Architecture (Friday, 8:30-9:30 PM)

[Nenya Evenstar]

Kilease and Falim stood outside in the open, practically smelling the wind. It was filled with the scent of a wonderful evening and seemed to refresh their minds. They were both amazed, for the wind did not usually affect their Dwarvish senses.

Kilease turned towards Falim and hefted a heavy axe in one hand in a teasing gesture as though she was going to hit Falim on the head. Falim ducked the blow, and Kilease laughed a loud, carefree laugh.

"I'm ready to teach any little vagabonds that may come my way. Aren't you?" Kilease said jovially.

"Yes!" Falim replied.

"We will teach them how to build, how to hammer, how to bang, bang, bang!" Kilease said quickly. Her excitement was building up, and she was having a hard time containing it.


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OOC:

This is the Architecture Class. Join if you so desire. I believe that I will be primarily teaching this class (if I'm wrong, Dain, just let me know). :)

[Aulë]

Chokang bounded into the room, in a some what more cheerful mood than he had been the day before.
"Hello my diminutive chums," he grinned, "It appears that I am the first to arrive."
He spotted a pile of wooden planks behind Kilease, all ready to be transformed into works of beauty and desire.
"Hmm, I hope you haven't been trekking through Fangorn Forest to build up you wood supply," he joked to Falim (Dain?) and Kilease, "I hear that Ents don't take too well to axes."

[The_Swordmaster]

Grandlyon walked in the classroom with a energenic look on his face. Then he saw Kilease and remembered not to any stupid. So the dwarf quickly sat down at his seat and waited for the others.

[Nenya Evenstar]

"Welcome, welcome!" Kilease beamed. "I'm glad to see you both in such good spirits! Trecking through Fangorn Forest . . . . " Kilease threw back her head and laughed. "No THAT would be funny!" Kilease, for once, shared a chuckle with Chokang before she continued. "Now tell me, what do you both know? I know you're dwarves and that it would be an insult to your intelligence to start with the basics. I'm sure you know how to do SOME building? At least I hope you do?" Kilease grinned.

[The_Swordmaster]

"I have the most experience carving and shaping stone and rock. Chokang seems to be the better of the two with an anvil. I don't belive that either of us is very good at wood working."

Grandlyon said out loud to Kilease.

[Nenya Evenstar]

"Hmmm . . . hmmm . . . well . . ." Kilease said in a stumbling fashion, "I don't know how much that is going to help either of you since this class is to teach you how to actually build things. But at any rate, let us begin!"

Kilease picked up a stone hammer and a few metal nails. Walking over to the pile of boards behind Chokang, she knelt down and proceeded to pick out four planks. "We are going to start today by learning how to build a plain, simple wooden door."

Chokang and Grandlyon nodded and picked up their tools.

Kilease showed the two dwarves how to cut the planks into four lengths, two longer than the others, how to fit the planks together, and how to nail them in place. Then, she showed them how to finish the frame. Soon she announced, "Here, gentlemen, is a door frame! Now, let us make the actual door!"

Kilease selected a large, flat board from the pile of wood. She showed Grandlyon and Chokang how to cut it according to the measurements she had used on the frame, and then how she could carve it with beautiful designs. When all was finished, she put it into the frame. It fit perfectly.

"That is how you make a door!" Kilease said proudly. "Now all we need is some hinges . . . made in the smithies of course . . . and a door nob. Then we are finished!" She grinned. "But now, instead of wasting time on finding hinges, I would like you both to make your own doors without my help. I'd like you to carve the door itself so that it's not ugly and plain. Make them wonderful!" Kilease practically hopped.


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OOC: In your next post, explain the process of making your door, and the adventures you have while building. Try to make it interesting, and feel free to have your character make mistakes.

[Aulë]

Chokang walked up to the pile of wood and picked up four wooden planks, two of them being about 6 feet long, and the other two being about 3.5 feet. He inspected the planks carefully; before noticing that one of them had a rather large know half way down.

"Hmmm, this won't do at all," he muttered to himself, before swapping it with another. The grain on each plank of wood followed the length of the plank evenly, with no blemishes at all.

Chokang walked up to a workbench, and placed the planks roughly into a rectangular shape. He then walked to the front of the room, and picked out a piece of fine black sandpaper. The paper was rough enough to smoothen out any minor imperfections in the wood, but not course enough to scratch surface.

