67th of Ymiden 722
The day after Rorom learned the rudiments of forming metal wire was spent finalizing the design plan of his eventual piece. They were getting closer to doing the actual work of a smith, and Rorom couldn't be more eager. Yet he knew he had a few steps to go before he was ready to bring all of the disparate elements together into one, well-formed whole. Yes he had ideas, and he was inspired. This was a good thing, a sensation that eluded the days spent as a simple fisherman and seafarer. Rarely had he the chance to exercise his creative itch, as much as the past seven days.
And on the seventh day, Tomis bid his students to absorb what they'd learned, but to rest. Rorom wasn't sure about the other two, but he knew exactly how he'd spend the 'free time' he'd been granted. And so, he got to work in the small workshop he'd set up in the dwelling the rented.
He had his crudely drawn designs, exact enough in their rendition, but yes crude. He was better at making things take shape in reality, than he was in theory. So it was, but he had the parchment with his plans on them. These he set to the side, and looked at the material he meant to turn into a piece to impress Grandmaster Copper Smith. A large beluga whale canine, something he'd kept since his exit from Rharnean waters. He had more of them, but wouldn't need much in truth for what he planned. At least not if he made a minimal of mistakes.
Being alone, he invoked the blessing given to him by Chamadarst, of Isolated Calm, so that wold bolster his craftsmanship as he suffered no company at this moment. He felt a sudden wave of peace and focus wash over him, as he took up the tools he'd need. Then he got to work.
He began by etching out the pattern he needed to carve off of the bone. This he did carefully, lest he chip or break the interior perimeter of the etching, and produce a flawed piece for his earring.
The grooves were hexagonal in shape, with slight curve to them, as he thought was appropriate to an organic material. His eyes narrowed as the groove deepened, until the color therein changed from both the change in lighting and the difference in the quality of the material. Then, he took out a small adtz and pried it out, side by side, loosening the parcel he meant to excise from the tooth. This went well, went easily, as he pried the pale chunk out of that tooth. It came out whole on the part that was facing outward, and jagged from the inside. The material, he'd seen, had dried over the time he kept it.
He followed up by sanding the jagged side of the chunk of tooth. Filing it down to a smoothness. He only realized his error when the file began to lose its sharpness, and began wearing out. Grunting lightly, he put aside the file, and brought out the chisel and small mallet. He placed the chunk in a vice, gently constricting it until he had it in a tight enough spot to began removing more material. The excess facing outward, Rorom scraped and carved away at the jagged edges. He did this until he had a relatively thin piece of whale tooth. Almost but not quite as thin as a copper nel. It would do nicely.
Thus accomplishing this, he brought out his engraving tool, starting to draw the design he'd planned on the showing surface of the whale bone. It was a simple drawing, one resembling the shape of a nel, with eight sides on the edges, and a circle in the middle, signifying the hollow groove in the middle of every nel. He drew some intricate but mostly indistinct designs along the disc of the nel shaped etching with a smaller engraving tool.
Once he'd done all of that, he set aside his carving things, and began applying some black ink to the etched surface, letting it coalesce into the grooves. A few bits later, he cleaned off the surface with a rough cloth and some solution he'd gotten from the market, which removed ink from solid surfaces. It did the job on the protruding portions of the small whale bone jewel, but left alone the grooves, illuminating the shape he'd etched onto its surface.
He attempted this process several times through the day, through the night, until he had a few of these pieces to choose from. When it was all done, he selected the ones he thought were the best, and stored away the others. The next day, he'd have to learn the process for putting it all together, utilizing his methods of metalwork he'd been studying.
