Closed [Reverie]To Blow hard or not to Blow Hard (Aose)

[Harrier]

Timestamp: Summer 17, 513

Yenele was ready in the Reverie for the students he would be working with that day. One of the less aggressive or snarky glassworkers, he worked well as a teacher for the youth and so was often tasked with seeing to small groups coming with their mentors to him with an interest in glass working.

After arranging the time and the day with the Youthmaster, Yenele set up his section in the Reverie for a class of six 11 and 12 year olds, those right on the cusp of graduation. Most of them had not even experienced glassblowing so this would be a first. Yenele's part of the Reverie had been set up with three tables, one with the main tools of the trade, one with sample pieces, and one where the young students would get to try out a little glassworking.

When the students, among which was one Aose, filed in with their Chiet teacher, Yenele stepped away from one of the massive ovens to approach the three tables and the pupils he would be hosting that afternoon.

Once they were all in, he raised his hands for quiet, his voice firm as he began. "Welcome, Yasi, to the Reverie. I am Avora Yenele and I will be your teacher for this afternoon. Most of you are here because you have decided to finally take an interest in one of the most difficult jobs of the city. Glass working is more than just pretty glass hanging in the windows; it is a great deal of manual labor, patience, steady hands, and a creative mind. Without these (and more), you'll never make it here."

He paused before gesturing to the tables. "We'll be going over two primary things today: tools and techniques. Now, each glassblower will have their own style, but the techniques remain the same along with the steps involved. These steps should be followed if you intend to have a successful, attractive piece; remember, one of our best trades involves our glass. Renown comes with practice and patience. You'll not be remembered for presenting nothing but broken pieces all your life, and you most certainly will not be apprenticed to anybody worthwhile." He gazed at the impatient faces. They wanted to get on with it. Lazy bums...

"Right, who among you can name the main ingredients for making glass?"

x

[Aose]

Aose filed in with the rest of the class, it was a small class honestly, it appeared that many didn’t really want to learn about glassblowing, Aose included… The honest reason why she came to this demonstration slash lesson was because she could get away from sitting there listening to the instructor talk all day long, it got boring really fast. When she stopped at the tables she could see the basic gaffer equipment, there what appeared to be blowing pipes, crushed glass shards in a variety of colors and coarseness, and a slew of other lovely equipment that she couldn’t name.

When Avora Yenele spoke up and introduced himself and started on about glassblowing and the likes Aose was only half listening… Yeah yeah, manual labor… Blah blah… Patience… Okay yeah… Steady hands… and oh who would’ve known a creative mind? Jeez, training in archery does the same thing. Gods why did I come along on this? Oh yeah… That’s right! Field trip meant not sitting in a lecture. She let out a soft sigh, barely heard as kids scrambled over one another in their vocal attempts to get the right answers… They ranged from: tree sap, to precious stones, even to magic… All of which would’ve worked correctly except Aose paused and thought about it.

With the Thunder Bay not far from here and a large mass of deks and apprentices down there, why wouldn’t the most correct answer be Sand? I mean I am sure I see wagon and sack loads of the stuff being brought up, but never really thought about it. I just figured some Endal wanted to the sand for their homes. Some of them aren’t exactly normal in most standards.[/i] She grunted at her fellow classmates stupidity.

“Sand.” She muttered, just loud enough for the Avora to hear her. “They use bloody freakin’ sand. The product the Avora is talking about has to be sand. There are usually a small crew of apprentices and deks at the Bay gettin’ the gods-forsaken crap.”

Aose fell silent when she realized that the avora could hear her… She really didn’t want to be called upon.

OOCHeh, sorry I had to mention the proper name and what not, couldn’t help knowing it. I live like an hour away from one of the world’s most well-known Glass factories… heh.

Template Credit: Euthisa

[Harrier]

The man stood patiently at the front, looking at the students and the attempted answers they provided. "Well, yes, magic can work, and gems make wonderful decoration, but you're not quite there." He said, trying to lead them towards the answer before a quiet voice in the group hit the nail on the head.

Heads turned to stare at Aose, some inspired, some scowling disdainfully at her know-it-all attitude. The Avora, however, simply smiled, waving a hand in the girls direction. "Correct; Chiet and Dek are usually tasked with obtaining the sand from the beaches each day, loading it into carts, and then a pair of Endal see to its delivery and dispersion. Now, the sand needs to be cleaned before it can be processed and glass formed. So, another team is set sifting out most of the debris until a very fine product is left. These are basic jobs Dek will do. The task is simple, but time consuming, and those assigned to it do not need to be the most intelligent. Once most of the debris is sifted out, another group, Chiet this time, begin to add special ingredients that make the base product we here in the Reverie use to make our craft."

