Learning the fundalmentals (Stone crafting training thread, Mod-Glanos)

[Kavene Darklight]

 

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Timestamp: The 9th brightening of the Cycle 4
Forth Cycle of Aperitus of Aslanica The Summer of Era II of the Celestine Mandate Era XIV Post Fractum (39/50)

Out in the courtyard, there were several rectangular and square Stone blocks of different stone types laying on the ground in a rough circle.

There was also an arangment of tools in a harness laying on the ground in the middle of the circle on a table with legs. As the odd pair entered the circle the table began to walk towards them, stopping just before bumping into them.

Kavene was feeling much better today, almost back to full strength after letting all that blood two days ago. But not fit enough to do his routines. He was ready to do some work with his hands, to hone his stone crafting and sculpting skills from a master. He assumed they would be doing humanoids, considering that was what the standard golems that he could make consisted of, but one never knew.

He waited patentily for his master to begin instructing him. Boris was a good teacher in Golems hopefully it carried over.

The pantheri pondered how the weak human crafts man could have moved all these blocks here alone. Not a second after that question passed through his head did the obvious answer pop up... he did have help, his golems...

[Glanos]

Boris wiped the sweat from his brow. Another day of sawing, cutting, and sculpting always did a number to his increasingly aging body, but he found the work to be enjoyable and satisfying. Working with his hands was what he did best, and in a way, he felt that he was accomplishing something for the greater good of the Empire. At the very least, it had kept his family provided for until all of them had left the nest.

A figure suddenly caught his eye, and he distinctly remembered that he had an appointment with his young student. He reached for a dry cloth and wiped his hands and faced.

"Oh! Sorry there young Kavene. Wasn't even payin' attention today!" He gave a brief chuckle and patted the katta on the back. "Business has slacked off as of late, so ya know me, I've just picked up a whole bunch o' them special projects. Been meaning to do those for decades now."

He quickly changed up again into some cleaner work clothes and then beckoned Kavene to the yard. "So, Kavene, your here for a lesson. Look around here and tell me what type and size of rock you'd like to learn." In the yard was a myriad amount of statues and half-finished golems that were used mostly as show piecies to his students, so that he could better determine what type of stone-crafting they wanted to do.

[Kavene Darklight]

ooc: That was very fast! Thanks for modding! BTW it shouldn't have surprised him scince i live in his house lol, no worries though :P Lets do this then...

IC:
Kavene frowned. "And ye just happened to start doing them when i became yer apprentice? I had been hoping I wasn't that boring to teach..."

The pantheri gave a wink at the old human. Then walked around the circle of stones. "Well... Since according to our disscution earlier, that i won't actually be making a Golem body today... at least not to start, lets go big."

Kavene pointed to a 4.5 ft tall block he was standing next to. "And since i know absolutely nothing about stone craft, would ye mind telling mi what i am working with? I will want to end up working with a dense, heavey sold stone..."

[Glanos]

Boris laughed. His student was certainly an active one. Sometimes, he wasn't sure whether the lad had enough patience to work with stone crafting, but he laid that thought aside and wanted to help him.

"Well, now, that's a granite stone figure. It's about as heavy and dense as ya need. It's a good one at that." He said, giving permission for Kavene to use that stone."But first, come with me. We'll need to go over the tools again and make sure you know what to use with the techniques." He said grinning. He knew that the tools lessons wasn't as fun as the other lessons, such as working with the hands, but it was essential to the foundation of stone crafting. He wouldn't have it any other way.

As they made their way into the shop, Boris motioned for Kavene to follow him to the tool table, where he kept most of his equipment.

"All right, me lad, my stone carving tools fall into three basic categories: Percussions, chisels, and Abrasives. Depending on the stone you use, you might need all three categories, or ya might need one or two. Depends, really. For our stone out in the yard, we'll use all three."

Boris reached down and grabbed a small paper chart. "Here's a little diagram for your reference. Listen as I go over the three types." Boris gave the paper to Kavene.

Basic stone carving tools fall into three types:

• Percussion tools — for hitting

such as mallets, axes, adzes, bouchards and toothed hammers.

