[Job thread] Carving a Childhood Toy, part two.

by **Karin** on September 25th, 2015, 1:39 pm

45th Autumn 515 AV, Wooden Wonders Workshop

The excitement of the morning translated well to the more longer-lasting excitement of a good project. "Okay Karin, I'll just give yeh a little bit of information. The woman's a keen believer of Ionu, and she wants her newborn to be living with illusions, so. She wants a toy which will be simple but have a hint of illusion about it. What d'ya think 'bout that?"

Oh... Interesting. The girl hadn't actually thought about the actual design of the toy since she'd been told the other day, now that she actually had to think of it, she would have automatically assumed to make a rattle, or something similar. But an illusion...

"Well..." She gestured with her hands vaguely, as she tried to conceptualise what she was beginning to imagine. "If the toy was somehow flat, but not at the same time? Or, it looks flat but when you touch it it isn't?" She looked quizzically up at Cadog, who smiled.

"That's a good idea, but how would you go about it, and make it interesting for her little boy?" With a concentrated frown on her face, Karin thought about it. It was quite hard, actually, but after a little while, she had an idea. "If I were to paint it to look flat... but maybe I wouldn't have the skill to do that. Maybe if it was a set of interlocking blocks... but would that be too difficult for a young person?"

Cadog didn't say anything, but instead waited patiently, as Karin thought it out. Eventually, she came up with something that seemed it could work. "How about, we make a toy that is in the shape of an animal, that if you look at it from a certain angle it could be a different animal? Like... from one angle it's a bear, and the other angle it's a whale?"

The girl felt pretty pleased with that idea, and Cadog seemed to think that it was feasible too. "I'll help yeh with it Karin, but as long as you think you'll be able to achieve it, then we'll go for it! I'm sure the mother would be pleased with that."

He handed Karin a sheet of paper, and told her to write down and draw a basic sketch of the project, which she diligently did. The project description eventually turned out to be slightly different to what she drew, which looked more like a fusion of the two animals, but she had the image of the toy in her head, and she figured that that was the main thing.

by **Karin** on December 9th, 2015, 12:07 pm

Moments later, and the man was looking at her drawing, evaluating it. The girl stood to one side, looking over his shoulder nervously, but she didn't need to be nervous; the man returned the paper with a smile and said, "Everything's fine! We'll just need the wood now, I'll be right back."

A few chimes later and he was back. There were various assortments of wood in his rough hands, and Karin grinned. It'll be good to get things going now. Cadog deposited the wood down on the work bench, and was off again to find the relevant tools. So in the meantime, the girl wandered closer to the work bench and picked up a chunk of wood, holding in both her hands and bringing it up to her nose... Yes. The delicious smell of wood.

Cadog returned again, this time with a few tools, some which Karin recognised and some she didn't. The most recognisable was the knife. Anybody could recognise that one. The others though, she wasn't so sure. They were long, with wooden handles and strangely shaped metal attached to the end. She looked on, puzzled as Cadog placed them neatly on the table, and gave her a pencil.

"So!" He clapped his hands with a wide smile and continued, "We'll get you started! You'll need to pick a piece of wood which you think'll be appropriate." He gestured at the choices, and then picked up a thin graphite stick, rolling it over to her. "Then give a rough outline... Don' worry too much about errors. Jus' transfer your picture to the wood."

"Then what you'll want to do is place the wood in the clamp, so you can start to shape it there!" He pointed at the clamp, and started to undo it for her. Karin placed her hands on the table, and considered her options. There were six chunks of wood laid out. So... Let's consider this logically. Look at the first one first.

by **Karin** on December 9th, 2015, 1:35 pm

The first piece was a small, regularly shaped piece. The girl picked it up and tapped it, hesitantly. It felt hard under her nail, but the size seemed right. She compared it to the drawing, and squinted, one eye shut. No. Too small. The next piece was clearly far too big, and as she picked it up, the underside was riddled with woodworm. Not right either.

It felt like Cadog had put some of the pieces out to test her, and she briefly glanced up at him, but if it was a trick, he wasn't showing it. Piece number three. This one was a dark wood, and it was the size of both her hands placed together- just right. She placed it to the side, as a major contender. The fourth piece was clearly another dud, misshapen and lumpy so she cast it aside at once.

The fifth was a little big, but she evaluated it, with increasing confidence. It felt okay, so it joined the others to be considered. The final, sixth one was the opposite. A little small, but as she weighed it in her hands it seemed very dense. And density's good for a children's toy, right?

She was finished, or rather, nearly finished. Cadog briefly intervened, picking up the fourth piece she'd cast aside. "Why did you discard this one?" Karin looked at him, raised an eyebrow and said, "Because it's wonky! You can't do anything with that one." A sudden moment of doubt struck her, but she stuck to her theory.

As it turned out, she was wrong. Cadog gently shifted the piece into the 'be considered' pile. "Don't judge a piece just by it's shape. The quality of this wood is easy to carve, so cutting of the lumpy qualities would be easy, and it may even be helpful to have the bits sticking out, to make shapes of the animals."

by **Karin** on December 9th, 2015, 2:08 pm

The girl blushed a little, but Cadog brushed the worry away, commenting, "It's okay, you didn't know it but you do now. In fact..." The man expertly sized them up, and then placed the lumpy piece in Karin's bemused hands. "Use this one. It's light, soft wood, easily shaped. Give it a try, if it doesn't work then use one of your other choices."

The girl brushed off any confusion she had because something greater was happening- she was actually reaching the carving stage. With an eager but measured pace, she picked up the stick of graphite and sharpened it with the knife. She sketched, roughly and lumpily as it was hard to keep her hand steady on the rough surface of the wood. The form of a bear fitted snugly onto a particular lump, and Karin understood what Cadog meant.

