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)
fandomhigh2022-07-07 03:40 am
special_rabbit) wrote in fandomhigh2022-07-07 03:40 am
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Blacksmith Basics: Armor Edition; Thursday, Second Period [07/07].
"Morning, everyone," said Amaya, nodding to the class as they gathered in the shop and half-wondering if she was going to start having to move things over to the danger shop, just to have enough resources for everyone to work, but she was still a staunch believer that this was clearly preferable and, besides, she still didn't know how that would work out when the whole point was to have something solid and concrete to take with you at the end of class and if everything in the danger shop was just holographic...
...she was definitely trying not to think about it too much, because ow.
"And welcome to Blacksmith Basics: Armor Edition! Now, if you haven't taken any other editions of Blacksmith Basics before, don't worry, it's still a fundamentally beginners course, so you won't be left behind in the weeds. And for those of you who have taken one of my Basics courses before, welcome back, and use the opportunity to hone your skills more when we go over things you've already learned. If there's anything about blacksmithing to remember, it's that it's a skill, and, with very few exceptions, you'll only get better through practice and refining, anyway. So, let's get started.
"Now, clearly," she continued, "we're not going to be able to pull out a full suit of armor or anything like that in just seven days' worth of work. We'll be lucky to get even one solid piece out of that chunk of time, and so that's what we're going to focus on. Today's going to be part brainstorming and ideas, and part getting a feel for how to work with the metal and some basic techniques that'll be useful. Should work out pretty well, we've got two anvils, so while two of you are working on the actual smithing, the others can watch and learn or go over thoughts on what you'd like be working on: a piece of platemail, a grieve, helmet, shield, mask...any other thing that's meant to be made of metal and to protect.
"And speaking of protect," Amaya added, with a timely tug of her gloves, "personal protection is a requirement whenever you're working with the steel. I haven't had to take anyone to the clinic yet in any of my classes, and I'm not about to start now."
So with that said and her own protective gear in place, she got back to it. "No matter what you wind up making," she said, "you're going to be making it from this." She hefted up a block of steel. "Which, as you can tell, has a long to go before it's a piece of armor, and that's where the most basic aspects of blacksmithing...heating and hammering....will come into play." With that, she picked the block up with a set of tongs to shove into the forge, where several similar blocks were already heading up, and she pulled one of those out. "Heating is very important, because without heat, there's no smithing. The heat is what makes the metal maleable and able to form. And when you're flattening out oa piece like this, you want to work quick, because the more heat you lose, the less maleability. And I'm using a slightly flatter hammer than I would be using for a bladed piece, and basically? You're just going to be hammering down on it, in a technique known as spreading. Only instead of just spreading a certain part of a blade, we're doing a whole block."
With that, then, she demonstrated, her voice lifting up over the short and steady and precise hits on the block of steel to detail some of the finer points of what she was doing, why, and how it was effecting the metal, turning it carefully as she worked, too, so that, before too long, the block of steel had become the beginning of a much flatter, rounder piece, and she held it up to show them.
"Now this definitely takes practice," she informed them. "It takes some doing, and it might take some getting use to. It's also one of those things where I could talk about it all day, and you still wouldn't learn half as much about it as you would by just getting in there and feeling it for yourself. So today, we're just going to feel it out a bit. Get yourself familiar with the idea of hammering out some good, flat metal, while getting some ideas for what to do with that metal.
"Any questions? I'd like to go ahead and get the new people started on the anvil first, since those of you in the first session have a bit more of an idea of what we're working with here, and we'll go from there."
...she was definitely trying not to think about it too much, because ow.
"And welcome to Blacksmith Basics: Armor Edition! Now, if you haven't taken any other editions of Blacksmith Basics before, don't worry, it's still a fundamentally beginners course, so you won't be left behind in the weeds. And for those of you who have taken one of my Basics courses before, welcome back, and use the opportunity to hone your skills more when we go over things you've already learned. If there's anything about blacksmithing to remember, it's that it's a skill, and, with very few exceptions, you'll only get better through practice and refining, anyway. So, let's get started.
