Amaya Blackstone (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
special_rabbit) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2019-10-01 07:54 am
special_rabbit) wrote in fandomhigh2019-10-01 07:54 am
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Shop Class; Tuesday, First Period [10/01].
"Morning, everyone," said Amaya, grinning faintly as she greeted them all with a nod. "We're going to be taking a temporary depature from all the metal work this week, and we're going to get back to wood. Back to some really basic stuff, too, you could argue, because the only tool we'll be using in class today is going to be a good old standard whittling knife. Because today we're doing wood carving. Whittling, actually, to be specific, which just means it's carving done by hand.
"Now, taking a knife to a piece of wood might not necessarily seems as exciting as melting down or shaping molten metal, but you might find it's a bit more involved than it might at first seem. And the knives we'll be using are sharp, so make sure you've got some safety gloves on and that you're minding all the basics, the most important of which is to not rush and to pay attention! I've got a good track record of no one losing any fingers in my classes," not even Beaker!, "and I'd rather like to keep it that way.
"Everyone come in close now so that I can show you some of the basic whittling cuts that should make it easier for you to carve out something that hopefully resembles what you're going for." And she did just that, going over the different approaches in detail, talking about wood grain and everything in there, too, and then showing the students how to employ those methods to do what you want it to, with the example of carving out a quick owl.
"Most importantly," she added, once she really felt she'd covered most of the basics, "we're not just whittling something out for the heck of it; what you work on today is actually going to be used next week, so to make things easier for you in the future, I recommend you don't try to whittle out something too complex. Keep it simple, but interesting, and not too many fine details, since those won't do you much good coming up. I've got a few project guides if you'd like a little inspiration, but definitely feel free to get creative as well and try something on your own. If you can't quite get it right, we'll see what needs doing to get it there. We've got plenty of time and plenty of wood, too, so don't hesitate to give a few things a try. Any questions?"
"Now, taking a knife to a piece of wood might not necessarily seems as exciting as melting down or shaping molten metal, but you might find it's a bit more involved than it might at first seem. And the knives we'll be using are sharp, so make sure you've got some safety gloves on and that you're minding all the basics, the most important of which is to not rush and to pay attention! I've got a good track record of no one losing any fingers in my classes," not even Beaker!, "and I'd rather like to keep it that way.
"Everyone come in close now so that I can show you some of the basic whittling cuts that should make it easier for you to carve out something that hopefully resembles what you're going for." And she did just that, going over the different approaches in detail, talking about wood grain and everything in there, too, and then showing the students how to employ those methods to do what you want it to, with the example of carving out a quick owl.
"Most importantly," she added, once she really felt she'd covered most of the basics, "we're not just whittling something out for the heck of it; what you work on today is actually going to be used next week, so to make things easier for you in the future, I recommend you don't try to whittle out something too complex. Keep it simple, but interesting, and not too many fine details, since those won't do you much good coming up. I've got a few project guides if you'd like a little inspiration, but definitely feel free to get creative as well and try something on your own. If you can't quite get it right, we'll see what needs doing to get it there. We've got plenty of time and plenty of wood, too, so don't hesitate to give a few things a try. Any questions?"