• Chisels — for cutting

such as lettering chisels, points, Pitching tools, and claw chisels. chisels in turn may by hand held and hammered.

• Abrasives — for erosion

such as carborundum blocks, drills, saws, grinding and cutting wheels.

"Now, tell me, Kavene, why is the knowledge of these tools so important to this trade?" He asked. "And what, if any, circumstances might we find where one or two of these categories are not used?"


Boris continued to straighten his tools on the table as he listened to Kavene answer.

[Kavene Darklight]

Kavene followed his teacher over to the table, then looked over the Chart. His eyes sparkled like that of a child. He did enjoy learning about new tools, they were just like his weapons, able to bring out beauty. Weapons bring out the beauty of the body, These tools will bring out the Beauty of the stone blocks.

Kavene laughed at Boris's first question, "Why, because if ye didn't understand these tools, ye might as well go at the stone with an Ax... These tools allow one to bring the stone alive... no pun intended."

Kavene then answered Boris's second question, "Well, as for lack of use, i would presume that the abrasive tools would only be needed for the buffering of the stone, making it look nice by making entire sides smooth, and even. I guess the Percussion tools wouldn't be useful if working on a small, couple inch scuplture, due to the fact the force might shatter the block, making it useless..."

He looked over the several tools. There were so many of them! All different sizes and such... and unfortuantily, it might be expensive to buy. Kavene sighed, well, nothing comes cheap doesn't it.

He waited for responses to his answeres as well as instructions on how to use the tools and more specifics on what they are used form

[Glanos]

Boris smiled. "Correct, Kavene. Our tools define us as sculptors. Without them, we are as painters without a brush." He nodded again as Kavene answered the second question."Right, sometimes, we need not use one of the categories because it doesn't fit with the overall scheme of our design."

Boris stepped over to the chisels. "As you probably have guessed, chisels are the most important category of all three. Most of the time you'll always be using the chisels. Since the definition of stone carving is basically the shaping of rough, natural stone by removal of stone, the chisel is the one tool that is used extensively for shaping."

He picked a few of his chisels up. "As you can see, Kavene, chisels come in all shapes and sizes. Whether you're working on a three inch craft or a ten foot tall statue, you'll always be using a chisel, just different sizes of course." He placed his example chisels down and picked up his main one.

"Now, we will discuss chisel techniques." He grabbed another sheet of paper, a diagram, and gave it to Kavene. "Here, follow along."

The use of chisels for stone carving is possible in several different ways, two of them are:

• The masons stroke

where a flat chisel is used at approximately 90 degrees to the surface in an organised sweep. It shatters the stone beneath it and each successive pass lowers the surface.

• The lettering stroke

where the chisel is used along the surface at approximately 30 degrees to cut beneath the existing surface.

"The techniques are important in order to adequately define your stone". Boris wiped his brow with a small cloth and then reached over and grabbed a small block. "You don't need to measure out the degrees, but you should have a memorized view of what a ninety and thirty degree angle looks like, as each angle will dramatically alter your form" He showed Kavene what each angle looked like on the block, and then demonstrated how to maintain such an angle when chiseling the rock.


"Another question, Kavene. What are the obvious differences between the mason stroke and the lettering stroke?" He asked. "What is the importance of the chisel, and why is such an emphasis placed on correct angles?" He knew that these were alot of question, but he knew that the chisel would be the prime tool in Kavene's toolbox, and he wanted his student prepared.

[Kavene Darklight]

Kavene nodded as he watched Boris show him the angels. He then quickly ran back to the house, grabbed a couple pieces of paper and a pencil then ran back. He placed the sheets on the table and wrote down:

Mason stroke:
90 degree - shatters stone beneath it.

Lettering stroke:
30 degree- cut beneath existing surface.

He Then drew a picture of a surface and a line that represented the chisel at 90 degrees by the first line, and a surface with a line at a thrity degree angle from the surface, representing the second position.

After quickly doing that he looked up and answered his teachers questions.