"Now, clearly," she continued, "we're not going to be able to pull out a full suit of armor or anything like that in just seven days' worth of work. We'll be lucky to get even one solid piece out of that chunk of time, and so that's what we're going to focus on. Today's going to be part brainstorming and ideas, and part getting a feel for how to work with the metal and some basic techniques that'll be useful. Should work out pretty well, we've got two anvils, so while two of you are working on the actual smithing, the others can watch and learn or go over thoughts on what you'd like be working on: a piece of platemail, a grieve, helmet, shield, mask...any other thing that's meant to be made of metal and to protect.
"And speaking of protect," Amaya added, with a timely tug of her gloves, "personal protection is a requirement whenever you're working with the steel. I haven't had to take anyone to the clinic yet in any of my classes, and I'm not about to start now."
So with that said and her own protective gear in place, she got back to it. "No matter what you wind up making," she said, "you're going to be making it from this." She hefted up a block of steel. "Which, as you can tell, has a long to go before it's a piece of armor, and that's where the most basic aspects of blacksmithing...heating and hammering....will come into play." With that, she picked the block up with a set of tongs to shove into the forge, where several similar blocks were already heading up, and she pulled one of those out. "Heating is very important, because without heat, there's no smithing. The heat is what makes the metal maleable and able to form. And when you're flattening out oa piece like this, you want to work quick, because the more heat you lose, the less maleability. And I'm using a slightly flatter hammer than I would be using for a bladed piece, and basically? You're just going to be hammering down on it, in a technique known as spreading. Only instead of just spreading a certain part of a blade, we're doing a whole block."
With that, then, she demonstrated, her voice lifting up over the short and steady and precise hits on the block of steel to detail some of the finer points of what she was doing, why, and how it was effecting the metal, turning it carefully as she worked, too, so that, before too long, the block of steel had become the beginning of a much flatter, rounder piece, and she held it up to show them.
"Now this definitely takes practice," she informed them. "It takes some doing, and it might take some getting use to. It's also one of those things where I could talk about it all day, and you still wouldn't learn half as much about it as you would by just getting in there and feeling it for yourself. So today, we're just going to feel it out a bit. Get yourself familiar with the idea of hammering out some good, flat metal, while getting some ideas for what to do with that metal.
"Any questions? I'd like to go ahead and get the new people started on the anvil first, since those of you in the first session have a bit more of an idea of what we're working with here, and we'll go from there."
Re: Class Activity: Brainstorming! - Blacksmith Basics, 07/07.
Strangely!
"But for now, it is a bit up to the metal, isn't it?" she reasoned, considering her sketches again. "I might well fall in love with the idea of making myself a charming little breastplate here and the metal'll be contrary and say it wants to be a helmet, instead. Or a bracer, or something I've not even thought of."
The idea of just one bracer was sort of fashionable, now that she was thinking about it.
Re: Class Activity: Brainstorming! - Blacksmith Basics, 07/07.
Re: Class Activity: Brainstorming! - Blacksmith Basics, 07/07.
And look at that, an admission that she might have found this all a bit more difficult and intimidating, once upon a time (nine or so weeks ago.)
Re: Class Activity: Brainstorming! - Blacksmith Basics, 07/07.
"And it's hard to picture you intimidated by much, Irene."
Ahhh, zards, Amaya should have known better to take on that broad comment a few beats back there, now they were going into a thing, a whole complimenting thing, and that was potentially worse than an extra time thing...
Re: Class Activity: Brainstorming! - Blacksmith Basics, 07/07.
"You might be surprised by what I find intimidating." Especially given that talented, occasionally-confusing women with pretty eyes were crowning the list these days. Or, at least, the prospect of impressing such a person. (Other things that intimidated Irene: clever men, big romantic feelings, and pretty much every wild animal except squirrels.) "But thank you for saying I'm talented. I think it's mostly just -- perseverance."
Re: Class Activity: Brainstorming! - Blacksmith Basics, 07/07.
"And there's no one," Amaya noted, leaning a bit heavier on the dryness than she might have otherwise, "who'd go around claiming you haven't got that in spades..."
Re: Class Activity: Brainstorming! - Blacksmith Basics, 07/07.
"But I find, generally, that the longer I work at something, the more rewarding the end result," she added, giving Amaya the gift of studying her sketch rather than holding intense, uncomfortable eye contact like she so favored doing. "I mean, I spent seven weeks on a knife that I absolutely adore, for example."
And that was all she was alluding to, of course.