The man took up a medium breadth tube with some fine filaments inside. The grit in the container was a rusty red color but had the consistancy of chalk. "Can anyone tell me what this is and what it's used for?" He was already looking towards the girl that had spoken up initiaully, wondering if she might have further input on the material he had in hand. It was a key additive to the glass of Wind Reach, giving it its sparkle as well as its softness for ease of cutting.

x

[Aose]

Aose could feel the eyes of the other children on her… And the Avora’s. She wanted to shrink down and disappear from sight, but she did it to herself and refused to hide herself from the others simply because she thought about it. Maybe if they were more observant to their surroundings and actually training and preparing for a future they would be better equipped in the mental department to handle a question like that. She just smirked at her thoughts.

Aose looked at the small tube of reddish material, her eyes examining it from afar, yet she couldn’t put her finger on the item. She was sure it was a local item, most likely found nearby as it wouldn’t be the smartest move to import something so necessary in order to create a product that would ultimately be sold elsewhere. The Endals would scoff at having to do the basic menial task of bringing in raw materials from afar and then take out the finished good to the same locations.

What comes red in color and is local? The product can be turned to a powder for use? Once again the others were blasting out answers that didn’t make any sense, red dirt and precious stones. Aose pursed her lips together tightly, It also has to be something that would soften the glass enough to make it easier to cut and allow to keep temperature longer than normal. It screams a metal of some sort… What rusts? Aose frowned, the answer was just not there as of yet.

Closing her eyes Aose mentally pictured a target before her, at the center was the tube of rusty red powder. It was a mental technique that Aose used to figure things out when she couldn’t come up with the answer… It was also how she shot at targets, imagining the target in the distance in her minds eye right in front of her, adjusting her form, stance, and placement of bow and arrow so that they were inline with the bulls-eye of the target.

Okay… The arrows are metals that would rust: Steel and Iron. Aose mentally nocked the ‘steel arrow’ and aimed it in her mind at the target, physical her body took the physical attribute of taking a deep breathe to steady her aim as if she was really firing an arrow at a target, shrugs of her shoulders indicated she was lining up the ‘weaponry’ to the ‘target’…

A relaxing of her shoulders and frown on her face emerged quickly, Steel wouldn’t work, that would require more work to be done just to have the raw product to make glass. So she could scratch off Steel, she tried the ‘Iron Arrow’ and again her body went through the physical movements of firing an arrow and again she failed in the mental thought, Iron as a metal is too heavy, glass requires something lighter… What is lighter, is a reddish color, and can be turn to a powder? Neither Steel nor Iron can be turned to a powder, so metals aren’t the answer.

Aose opened her eyes and looked once again at the product, What the hell is it? A shrug came to her as she looked at both the Avora and the other kids.

“I don’t have a clue. I wanna say Iron, but Iron is too heavy of a metal and metals can’t be crushed.”

Template Credit: Euthisa

[Harrier]

"That's alright, I didn't expect a correct answer. Iron can produce different affects in the glass, but not for the formation phase. This, kids, is what we generally call Lead Slurry. It's nothing more than pure lead bathed in sulfuric acid for a while. There is a special spring that we get the acid from. Reimancers have modified it to allow us to use it without as much danger to ourselves. We simply take the pure lead and let it soak. The acid breaks it down so that it can be crushed, causing it to turn red as you see." The artisan offered the vial to the nearest Yasi so that it could be passed around.

While it was going around, he picked up a black orb of glass form the table. It, like other samples was unique. Holding it high so the group could see the orb, he spoke again. "There are other basic materials we can put into the sand to make it specific colors. Part of the trade Wind Reach receives is special ingredients just for this. Sulfur, Iron, Copper, and other minerals help to tint it during the basic formation. Once we have our desired combination, it all gets poured into a special cylinder and then is superheated until the components liquify. From there, we stir it and carefully adjust the mixture to the desired consistency. You may notice some designs have bubbles in them; part of that is caused by this part of the process."

