The Martha Stewart of AERI
Summer 2021, Week 4
Tuesday afternoon
Earthen Designs, Victoria Field
Ari Thomas
He turns on the radio's speakers, setting the input to his Aux cable and plugging the other end into his phone. A couple of quick taps later, he starts a workshop playlist with the first song being Summer Nights by Siamés. He slaps his leather apron to knock the dusting of powdered clay off, thinking All righty. Time to get to work. Taking a pair of shaping tools and laying them on his glass working table, he thinks on which of his new projects he should start on. Let's start with Victory. He seems like a salt of the earth kind of guy. Maybe a mug style? And I gotta use his colors, or something like 'em. Nodding to himself, he walks to the bench up against the wall laden with various materials, and grabs a black and an amber color bar, taking them to a small metal cutting tool that looks like a small guillotine with a wedge instead of a blade. Positioning the black bar first, he opts to make two chunks, one larger than the other. The first chunk he positions it to be the larger size, and takes a nearby hammer to tap the wedge through the bar. He repeats the process for the smaller bar, and once more for the amber bar. Taking the pieces to the glass working table, he readies the materials by pouring his will into them, making them softer and more pliable, a process normally done with a lot of heat.[Earth Manipulation, Basic x1, -0EP]
Taking a nearby glass blowing pipe and affixing the smaller black piece of color bar to it, he immediately begins to spin the pipe, not allowing the piece to droop to one side or another. He then rolls the chunk against the table, shaping it into a more consistent round shape before grabbing his shaping tongs. Using the flat edge near the fulcrum, he pauses rolling the piece to make an indent across the , the top for the amber V he plans to make. Once the indent is made, he resumes rolling the piece before placing the top into the softened chunk of amber colored glass, allowing it to shape around the round black wedge before rolling the adjoined pieces, repeating the process for the larger black piece. Once the colors are formed, he rolls the adjoined pieces against the table as he puts the pipe in his mouth and blows into it, hollowing out and expanding the piece as it is formed into a tall cylinder. Once he is satisfied with the size and shape, he walks around the table while idly spinning the pipe, setting up a rod to transfer the piece to shape the lip of the mug. Affixing the base to the new rod, he takes his hammer and taps his blowing pipe, shearing the softened glass to make the top of the mug. He lays down the blowing pipe and pick up the new rod and resumes spinning the piece on the rod, quickly picking up his shaping tongs to maintain the mug's orderly, cylindrical shape while smoothing the sheared edges of the rim. Once he is finished smoothing the shape and ege of the glass, he wills the piece to become tempered as if cooled in a cooling oven, and shears the base from the rod in a smooth break. Ari smiles at his handiwork, and set to work on making the handle.[Earth Manipulation, Basic x1, -0EP]
He breaks off another piece of the black bar, and makes it soft and malleable before rolling it onto the rod. He taps some of the new bar onto a side of the newly formed mug, and repeats this process once more to form the base of the handle. Allowing the excess to flow onto the table, he rolls it almost like a play-dough snake before affixing it to the stubs, completing the handle. He wills the glass to temper ever so slightly, grinning to himself as he takes a shaping tool from his apron pocket, carefully shaping the handle to make it seem more purposeful, and etching into the handle in small lettering a phrase Victory had told him. Be a hero Satisfied with his handiwork, he wills the entire piece to temper completely, the mug cooling to a shining finish.[Earth Manipulation, Basic x2, -0EP]
Now time for Inferno. He ponders, remembering his interactions with the flame user. And the fire itself. The screams.. He shakes his head and slaps the sides of his face twice with a CLAP CLAP and a loud "AAAAAUGH" before focusing on the design of the glass. Simple and straightforward. Bold. Maybe give the glass a burned look at the bottom and add in embers, and etching in a texture on them. Yeah.. that sounds great. He grins and begins preparing his materials. He starts with a blank color bar, shearing off a chunk of uncolored glass to make up the top, followed by a black chunk, softening them with his will and affixing them to his blowing pipe. As he spins the rod and pliable glass, he pushes forward as he forms the glass, blending the two shades to give the glass a black fade into a clear glass near where the rim will be.[Earth Manipulation, Basic x1, -0EP]
Setting it aside and willing the material to temper for now, he returns to the bars and shears off a piece of red, and he wills the chunk of red to be malleable, affixing it to his spare rod. He coats the red glass with a fine powder frit that would give the red an orange tinge when blended together, and begins rolling it to mix the hues. Once he is satisfied with the blend, he takes the first rod in his off hand, and allows the red-orange blend to drip and flow onto the base, creating little runs along the sides of the cup-to-be, and discards the excess. Softening and making the original malleable once more, he starts to blend the orange-red into the black base of the glass, until it gives the look of ephemeral flame along the sides of the glass.[Earth Manipulation, Basic x3, -0EP]
