Sculpture

Inside Percy's shop, I get to see why he is not such a notable craftsman within the city. There are a lot of sculptures that are left unfinished littered in the shop, busts, full-sized sculptures, animal sculptures, and others that I can't make out what they are supposed to be.

"Now I know why you are in this situation, you never finish anything," I said to him

"What do you know, to create a piece one must be inspired to get a good result. Besides who are you to question my work?" he said as he deflected the issue

"I may not be aware of the workings of creating such a piece, but I do know that completing a piece as you call it, is the only way to do things." I have more to say, but just don't want to continue this argument with him.

"Enough of this, help me lay this slab on its platform, so I can start working on it immediately," he finally said.

Placing the slab where it is to be is a challenge because it is on a raised platform. Aligning the slab width-wise with the platform, I got the rope hooked at its top, pulling the ropes towards me and lifting the slab up. When I was done with it, I can feel my back asking at the stress it went through.

Percy starts to check the material to see if there are any points that need him to work around. Once the checkup is done it is time to align where the sculpture will sit, how big of a platform you will need to support its weight, and how tall the actual sculpture itself will be. He then proceeds to use a tool that he uses to outline what is to be done.

I watch as he does all this without giving me any hints on what it is he is doing, but I don't care, just being able to see the practical version. Observing all the processes, I found out that one of the most important parts of masonry is the porosity of the material being used. If it is porous on the outside, the carving cannot be made, and when porous on the inside it could affect the longevity of the work.

Once the outline was done Percy went on to shaving off the edges of the slab, meticulously adjusting for the depth of what the final work is to look like. That was the last part of the work to be done today, he said we would continue tomorrow.

"You can use these to try what you would on any of the slabs that are around," Percy said, throwing me a bag that has some tools in it.

"You have my thanks I should get some practice if you don't give me some guidance," I said as I catch the bag.

After he left, I decided to try on one of the materials. Checking the quality of the material came easy to me, as I am already used to interacting with my weapons and understanding their composition. My first thought for a carving is the liger I defeated before I left the forest, looking at it through my blind vision allowed me to get a very clear understanding of the animal, so I immediately went to work on the small slab.

The next day was some of the same things, shaving off the excess materials and getting closer to the outline. The next involved bringing out more of what was to be the final look, creating a rough shape also starts. Once the shape that is slightly bigger than what is desired is achieved, the detail carving will begin.

On my end, I follow Percy's process after every day of work. When we get to the detail part, I end up breaking a huge chunk out of the outline. The amount of force that needs to be applied from striking the chisel, to the positioning and angle of the chisel is extremely precise. Although I can do this precise movement with my weapon, it is not something I am familiar with using such a small tool.

Percy saw the mistake I made, which caused him to shake his head and say "too rushed". Though that was all he had to say, it allowed me to understand that I was trying to get out a bigger chunk of the excess material than I should have. The work continues with him getting into the details of the piece, starting with the face, then the limbs, and finally the clothes.

The piece came together as a man dressed in very fancy garb, 8ft tall, and a rather chubby man carrying a book in his left hand. It would seem that the contractor would probably be a member of the senate or a rich merchant. Those do not matter to me, I have my own work to finish, which I had to start again after that mistake.

The whole job has taken a month and a half, it has allowed me the opportunity to try all I can, failing twice at it. But now I am finally at the stage of getting the minor details into the work. What has kept me thinking is the fact that I have no reference for making the hairs on the liger. I had asked Percy about it and all he had to say was "your choice, you find out".

This took me over 15 days to get the hang of it, by simply chipping a little bit on the body in tight lines to make the hairs.

*ROAR*

This roar is all too familiar to me, once you hear it no matter how strong you are, fear comes over you. I jump and roll away as fast as I could to get some distance and prepare to fight 'Black'. I got into my best fighting form to make sure I don't make mistakes in this small space. Turning around there is nothing there, I look around to be sure, and still nothing.

Looking at the mini sculpture I made, I hear the roar again. I am confused is it the sculpture making that sound, moving closer to it, it snarls at me but remains motionless on the table. Touching it I can feel that it is still stone and the material composition has not changed.

I don't know where it came from, but a thought suddenly hit me … I can bring it to life if I want to.