He set the black orb down and reached for another, greenish one that had several tiny bubbles in the glass, little fragments of deformity that made the piece special. "These deformities in the glass should never be accidental. Glass weakens when the bubbles are left in." He continued to lecture about the various temperature grades the glass needed to reach before it could be molded.

Stepping away from the students now, he approached one of the massive ovens, its heat felt even from here. Beside the oven, Yenele grabbed a long and hollow tube, returning to the group afterwards to raise it over head. "When we're not pouring the molten product into specific molds, we use this. It lets us capture a glob of the molten glass on one end so it can be blown into unique shapes. Now then-" The Avora grinned mischievously. This was the fun part. Picking a volunteer. "-who wants to make something?"

x

[Aose]

Aose stared at the tube of reddish material, Lead… Why in the hell would it be lead? Lead it heavy! She frowned and shook the powdery substance, watching it puff against the tube’s siding and then resettle with the rest, leaving a lovely red cloud against the sidewall. Acid treated lead… Frowning she handed it off before looking back up at the Avora.

“I would imagine you would wear gloves when handling the lead powder? It sounds to me that it would still be quite dangerous having been soaking in acid…” She whispered, asking herself the question alone, but probably was still loud enough to be heard from her position in the crowd of youngsters. When they asked if a member of the class would like to make something all the kids started to hoot and holler, trying to beg for some attention.

Deft hands.. Creative mind… Patience… She rose her hand slowly, taking a deep breathe as if she was getting ready to loose an arrow upon a rather difficult target. Her exhaling breathe ended with her hand straight up into the air. She looked at the Avora, not saying a word.. She felt completely out of place, wishing she had her quiver with bow and arrow slung over a shoulder, it made her feel braver… Courageous… Defenseless and Weak…

Template Credit: Euthisa

[Harrier]

The teacher watched the enthusiasm of the kids with a mild smile, some laughing and wondering the same as Aose. Why lead?The answer was simple, really. "Well, yes of course." The man explained when he heard someone in the group mention wearing gloves while converting the lead into the powdery substance in the vial. "When it's being added to the bath we do. But once the lead has broken down into that, we simply scoop the material out."

The kids began to jump and spring for the opportunity at making something. Only a couple of them seemed more wary. The interest was there, but they had just the right amount of caution for the task to be chosen. The Avora pointed again at Aose, "You there, come up here. What's your name?" Yenele waited for the girl to give him her name before going on. "Well, Aose, we're going to make something. I bet you're wondering why I'm picking on you so much too, haha."

In the charismatic way he spoke, his hand clapped reassuringly on the girls shoulder and addressed the group once more. "You see, glass working is as much caution and knowledge as it is finesse and creativity. We are dealing with molten product day in and day out and recklessness can ill be afforded in this job."

He approached the batch oven now, pointing the group behind a stone line by the oven so they would not get burned. "Now, it takes several days for the materials to reach their melting point and form the glass we use. We use these, batch ovens, to make our product. Each oven has an iron smelting pot that material goes into, a bellows, and a hole to collect a glob of glass from." As he spoke, he gave the bellows a few pumps to encourage the fires. Just behind this, a scrawny Dek with puckered, scarred lips was shoveling coal into the oven, a task that was rotated between the Reverie Dek every 5 hours. "The fires have to stay hot for the glass to form; if they go out, it takes days to get them back to temperature and days still to remove the lost product from the smelting pots to resume use."

The Avora fetched from a pocket a pair of goggles now, the dark smokey lenses shielding his perpetually reddened face. He took the collecting pipe in hand and stepped up to the batch oven. Pressing a simple lever beside the hole he would reach through, the cover slide open enough for him to lower the end of the hollow pipe into. "Before you can touch the glass, you need to heat your pipe to that temperature. It doesn't take long, about thirty ticks to a chime." With the door to the oven open, he had to shout as the roar of the flames inside would otherwise have drowned him out. "This particular oven is used solely for beads and basic crafting. The glass, once hardened, is colorless and clear. It's used for basic replacements usually until a finer product is ready. All apprentices work with this material first before they're allowed to even look at some of our finer materials."

