Glassblowing (2)

Watching the large pile of sand gradually melt into a molten puddle of glass at the bottom of the crucible inside of the furnace was a rather fun experience, since the transformation from solid to liquid was always fascinating to watch, even if I knew it was about to happen.

When I believed it to be molten enough, I pulled the crucible out of the furnace and slid in the long, metal blowpipe into the molten glass, twirling it around and gathering the gradually cooling glass around the edge of the blowpipe to form a bubble that I would begin to shape via my breath.

Pulling it free and spinning it around a few times, I brought the other edge to my lips and wrapped them round it, allowing me to exhale into the pipe and begin expanding the bubble into a sphere that I could truly begin working with.

Continuing to breathe into the sphere, I slowly spun the pipe and shaped the sphere into what I wanted the wine bottle to be, resting the glass on a smooth, clean metal surface that resembled an anvil except that it was much wider than normal.

The purpose of rotating the glass on the metal surface was to maintain the shape I wanted, each breath blown into the sphere causing it to expand while the rotation kept it from expanding where I didn't want it to, which was harder to do than I thought.

Shaping the glass and keeping it in the shape I wanted was pretty difficult, but I got the hang of it quickly enough as I continued to do everything I could with this current batch of glass, inflating the sphere even more and maintaining its decently even shape, before I tilted it and began to blow gently as I flattened the bottom of the bottle and widened its base even more.

When I was finished, I used one hand to keep the blowpipe standing upright - and by extension, the bottle too - before staring at the cooling glass for a few seconds, realizing that I was making this more difficult than it needed to be.

Why did I need to shape it in the traditional method that I had in my mind thanks to the skills I had when I could instead shape it using magic?

If I imbued my breath with mana and blew it into the glass, couldn't I control the mana to control the shape that I was creating?

And if I could do that, I could make this really, really easy to do, especially for the more complicated shapes and the more unique bottle types, so... this definitely required more testing, but for now I used my mana to cut through the glass as I gently lifted the blowpipe free, creating the neck of the bottle and keeping it relatively straight.

With the bottle now on its lonesome, I wrapped it in mana and began to make the minute changes I needed before carefully lifting it into the air with my magic and transporting it into the kiln, allowing it to cool down very slowly and without any chance of it cracking or shattering.

I decided I wanted to give myself a moment to go over some things mentally with this new idea of mine, so I waited for this first bottle to finish up so that I could also check what its recipe would be like once I could craft it through the system instead of actually making it myself in the real world.

That didn't take long, and I got to make some executive decisions regarding some of the bottles and how I wanted to treat them, specifically the coloration I wanted to take; some bottles would do best remaining clear, like Rhefia's brandy or Sari's fiery red wine, but others would benefit from having that colored glass instead, and the one I was thinking of was Heila's and Aethisia's, making them green and blue respectively.

That would give the bottles some unique charm to match their flavors, and while Heila's would be in less personalized bottles, having it contrast Rhefia's was a good idea, and with Aethisia's I wanted to lean into the electric flavoring that she had going on with the wine, so I wanted the bottle to be blue and the labeling to be yellow or gold.

I also needed to craft some stamps for the bottles still, both wax stamps and metal glass pressing stamps, since I didn't think I could make those shapes with my mana confidently enough, and besides, having the stamps made physically meant I could start using them on other things too, like their new weapons when I got around to that next.

Everyone gets something unique going forwards to mark out their own gear, tools, clothes and more that I made via my system, and it would do well to make everyone feel a bit more special whenever they went out into the world to have their own 'crest' of sorts.

There's an idea... I could make signet rings or medallions for everyone to wear at all times, something to make them stand out all the more if that was what they wanted or desired.

Anyways, getting back to the present, I pulled the bottle from the kiln and pursed my lips as I stared at it, wondering if that was what I wanted... or if it would have any uses as a personalized recipe.

It was a bit wider on the bottom, almost perfectly spherical and as large as my head, while the gradual neck of the bottle was quite tall and a bit thick compared to normal bottles... maybe if I sold something cheap in this it wouldn't be that bad..?

A cheap, harder drink to justify the quantity I could fit inside of it, perhaps..?

Setting it to the side for now, I got started on the next batch, this time preparing myself to utilize my mana to shape it exactly how I wanted and make it perfect for my needs, pouring the next batch of sand into the crucible and waiting for it to melt.