Sketchily, she drew a tail behind it, but the technicalities of making a fully formed whale and a fully formed bear appear at the same time was too much, so instead she settled for shaping a bear with a whale's tail on the wooden surface. She was pleased with the result, and Cadog seemed content to let her continue without help for a bit, so she placed the wood in the clamp and picked up the knife.

She dived in, eagerly and with a great degree of enthusiasm. Cadog was right, the wood was easy to carve, almost too easy. She pressed the knife against the surface and there was hardly any resistance. After a particularly harsh cut, she tempered herself a little. She didn't want to mess it up.

She began carving, cutting away the shape of the bear's stomach, as this was the largest surface and therefore the easiest and least detailed work. She curved the blade smoothly and shaped a curl of wood off, making the expanse of the stomach. It was oddly satisfying, to watch little curls and flake of wood drift off to the floor.

The blade swept along, curving down to the tail, but a nobble caused a challenge as Karin realised she'd have to cut it off, somehow. It was too fine to use a saw for, so she simply cut little slivers off it with the knife, whittling it down until it could be cut off entirely. Unfortunately, she cut a little bit too much off, and there was a small dent in the tail.

The Svefra held the unfinished piece up to the light, and admired it. The dent wasn't too obvious. She hoped. But it would have to do. The head area of the bear needed to be shaped next. She didn't really know what to do about it, though. At the moment, the bear's neck merged into the head, which was devoid of detail. She needed some way of removing material around the neck, but using the knife would result in jagged, even triangular cuts, which wasn't natural at all.

by **Karin** on December 9th, 2015, 2:28 pm

She tried experimental cuts into the neck, but all that happened was that she got dangerously close to cutting the head off entirely. She glared at it for a while, until after a few chimes, she looked over at the other tools lying, various, on the work table.

She didn't know what they were called, but under closer inspection, they appreared to be like a scoop of some kind. Some had pointed tips, but others had rounded tips. That'd be useful... She picked it up, curiously and felt the tip. It was still sharp too, it wasn't a blunt instrument. If she tilted it at a certain angle, and made a scooping motion, that would remove the material, right?

Before she could try it, Cadog once again appeared at her elbow, carrying a chisel loosely. "That there's what's called a gouge. I think you figured it out, but I'll give you a demonstration." He took the instrument, the gouge, from her hands and picked up the bear in the other hand. He made sure she was looking closely, and inspected her carving.

With a practised hand, thumb on the top of the handle, he pushed the gouge firmly around the neck area at right angles. In a smooth scoop motion a sliver of wood came away, and he blew it off. Holding the item up to see it better, he showed Karin the smooth, curved tract of wood that had been taken away. "If you use it gently, it should be easier to get out that material than with the knife."

He placed the bear down in her hands again, and she nodded determinedly as he walked away again, to work on a figurehead for a boat currently in the dock. If I can figure this out, then one day I'll be able to carve like that. She looked enviously over at Cadog's work, which ran through with intricate loops and swirls, so much more detailed than Karin's own work, which looked like a child had mad it, in comparison.

She focused, and picked up the gouge, placing the tip tentitively against the surface of the carving. She applied pressure, and moved it forwards and around. It shot off and made her jump, and she realised that if she wanted to to go all around the item, she'd have to rotate it at the same time. So, she did and it made it a lot easier to finish off.

After a time, she had reached the basic bones of the creation. It was a strange sight, but Karin was immensely proud of it. It wasn't quite what she'd had in mind, but the bear/whale hybrid certainly was something you wouldn't see anywhere else but in Alvadas. All that was needed now was detail, the ears, the eyes perhaps. Maybe she could find some way to make the fur look more realistic?

But it wasn't until Cadog wandered over again that she realised how long she'd been working. Her fingers were full of cramp as she stretched them out to accept a small chunk of bread. She reached back, and winced as her back ached painfully. But still, she smiled proudly. "Look!" She held up the item to Cadog, and he took it again, his expression brightening as he nodded.

"It's looking ready already. Just a bit more detail, I think. But not right now, take a breather, go get some fresh air." Karin nodded, and sighed gratefully, brushing her hand over her eyes and through her hair. It had been strenous, but most definitely worth it. She wasn't sure why, or even how, but carving was something that soothed her, almost as much as the sea.

There was a lot of enjoyment to be had creating something, and the girl knew that this was a job to keep. So, with a creak and a groan, she stood up, pushed her stool under the desk and took a step out into the air, to return later and work some more, with delight.

by **Fable** on December 24th, 2015, 5:06 am

K A R I N . I R O N Y A C H

a d r o i t . a c c r e t i o n s

e s p i e d . e r u d i t i o n

r e c o m p e n s e . a n d . r e t r i b u t i o n

none
d e t e r m i n a t i v e . d i c t a

Lovely little job thread! I did want to just let you know that if you give a bit more detail in what Karin is doing, I can award a couple more skill points here and there! At the beginning, especially, if you describe what she's doing to create a drawing rather than just writing she drew something, I can award a point there! As for the actual carving, you're on a good track. I'm thinking you probably have some real world experience with the art (or you just googled things, which is fine and encouraged), but I did want to caution at the ease of Karin's cutting. Even with soft, malleable wood, carving is difficult, especially when you're trying to do subtractive sculpting. At Karin's current level, creating a whale-bear is definitely beyond her abilities, but she can definitely whittle out something that resembles the idea of it! I just wanted to make sure that was clear, but I did want to say you're spending attention to the detail of the process, and I definitely appreciate that. Keep up the good work!

Closed [Job thread] Carving a Childhood Toy, part two.