"Well, i guess one would use the mason stroke for simply adding holes, such as eyes or pores, putting dents in the stone where need be. The lettering tequnique is more precise, and i see that if used correctly it can remove much larger chunks, by making the stroke in a circle allowing for a refined dip in the stone. The lettering could also be used to carve out mouths and such i suppose."

Kavene thought about the next question for a bit before answering, "The chisel is the most precise tool apparently... it allows for finer additions to the piece, and the different angles have different results. I would hate to try to chip off a large piece by using the Mason style."

Kavene waited patentily to try more. He couldn't wait to get started, as soon as he learned what each tool did ofcourse.

[Glanos]

Boris nodded. He was satisifed with Kavene's basic understanding of the tools of the trade. He motioned Kavene to follow him to another part of the building where chunks of rock lay cluttered around tables. "Now that you know a few uses of the tools, you should probably get aquainted with the various amounts of stone that you might use."

He picked up a few stones and explained the signifigance. "There are many different types of stones, and each will give you a different experience in sculpting. First, there are the soft stones. These stones, such as chalk, pumice, and soapstone are very easy to penetrate with your tools. If you're into golemcrafting, I would use these types of stones sparingly." He put the soft rocks down and picked up some heavier ones. "These stones, granite, basalt, and metamorphic, are the hardest stones you'll work with. Usually abrasive-type tools will help with their hardness. There are also gem stones, which are different from the hard and soft that you can carve, but we'll save that for another lesson."

Boris put the stones down and proceeded to caution Kavene. "Now, you do realize that stone sculpting is not all fun and games. Even stones have fumes that can hurt like poisons, and not only that, chips of rocks can fly in the air into your eyes and mouth. You treat each stone with the caution and respect it deserves." He warned.

Before they started on the fun part of the lesson, Boris asked just a few more questions. "Tell me, Kavene, how many categories of rocks did I tell you about? And let's see.. tell me which category of stones would be bad to use if you were going to use a percussion tool? Can stone crafting be dangerous at times? Why?"

Boris chuckled a little bit. He was gladdened by his student's careful attention, but the teacher inside him wanted to make sure that the lad received the very best in training.

[Kavene Darklight]

Kavene examined each stone as it was described. He was careful to write down the different types of stone and there properties on the back of the sheet of paper he had been using while his teachers back was turned, as he had throughout his entire schooling.

He grinned at Boris when he asked to repeat what he had been told. The pantheri mockingly glanced at his paper before continuing placing it away from the table and reapeating what Boris had said from memory.

Pantheri was renound for their minds, kavene was no exception.

Kavene started with describing the stone type that he would probably be using most often. "Granite, Basalt, and metamorphic are the harder types of rock, that i will probably be mostly using. They would fall under the first category. The softer ones were chalk, pumice, and soapstone. They would fall into the second category. The final and third was the gemstones, which, telling by their names, are rather expensive which is why we probably aren't getting to them anytime soon." He concluded the last sentance with a wink.

"Three categories... as for yer second question, i would think Gemstones would be horrible to use because diamonds and such are resounded for there toughness... making them impossible to use percussion tools on. I would think the precussion tools would more likely scratch the diamonds and precious stones before doing there jobs, lowering their values. The harder stone, like granite, though they are hard, i presume are still able to be worked with by these tools, as the harder stones are the most popular to use, and these tools wouldn't be as widespread if the harder stone wasn't popular and easily carved."

Kavene took a breath before continuing. He was still rather worn from loosing all that blood, but he tried to hide it.

"Apparently fumes are realized when these rocks are broken.. something handy to know, and i thank ye for telling mi" he said with another wink at Boris. "Also, chips may go flying, as would be expected when objects are massed together... into the eyes, hence the danger of the trade... A wee bit less than the danger needed in golem crafting, eh?" he said the last sentence jokingly.

"Now its mi turn eh? Which of the second category of stones is the hardest and less likely to fall apart... And im assuming there are maskes or rags that one would wear over the mouth to keep the fumes out... Or am i mistaken?"

It would be a simple solution to keeping out the dust and fumes... Now if there was only something to be worn over the eyes...

