of glass, getting a good coat of the liquid glass onto her colored glass making sure not to contaminate the rest of the batch. Once it had a decent coat she allowed the inner bits to remain in the heat long enough to melt and begin to become one. With things sufficiently warmed she pulled the pipe out and rolled it in the cobalt powder as she had before and and continued the process of mixing in the pigment. Her glob of glass was a lot smaller this time and the color mixed much quicker then it had before.

Once more the glass moved back into the breech before it was as hot as it would get. Once in this state she quickly pulled it out of the heat and thrust the shaft into the top of her last project. She jabbed at it with her pole allowing the two to touch for only seconds at a time while it all slowly cooled. Reaching back to the table she snatched her sheers from the table and slowly cut the stopper off of the pipe one small snip at a time. When the glass was as thin as it could be and still hold onto the pole she stopped cutting and let things cool. She pulled the soon to be top away and put out the fire in the kiln. She left the kiln cool a bit before she loaded all of the glass back into it. She shut the door then cleaned up the rest of her work space putting back everything except the cobalt. Taking the backside of her tongs she scratched a line on the underside of the glass so she could find the bottle once again.