After thoroughly giving the wood a good sanding, Chokang picked out a pencil and ruler, and marked out the inside corners for each piece of wood so that they would fit snugly together when they were assembled. It took eight goes until he finally got an exact 45 degree line across the corners, much to Chokang's disgust. Several pencils lay on the floor, snapped in half because of it. Chokang then selected a long, sturdy handsaw that had been recently sharpened, and started sawing the wood along the pencil marks. The Dwarf found the sound of the saw to be quite soothing, and almost drifted off the line as he began to doze off. Luckily, Kilease dropped a hammer that she had been fumbling with, and snapped Chokang out of his daze.

Once all four pieces had been cut, Chokang set to the fresh surface with a rough piece of sandpaper to remove the splinters, and then with the fine sandpaper to smooth it out.
Chokang then arranged the planks into a rectangle, with the corners fitting together perfectly, before dabbing some wood-glue between each corner. He then tightened a few clamps around the frame to hold it in place.

As he waited for the glue to set, Chokang walked up to the front of the room again, and selected a nice, thick board to be used as the door face. A couple of knots were in the middle of it, but Chokang knew that they would give the door a bit of personality rather than hinder its design. He proceeded to drag the board over to his bench, and leaned it against a nearby wall.
Now that the glue had set, Chokang pulled out a claw hammer and several inch long nails and reinforced the joints by carefully knocking the nails into place, narrowly missing his stubby fingers on several occasions.

"Now that's a strong frame," Chokang beamed, "Not even the legendary Bombur could break it with his great girth!"

The Dwarf then took the frame off the bench and placed it carefully on the ground, making note that Kilease acknowledged it's presence so that she would trip over, and destroy his work.
He then lifted the board onto his workbench with great difficulty; any lesser being would have required the help of another.
Chokang then selected a series of chisels and stamps, and placed them next to the board, before searching out a medium sized plane and a large wood-saw. He measured out the dimensions of the frame, and cut the board accordingly.

Over the next hour, Chokang carved out a masterful image into the door-face, resembling the great Doors of Durin made by Narvi and Celebrimbor in the Second Age of Middle Earth. An arch of Elvish letters scrolled across the top of the board, above an image of a hammer and anvil surmounted by a crown with seven stars; on either side, a great holly tree bearing a crescent moon stood. The dominant feature though, was a single star with many rays, and Chokang made sure that it was chiseled the deepest.

After a quick sanding off, Chokang marveled at his work, and a tear came to his eye as he remembered the great tales of his ancestors in Kazad-dûm.

He then foraged out a container of lacquer, which he evenly coated over both the frame and the face, and he sat down and waited for the coat to dry.

As he looked out of the window, he saw a squirrel bound through the trees, causing the Dwarf to jump up with a jolt as if the forces of Mordor were advancing on the room itself. Unfortunately, in the process, Chokang knocked over the lacquer container, spilling it everywhere, and only just missing his door. On the other side of the room, Kilease and Grandlyon burst into laughter at Chokang’s clumsiness, all whilst he grumbled about how much he hated squirrels. The embarrassed Dwarf then searched out a mop, and started wiping the soiled floor.

After a few minutes, the mess was cleaned up, and the door was dry and ready to be assembled. Chokang removed the clamps from the frame, and carefully placed the board into it, ready to have hinges screwed into it.
He then walked up to Kilease, looking quite exhausted after the hard labor.

"How is it, Kilease?" he asked, "All it needs now is the hinges and knob, and it should be ready to use."

[Nenya Evenstar]

Kilease nodded thoughtfully. "Now THAT is a door! Wonderful job, Chokang!" She beamed for a bit, her smile reaching from ear to ear.

After admiring the handywork of Chokang, Kilease was called away to witness her other student's doors. She enjoyed them all, but in too short of time realized that the class needed let out. She sighed, bade her students good day, and ushered them out of the class.

It would be her last class with Chokang, the squirrel hater.


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OOC: Nice post! :D I have one question though . . . at the beginning you say your wooden planks are 6 and 3.5 inches long. Isn't that a rather small door?

Everyone else, post your door building when you can. :)

[Aulë]

OOC: Woops, should have been in 'feet'. That's what I get for trying to convert to imperial measurement.... I'll edit it.
Hmmm, I've now got 6 days to come up with a new character....Fun fun fun! :D