Now that the tip was hot enough, the craftsman lowered it into the molten glass inside the smelting pot in the oven. He twisted the pipe carefully to collect a small glob and then slowly (continuing the forward and reverse twisting between his hands) raised the pipe straight out of the oven. The latter foot glowed orange and on the end was a white-hot blob of liquid glass. "Alright, Aose, step up here." He pointed with a foot to a spot nearby and approached the girl. "The key is to keep the pipe moving until you reach the desired shape. A little air goes along way because the heat of the pipe and the glass both will expand it once you start. Now, put your lips here-" he indicated the end of the pipe. "Puff your cheeks up, and blow, just a little bit. Just enough to make a fist-sized bubble." All the while, he kept twisting the pipe first one direction and then the next.

x

[Aose]

Aose muttered her name after he practically singled her out and asked her her name. It was a day from hell now, she didn't know the first thing about blowing glass and to do it in front of all these peoples, she was sure she was going to injury herself or her classmates in some fashion or another. The weight of his callused hand clapping against her shoulder caused the small girl to nearly buckle under it, luckily for the yasi though she had a feeling it was going to happen and steeled herself against it, only just barely though

When the others were motioned to take a position behind a stone line to the side of the furnace Aose wanted so badly to shrink back into the rank-and-file mess that it was and vanish from the foreground of attention. Sadly that was not an option for the red-haired child, she was stuck to endure the stares of contempt, anger, and jealousy that she could spy from amongst the crowd of her peers. I rather be on that side of the line you bloody shykes. Aose sighed and listened, halfheartedly, as the gaffer spoke of the product that was eventually going to become the outcome of this short adventure in glassblowing. It was going to be something made of clear glass. Aose was certain she had seen the material before in bracelets or something during Market.

Taking her position that the Avora indicated with his foot Aose watched as he brought the spinning pipe towards her, luckily the glowing blob of molten glass was on the far side else she would probably have panicked. It's glowing round surface was hypnotizing, nearing the brightness of a setting sun from the high trees Aose's jaw gaped own, several of her classmates could be heard snickering during it.

Taking hold of the end she leaned her face forward, pausing just before her lips made contact with the opening, “Don't drop it please...” She whispered. Hesitating she sucked in a breathe and then proceeded to seal her lips into place on the pipe's opening and slowly released her breathe into the length of the pipe.

The glowing blob started to expand as she could make out the bubble of air she was producing, her eyes went large and she nearly gasped inwardly, instead though she ripped her lips and face from pipe as she could feel the heat displacement coming back up the pipe, having been displaced by Aose's breathe the heat had nowhere else to go but upward towards her.

“Eywaat's tailfeathers!” the yasi exclaimed.

Template Credit: Euthisa

[Harrier]

Yenele laughed when the girl started at the bubble that had been created. It was a good effort. "Now, we just keep it moving and growing until we reach the size we want it to be."

The glassworker grabbed a pair of tongs and gripped the glass near the tip of the pipe, pinching it slightly to narrow and extend it while he directed Aose to keep blowing. "The air helps to expand the glass until we get it to the shape we want." The other kids all clustered around, some showing signs of extreme jealousy, others just interested in the project.

"Keep blowing now; nice even breaths, not too hard or it'll expand too quickly." He kept explaining, the pipe rotating. The tongs were moved further down the stem that had been created until a narrow shaft had been created. "When we cut it off, we'll expand the opening and once it's cooled and set, you can take it home!" Yenele was a nice man, really, fully believing that the accomplishments of doing this sort of stuff by example were deserved to be kept.

x

[Aose]

Aose nodded and took in more oxygen into her lungs. Eywaat’s tailfeathers it is awful hot in this room. Aose could feel the warmth rushing into her body threatening to seize her lungs up. Yet a few seconds passed and the heat relaxed and she was okay, still holding onto the breathe Aose placed lips to pipe once again and slowly started to exhale.

The displacement wasn’t as severe this time, yet with each puff of exhale Aose let out she pulled her face away slightly to allow the heat to escape from the pipe before repeating the process. The yasi watched as the avora used a set of tongs to length and force the glass into a slender tube shaped bubble, it was an amazing sight to watch, so amazing that she didn’t even realize that the other students had made a crowd around her.

I am doing that! With help to get it into shape but I am making it expand! Her heart swelled in the moment as she puffed-released in timing with the expansive glasswork, soon though Aose was tired, her body was sweating heavily causing her red locks to plaster themselves to her skin. Clothes were soaked and clung to her arms and legs, making any movement feel constricted and odd.

That was okay though, she was out of breathe and had to pull back from the pipe anyway to take in oxygen, both to prevent herself from passing out and to get more to expand the ever-growing glass bubble.

“I am not sure I can continue sir... This room is mighty warm.”

Template Credit: Euthisa