His breath starts to become shaky as he blows into the pipe, but it still forms rather smoothly and evenly. Affixing the base to his spare rod, he shears the rim with a tap of his hammer on the pipe, and he sets the released pipe aside. He spins the piece and shapes it with his tongs, smoothing the rim and shaping it into a slight bell, tapered near the base of the cup. Satisfied with the shape, he etches in the flame patterns in line with the colored wisps of red and orange before tempering the glass. Done. He smiles, happy that this one is finished.[Earth Manipulation, Basic x1, -0EP]
Now for the mecha-girl. Let's see.. she dyed her hair blue, I think? Might be a bad guess, but maybe that's her favorite color? he ponders, trying to come up with a design idea. Maybe something tiered, with.. oh my gosh, I can use LEDs! And fill it with a blue epoxy! He grins and begins with a clear chunk, softening it and affixing it to his blowing pipe.[Earth Manipulation, Basic x1, -1EP {Repeated usage of basic actions} (24/25)]
The softened glass begins to run down like molasses, and Ari begins to spin the pipe quickly, using centripetal force to shape the globule into a disc before forcing it to a half-temper, lowering the end of the pipe so that the sides of the disc droop down, while he blows into the pipe to form the inside layer.[Earth Manipulation, Basic x1, -0EP]
Just enough to go past the edge... and good! when he is satisfied with the length of the outer wall of the glass, he shapes it with his tongs to smoothen any ripples and edges that formed in the shaping process. Taking the second rod once more and affixing it to where the inner base of the glass will be, he tempers the rim just enough to shear the top off, forming the lip. Tricky, but gonna be worth it. But instead of immediately shaping the rim, he stands up the glass on the pipe, letting the bottom flow to make an indent where he plans on housing the batteries and on/off switch. After he makes a satisfactory indentation, he shapes the glass in such a way that the space between the outer and inner walls of the glass are separated and smooth before completely tempering the entire glass.[Earth Manipulation, Basic x1, -0EP]
Now for the epoxy. He shuffles over to his workbench, taking out a bottle of clear potting resin and a disposable cup, and pours the fluid into it. He takes some blue dye off of his shelf, and pours a few drops into the liquid and stirs it. Not dark enough.. He adds some more until he gets a color he thinks will be good, and sets the cup aside for now. I'll add the curing agent after I get the lights ready. He luckily had a tiny set of lights attached to a small housing unit. The lights themselves were encased in a soft, white plastic that would light up when powered, and were shapable so he could style it like circuitry. Trying to bend the wires in such a design while keeping the straight parts untwisted and.. well.. straight, he makes the design look what he deemed, 'cool and tech-y' before placing the entirety of it in the cup with the housing unit in the base. Taking the curing agent off of a shelf and setting it to the side for easy access, he gives the blue liquid a good stirring before taking the curer back and adding a healthy amount to the solution, mixing it in and quickly pouring it evenly into the hollowed space between the glass walls of the cup, pouring over any exposed wiring to give it a waterproof seal while leaving the battery access and on/off switch accessible. I'll give it a test tomorrow, when it sets. He smiles, the majority of this clear glass with a blue pane and techno-styled lights finished. All righty, now time for miss Sloane. She strikes me as a classy business lady type. Maybe a wine glass? Oooh, with black and purple as a color scheme. He grabs the black and purple color bars, opting for a small chunk of black and a larger piece of purple, and softens the materials before affixing them to his blowing pipe, purple first, then the black.[Earth Manipulation, Basic x1, -0EP]
He spins the pipe and begins to shape the gradual color mix from black to purple until it makes an even fade around the base of where the bell will be. Taking his shaping tongs, he molds the base as he continues to spin the piece, making a flat brim that tapered into an elegant stem. He starts to blow into his pipe when the piece starts to bubble out a little, and he tries his best not to panic. Continuing to spin the piece, he takes from his set of tools a piece of leather, and uses it to shape the bell as he turns the pipe to spin the piece into an even shape once more. Resuming blowing into the pipe, he uses his hand and the leather to continue to maintain a consistent shape, until he is satisfied with the size. Once more he transitions the piece to a spare rod, shearing the rim of the wine glass with a tap on the blowing pipe with his hammer, and spins the piece on the new rod while shaping and smoothing the rim of the bell. Once he is satisfied with the shape, he tempers the glass and shears the base from the rod, leaving an elegant glass of black and purple, with a shapely bell and stem.[Earth Manipulation, Basic x1, -0EP]
Ari Thomas
Okay... crap, I'm starting to run low on supplies. And Rosy likes things as bit over the top. I'm gonna need to grab some things in town. He frowns, clearly not happy about needing to take a break from his focused glassmaking, but it needs done, anyway. He carefully puts the completed works on a shelf, ready for packaging, and removes his apron to set aside. Hopefully I don't need to make a detour before I get there and back.
Type
Record, Historical
Medium
Digital Recording, Text
Authoring Date
July 13, 2021
Authors
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