Woe felt very much like a fish out of water during his first class of glass blowing. While he'd entertained the idea of attending University while in Rynmere, that notion had fallen by the wayside as he fell into slavery again, and then escaped to the shores of Yaralon, where schooling wasn't held in great regard. From there, it was one detour after another, until thoughts of schooling were far from his mind. He was more used to hands on, practical learning at any rate. The things he knew, the places he'd gone, most of them were benefited by a practical approach rather than academic. Even so, there were some things that couldn't be learned from mere experience. Certain skills that eluded understanding without proper and supervised instruction.
Glassblowing was one such an art.
The Professor stood in front of the class. This wasn't exactly a prestigious instruction on Glassblowing, despite Nashaki's reverence for the art. The Letter course was more meant to weed out the reckless and unsuitable candidates for further education, through a mixture of intimidation and also 'accidental' burnings and other mishaps.
"There are three types of furnaces used in glassblowing." The instructor today, interestingly enough, was an ithecal, a wyvarnth. A race that was more known for their metal work. She stood at the head of the class, with several items of varying sizes stood on a large surface. She gestured to each of them, as she described what they were, and their use. First was a large cauldron-like structure, "The first, and perhaps the most important to the formulation of glass, is the Crucible. Here is where the ingredients, pure silica, natron, and other compounds can be poured to form the base of the glass you're going to use."
"Does anyone know what sorts of other compounds might be used for the making of glass?" The professor searched the faces of the class, and Woe was as blank as any of them. Just then, a brown-haired human spoke up, "There are chemicals that you can add to give the glass color... Like copper oxide, to make green and blue glasses..."
Woe quirked a brow as he took his notes in his stationery, wondering if he'd wandered into an advanced class afterall, or if his classmate had a background in chemistry.
The Wyvarnth clasped her claws together in pleasure, "Yes, that's correct! Different chemicals can produce special colored glasses. However, you're incorrect about copper oxide... In fact, copper oxide is a rival to gold nitrate in the creation of beautiful red colorings."
Woe noted this down in his book, scratching the student's error out. It would be useful information to bring back to Quacia, if he returned. They had a lot of red windows to fix.
"Yes, and do you know why we add natron to the solution?" The Wyvarnth waited for someone else to speak up for a few moments. When nobody did, she continued to explain, "Natron adjusts the thickness and thus how fast a piece of glass may cool. We usually measure the natron in such a way to plan for the size of the piece. Larger pieces or pieces that we place in special molds may allow for a larger portion of natron, as they cool into shape."
Again Woe took down notes, not deigning to speak up during class, as he was very much ignorant of all of this subject. He only knew previously that glass was very fragile.
"The second furnace used in our art... Is the Glory Hole." The Wyvarnth sharply stared into the small crowd of students, waiting for just one of them to make so much as a squeak of laughter at the name of it. Once she was satisfied that none of her students would make fun of the name of the furnace, she continued, "Its function is very simple, to keep the glass hot for continued shaping through the process of making your piece."
Woe noted it down, and wondered why the Wyvarnth had stared at them so intently on naming the Glory Hole. He drew as best he could a rough shape of what the glory hole looked like. It was as an open furnace, with a roof to contain the heat and keep it even.
"There are other tools that we use, of course. The marver, which is the block where we create a uniform shape to the initial blob of glass. There are other tools, jacks, shears, paddles, tweazers... All of these you will learn to use in time, but not all of them are necessary to the creation of a simple piece, which you'll be able to complete during your first laboratory work." The professor smiled her reptilian smile as she considered what kinds of things her students would make.
Woe did his best to jot down the rough shape of things that were on display. At east, it'd jog his memory if they were unrecognizable to anyone else. He continued to work and record her words in silence, as she went on.
"And then! There is the central tool of all your work, and absolutely essential to the formation of glass. The blowpipe!" She held up a long metal tube, which appeared to be about the size of a long cane, or a staff. It was hollow through the middle, allowing for the 'blowing' of glass to take place. "You will get to know this one most intimately, of course, if you continue in your craft."
Woe looked up to note the dimensions of the tube. Being around five feet long, and an inch or so in diameter... Woe was terrible with measurements actually, but he was able to record the vague shape of the blowpipe in his notebook. He continued to take notes as she went on to explain how it was used.
"Once you've gathered a blow through the blowpipe, in the crucible, you take it over to the marver, and round it out, making sure to shape it in the vague dimensions it will take in time." The Wyvarnth didn't offer them a practical demonstration at this time. This was the first class, and mainly intended to give them grounding in the process of glassblowing.
So Woe listened and wrote what he would down in his notebook. He could see himself going through the motions, and visualized how he might work the shop. How things might go wrong, or right as she explained all of the pitfalls of blowing with just the right, constant pressure on the blowpipe.
"As for how you shape it, or the process that goes into that, in about ten trials, we'll send you along to a workshop for a trial apprenticeship of sorts. Don't worry," The Wyvarnth smiled at them reassuringly, "We'll send you along to masters who have already agreed to host students. They won't be too surly at your lack of knowledge or skill... Unless you make a mess of their shop... Just... please be respectful, and don't abuse the tools lend you."
Here, the Wyvarnth came to the last of the furnaces, represented by several containers of varying sizes that were adjustable. "Here we have the final furnace. The Annealer. This is where the glass is left to cool, with a steady heat so as to not cause the glass to fracture from rapid temperature drop. There are glasses that are resistant to heat, but such innovative secrets are mostly for the experts to learn how to formulate, and also take a fair amount of chemical know-how or resources."
"And once the glass has cooled to where it is no longer glowing, you move it to the next least hot container, until finally it reaches room temperature, and is ready to be finished, polished, and put on display. Whichever purpose you have for it. Or, as the case may be, thrown in with scrap glass."
"Wasting glass is a terrible sin in Nashaki, we do not throw any pieces out. We even have rituals for the breaking of glass, it's a ritual of great significance to the devout, here in Nashaki. But... stick with glassblowing, and you'll be part of a timeless tradition that goes back to the founding of this great city, and perhaps become an important person in your own right!"
So saying, the Wyvarnth adjourned the class, allowing them to take their final notes. Woe for his part, dedicated the notes he took to Chamadarst, for whatever they were worth. His patron doubtless cared little for his flailings at trying to grab at his attention, yet Woe did seek to improve his standing in the Immortal's eyes.
He only hoped he didn't insult him with the work he did in lab, in ten trials.