He eagerly waited for the response, then more teaching. He also had an idea, as soon as Boris would finish his answering, Kavene would run up to his room and Grab NotIr, his second golem, as well as more paper.

He would then tell NotIr to write down everything said by Boris on the paper, which the little golem would do, just as a golem would...

Kavene would be glad he could concentrate more on Boris, and save his hand and arm for the actual working with stone.

[Glanos]

Boris nodded at the first answer for its correctness. At the second answer, Boris chirped in. "While that has merit, we would need percussion tools against gems. At least, initially, to get past the rock on the surface of the gem. We shouldn't use percussion tools on the soft rock, as it has a way of ruining the whole thing." He nodded at the third answer.

Boris spoke up concerning Kavene's questions. "Well, Kavene, granite would be the strongest in that category. Because of it's tough structure, it is used almost exclusively in construction. I'm not much sure you can get better than that for your golems, unless of course ye find some magically imbued rock." He laughed. "As for the fumes and dust, always wear a mask of sorts. You can find buy nice leather ones, but a firm cloth around the mouth and some goggles for the eyes are good enough."

Boris walked outside and into the yard where the stone structures sat, waiting for use. He motioned for Kavene to follow. They stood at the granite stone that Kavene was to use. "Sometimes, stone crafters will make a model of what they want the stone to look like when they're done. This is extremely helpful in giving you an idea of how to start and finish well. These models can be anything from a clay model to a picture on a piece of paper." Boris reached down into a small toolkit on his side and pulled out a chisel.

"When you're ready to carve, the artist usually starts by taking off large portions or chunks of unwanted stone. The best way to do that is with this chisel I have here. It is a point chisel. You can see it is a long, hefty piece of steel with a point at one end and a broad striking surface at the other. A pitching tool may also be used at this early stage; which is a wedge-shaped chisel with a broad, flat edge. The pitching tool is useful for splitting the stone and removing large, unwanted chunks."

Boris grabbed another instrument from his toolkit. "The sculptor also selects a mallet, which is a hammer with a broad, barrel-shaped head. The artist places the point of the chisel or the edge of the pitching tool against a selected part of the stone, then swings the mallet at it with the strongest possible stroke. You must be careful to strike the end of the tool accurately; the smallest miscalculation can damage the sculptor’s hand.

When the mallet connects to the tool, energy is transferred along the tool, shattering the stone. Most sculptors work rhythmically, turning the tool with each blow so that the stone is removed quickly and evenly. This is the “roughing out” stage of the sculpting process."

Boris grabbed some safety equipment, such as goggles and a mask, and gave them to Kavene to use for the project. The tools that were mentioned were given as well, with strict instructions to not use them until he had been given permission.

"Now, first things first. Put your safety equipment on, and then, I want you to draw a diagram of how you want this to look. Write legibly for me to read." He said with a wink.

[Kavene Darklight]

Kavene made sure NotIr wrote down everything that boris had said. Kavene then picked up the pencil and took out a seperate peice of paper after putting on the goggles and mask.

He thought about what he should create, and decided that he might as well just do another katta, since that was what he was going to be making anyway.

He stood up over the table and began to draw. He would have prefered to work with clay, as that is what he did to create both Tork and NotIr... but he supposed adding another step of planning wouldn't hurt his golem crafting.

He started out with the tourso, drawing a trapazoid, with the top being slightly wider than the base of it. He then curved out the edges drawing over his sketch, and then drew four parrallel lines, representing the arms coming down from the edges of the top of the trapazoid. The pantheri then added circles at the bottom of both pairs of the lines to represent hands/paws.

He then drew 2 more pairs of parallel lines coming down from the narrower base of the trapazoid, representing the legs. Finally he added rectangles for the feet, a rectangle for the neck and a oval for the head, which had a flatter top.

This was the front view and it took up half of the piece of paper. Kavene then continued to add some details, slanted cat eyes, lines representing claws on the hands and feet, and he smoothed out some of the lines, making sure the shoulders conected with the arms and such.

