Ridley returns with my delivery dutifully and without much fuss. She brought in a good haul, most of them were idealistic tea-roses. Still, I only took two and gave the rest to her. I picked a second in case I somehow ruin the first. I will be coating both of them with the first layers of clear lacquer to initially seal them. From there I will only take one to completion.
For a task like this though I need to get comfortable before I can start working. Work such as this does not require much in the way of 'working' clothes, I can wear just about whatever I want. I have a particular apron I enjoy wearing when I make most things by hand. My late-wife bought it for me a couple of years ago and its one of the only things I kept from my previous life. Its a rather simple leather apron, cured and treated well enough to withstand hot coals on it for a short time if need be. It is stained thoroughly, I usually wipe my tools off on it as I am polishing or grinding a metal or stone or something to that effect. I remove my suit-jacket, wearing only a simple undershirt as I take to draping the apron over my neck and tie it secure behind my back.
My first task though is to clean the roses of any dust they may have accumulated from their trip. I prefer to use effervescent water that has been chilled with ice shards to a glacially cold temperature. The gas trapped in the water helps disturb any dirt and dust that may be wanting to stubbornly stay on the stem or trapped in the delicate felt like surface of the petals. I get the brushed steel vat I have my effervescent water in and remove the ice shard from it that was keeping it chilled. I wrap a tiny wire loosely around the hip of the rose to let me fish it out from the water without touching it and dip it into the water. After letting it rest in the water for a moment I take to knocking the sides of the steel vat with light rapid strikes to agitate the gases, releasing them and letting them bubble up to clean the surface of my rose. After a few minutes of this I gently pull the rose from the water, setting it on a small rose wood rack to let it airdry as I repeat this process with the second rose.
After I finish cleaning the second rose, the first is dry and ready to be sealed with an initial coat. For small delicate work like this I need to pour some lacquer onto a sheet of wax paper first to work into an evenly thin consistency. I use a small joint knife to run across the lacquer, repeating this motion dozens of times as I spread it in a line across the paper to loosen it and make it ready for application. I had Ridley bring me fresh paint brushes, I prefer to stick to flat brushes for my current task. Narrow and only a few hairs wide, it will take a minimum of two bells to fully coat both roses with the initial clear coat layer to seal the flower and preserve it.
I take off my currently spectacles and use my jeweler's loupe to thoroughly assess the rose, ensuring cleanliness. After I inspect it and confirm it ready for preservation I take off my current spectacles and put on the glasses with various magnifiers on them I can slide into place and start to finally get into the thick of the actual work. Extremely small, measured, and tiny brush strokes are how I apply the lacquer. I am constantly cycling through the various lenses on the magnifiers, paying close attention to keeping the brush strokes as smooth and even as possible. I am aiming to having the coat be as smooth as glass, with no visible striations. The work is performed at a snail's pace, deliberate as I work my way up the stem, covering the leaves and hip and finally the rose petals.
I made sure to leave the tip of the stem uncovered, where the rose was freed from its host bush. I insert a wire made from silver into the stem to give myself a handle to hold the rose. This ensures I don't touch the surface of the coating as it starts its curing process, it reacting to the air to change chemically. I welcome the chance to stand up from my desk. I've been hunched over it working on this and my eyes could use a rest from being behind constantly changing magnifying lenses. I take the rose by its wire and carry it over to the furrole, the cabinet that lets me add artificial humidity I have on loan from the Carpenter's Guild. Lacquer needs damp air to fully complete its curing process, around 80% relative humidity to finalize the process. I suspend the rose from a rack inside the cabinet by its wire. At the base of the cabinet I have already set up my array of fire shards behind rose-quartz panels to shine a faint light upward into the box to help keep the temperature just warm enough.
Now that I have all of that prep-work out of the way for the first rose, I take the time to stretch and loosen up before working on the second rose. I'm feeling hungry though, I should have one of the girls fetch me a bite to eat.
(to be continued...)
For a task like this though I need to get comfortable before I can start working. Work such as this does not require much in the way of 'working' clothes, I can wear just about whatever I want. I have a particular apron I enjoy wearing when I make most things by hand. My late-wife bought it for me a couple of years ago and its one of the only things I kept from my previous life. Its a rather simple leather apron, cured and treated well enough to withstand hot coals on it for a short time if need be. It is stained thoroughly, I usually wipe my tools off on it as I am polishing or grinding a metal or stone or something to that effect. I remove my suit-jacket, wearing only a simple undershirt as I take to draping the apron over my neck and tie it secure behind my back.
My first task though is to clean the roses of any dust they may have accumulated from their trip. I prefer to use effervescent water that has been chilled with ice shards to a glacially cold temperature. The gas trapped in the water helps disturb any dirt and dust that may be wanting to stubbornly stay on the stem or trapped in the delicate felt like surface of the petals. I get the brushed steel vat I have my effervescent water in and remove the ice shard from it that was keeping it chilled. I wrap a tiny wire loosely around the hip of the rose to let me fish it out from the water without touching it and dip it into the water. After letting it rest in the water for a moment I take to knocking the sides of the steel vat with light rapid strikes to agitate the gases, releasing them and letting them bubble up to clean the surface of my rose. After a few minutes of this I gently pull the rose from the water, setting it on a small rose wood rack to let it airdry as I repeat this process with the second rose.
After I finish cleaning the second rose, the first is dry and ready to be sealed with an initial coat. For small delicate work like this I need to pour some lacquer onto a sheet of wax paper first to work into an evenly thin consistency. I use a small joint knife to run across the lacquer, repeating this motion dozens of times as I spread it in a line across the paper to loosen it and make it ready for application. I had Ridley bring me fresh paint brushes, I prefer to stick to flat brushes for my current task. Narrow and only a few hairs wide, it will take a minimum of two bells to fully coat both roses with the initial clear coat layer to seal the flower and preserve it.
I take off my currently spectacles and use my jeweler's loupe to thoroughly assess the rose, ensuring cleanliness. After I inspect it and confirm it ready for preservation I take off my current spectacles and put on the glasses with various magnifiers on them I can slide into place and start to finally get into the thick of the actual work. Extremely small, measured, and tiny brush strokes are how I apply the lacquer. I am constantly cycling through the various lenses on the magnifiers, paying close attention to keeping the brush strokes as smooth and even as possible. I am aiming to having the coat be as smooth as glass, with no visible striations. The work is performed at a snail's pace, deliberate as I work my way up the stem, covering the leaves and hip and finally the rose petals.
I made sure to leave the tip of the stem uncovered, where the rose was freed from its host bush. I insert a wire made from silver into the stem to give myself a handle to hold the rose. This ensures I don't touch the surface of the coating as it starts its curing process, it reacting to the air to change chemically. I welcome the chance to stand up from my desk. I've been hunched over it working on this and my eyes could use a rest from being behind constantly changing magnifying lenses. I take the rose by its wire and carry it over to the furrole, the cabinet that lets me add artificial humidity I have on loan from the Carpenter's Guild. Lacquer needs damp air to fully complete its curing process, around 80% relative humidity to finalize the process. I suspend the rose from a rack inside the cabinet by its wire. At the base of the cabinet I have already set up my array of fire shards behind rose-quartz panels to shine a faint light upward into the box to help keep the temperature just warm enough.
Now that I have all of that prep-work out of the way for the first rose, I take the time to stretch and loosen up before working on the second rose. I'm feeling hungry though, I should have one of the girls fetch me a bite to eat.
(to be continued...)