After that he drew a profile view of the katta. This is where he added a bit more dimension to the feet, head, and torso. He made the head angular, extending a bit out from the oval, just as a cats would, just like his race would. He then drew out the feet, making them curved very much like his feet where.

A few more details were added to the face as well.

After finishing his two pictures he looked up at Boris, to see if he approved. He wanted to get started soon.

[Glanos]

Boris gave a slight laugh. The Katta was clearly not an artist, but the drawing was good enough for Boris to make with. He gave a slight nod to Kavene, indicating that the drawing was fine enough to get started on the project.

"Now that you have your safety equipment on, a working drawing and model, and some tools, I believe you're ready to start. I've given you many techniques that are needed, so don't feel bad if this doesn't come out exactly the way you wanted it to. Just keep your notes handy and try to remember as much as you can."

Boris gave Kavene the point chisel and the malet. "Time to clear away some major stone in order to form a figure. Do as I taught you and start clearing away the stone. I'll watch and add in pointers as I go. For now, clear away what would be the head portion of your stone." With that command, Boris moved aside so that Kavene could start with the project.

[Kavene Darklight]

ooc: Sry about putting this off for so long... got tied up with Mr. Thronp and another thing... that plus my limited time caused my neglect of NP. I hope you don't mind continuing!

ic:

Kavene first layed out his notes and drawings along the table, above were the tools were laid. He then took some chalk from the table and went over to his stone rectangle.

He was told to make the head first, and that is what the katta intended to do. The pantheri first made a line around the stone marking where the neck would reach the torso, then a bit above that line he made another one for where the head would approximetly meet the neck. These lines went all around the stone block.

The pantheri also drew on the sides of the block of what the head would look like. On the sides he drew the general shape of the profile view, and on the front he drew what the shape of the face would generally be like.

He then took up the point chisel and mallet. He wanted to get rid of the upper corners first. The ones at the front. He drew a dotted line from the widest parts of the drawings on the block from top to bottom, as well as diagonal from the tallest and shortest parts. A few inches from these lines, on the side away from the drawing he used the 30 degree angle to dig under the unwanted stone parts on both sides of each angle.

He hammered hard, then moved it up stuck the chisel at the angle and hammered again, until there was a deep crevis along the blocks edges. Next he took the chisel to a 90 degree angle nearer to the cornors of edges and began hammering. He hoped to knock loose the extra stone, leaving himself with a smaller block that he would carve the face out off.

Like so: Side view, Front view:
, __ , _______
,_I I , I__I I__I
,i I I , I__I I__I


OOc: If i was going to wreck the entire thing at anytime plz have boris stop mi lol

[Glanos]

Boris smiled. His young initate was doing just fine, and infact, doing better than most.

"You have experience with this sort of thing, Kavene? You're doing quite well. One point, though, you may hit the stone a bit harder than you are." He chuckled. "You certainly won't hurt it. Plus, you want to be able to finish it in a reasonable amount of time. When you're clearing the extra stone, you worry less about being precise that you would if you were doing actual sculpting."

Boris showed him a stronger stride, hoping to show Kavene to put his arms in a rhymatical format so that the stone was removed quickly and evenly. "You see, if you hit the chisel with the malet accurately and great strength, you won't have to worry about messing it up, nor will you tire from working so long on it."

Boris smiled and motioned for him to carry on. He wanted to let the lad take all the time he needed in order to practice.

ooc: No problem, man.

[Kavene Darklight]

Kavene nodded and took the humans word to heart. He once again took up the chalk, and then drew on the rock again, marking the edges of the head, as well as the details on the exposed area.

Once this was done he began to rhythmically chisel way the excess stone as he had before, using a 30 degree angle almost on the line, breaking off the excess stone. After he cleared the area, leaving blocks for the ears, and a block for the bottom part of the face.

He once again took out the chalk and traced more exact curves across the entire face. This would be for the shaping of the ears, the front of the face, and the bottom of it. He then chiseled off the courners, a bit above the line, once again using the 30 degree sequence, but only doing the 30 degree, since that was all he needed to remove the courners now.

Once this was done he looke around for an Abrasives tool, to smooth out the edges.