Weyrling Barracks> Lorsalia lays one of the strips onto the solid floor of the barracks and puts the awl on it, point down. A chirrup sound from Yajisarath receives a giggle from the girl and she repeats the question to the others. "Jisa wants to know why we don't just sew the straps onto her hide. She says it doesn't look like it hurts..yet. And it'd be easier than making the straps and then putting them on." Lorsalia giggles again, turning to gives the svelte green an affectionate pat before tapping the awl through. It takes a bit more concentration than she thought and the girl ends up biting the tip of the tongue while forcing the awl through.

Weyrling Barracks> R'sli nods. "Aye, you do, Reiko, but the average strip is a little more than twelve knuckles long, so ten is about as good a number as any. And you'll want to make stitches along the ends, so that you can sew them end-to-end to make your straps." Lorsalia's question, and shakes his head. "Because, Yajisarath," he says, addressing the true petitioner, "You'd continue to grow, but the straps wouldn't. It wouldn't do to be uncomfortable, would it?"

/Something/, had woken Mneoth, and he in turn had called on Khena to wake and they both come out of their couch, the weyrling rubbing sleep out of her eyes, while trying to pull a tunic on at the same time. "Morning," she mutters, nodding to the others gathered in the in the barracks. "What're you doing?"

Reiko scowls a little, trying to make sense of everything, then shrugs. "Oh." Better not to argue. The lesson will go more quickly. And it's really Lorsalia's lesson anyway. She half opens her eyes to regard Khena evenly. "Morning," she echoes. "R'sli is teaching us how to make straps."

Lorsalia nods, punching more holes into the strip, each time surprising herself by biting down hard on her tongue. Holding it still, her speech is rather distorted. "Eethideth Ithzarath, i' 'll hur' reelly bat." The rider takes a break, waiting for the slight pain to cease. "And that's my tongue. Think of punching holes in your hide." She shivers at the thought, echoing the green's sentiment. "What do I do when the strips are all sewn together?"

"After you finish making the holes in the leather," R'sli notes with a wink to Lorsalia and a nod for Khena, "Come on and join us, Khena. Have you had this lesson before?"

"Oh," Khena mumbles, glancing at the work done by the others, then at Mneoth, her eyes measuring the height and width of the dragon. "Yes, Mneo.... You have to wear 'em," she says, a slight grin forming on her face. Shaking her head at R'sli, she joins the others, shrugging, "can't be all that hard, though, can it?"

Reiko still hasn't roused herself to lift either awl or needle, merely watching Lorsalia's attempts through half-lidded eyes. "Just time-consuming," she remarks dryly, remembering her own attempts from the previous day. At a comment from her lifemate, she looks over at Ris, actually getting her eyes open to address him. "Cerdith wants his straps to match his hide," she informs the Weyrlingmaster. She doesn't mind waiting for the dyeing lesson, but she'd just as soon not stitch any more 'practice' straps at this point.

R'sli nods. "After you finish making the holes in the leather," he continues, "You'll take the leather needle, and thread it like you would with cotton thread, only using the leather strips instead, and sew them three deep."

Lorsalia smirks at Khena. "That's what you think." She mutters beneath her breath, going back to punching holes up one side of a long strip. More loudly, she says for the brownrider's sake. "You gotta find the right type of wherhide, then gotta make sure it's the right size and not gone bad and then you gotta punch tons of ltittle holes in before you can sew 'em together. And R'sli hasn't even told me about the dying parts yet." That gets a jerky nod and she grins at Reiko. "Me and Yajsiarath want ours to be bright pink, like my hair." Lorsalia adds, shoving a part-finished strip away to begin punching matching holes in antoher strip. "Is the thread supposed to be pulled tight or kind of loose?"

"Well, where's the wherhide?" Khena asks, eyes narrowing as she looks at Lors for a long moment, before turning her gaze to R'sli, an eyebrow lifted in a questioning expression. Looking back over her shoulder for a moment, she grins as her lifemate informs her of his preferences. "Mneoth says there's no point in dying something he'll grow out of soon enough..."

R'sli laughs, and holds up his hands. "All right, all right," he says, and stands up. "So, you want to know how to color the leather, do you? Well, I think more than a couple of you are familiar with the dye buckets over there." He crosses, and drags one forward. "The first thing you want to --the wherhide is here in this box, Khena. Pick out good supple pieces about a half-knuckle in thickness--the first thing you want to do is fill these tubs with cold water, and add the dye. Please use one color per tub." That said, he begins using the scrub bucket to dip water and fill the tub from the pool. "And how many sticks you use determines how dark a color is, so I'll just use two for right now." And two blue dye sticks are dropped in the water. "And you'll stir that around for a fair bit of time, until you can no longer feel those sticks against the paddle."

Lorsalia braces against the floor with her hands and pushes herself along the floor towards the tub. Too lazy to actually get up and walk, she is. After a slide or two, she has trouble going further and ends up standing afterall. "Can you join blue and green to make a teal color?" She asks, even though the Red Star would be disappeared before she and Yajisarath would choose a color other than bright, flamingo pink for their straps.

Reiko pushes herself out of her chair, still rubbing sleepstuck eyes, more from the nonverbal draconic encouragement than from any actual interest on her part. Reaching the others, she squints into the bucket R'sli is stirring. At least he chose blue. But she's thinking. "I thought the intensity had something to do with how long you soaked the leather in the dye?" Now who had said that? Or maybe she's imagining things.

Rummaging through the box with wherhide strips, Khena keeps half an ear on R'sli's intructions on dying. "Yes, I'll be sure to find the good piece, Mneoth," she mutters, as her dragon repeats the weyrlingmaster's suggestions. Looking back at the brown, she sighs shaking her head. Lot's of work would be involved making his first set of straps. Returning to her seat, arms full of wherhide, Necha peers around at the others' work, trying to make out what they'd done. "So what do I do now?"

R'sli shrugs as he stirs. "It's really a combination of both," he admits. "If I were to use only one blue stick, it would be a darker shade of blue the longer I left it, but not the same color blue as two offer." He wrinkles his brow, and repeats that under his breath, and nods. "Yeah. That's right." Nodding to Khena, he nods to the bucket. "How does Mneoth feel about blue straps?" he asks.

Lorsalia continues punching at the leather strips with her awl, frowning at R'sli. "So only one stick of a reddish pink with the wherhide left in would make a really vivid pink?" She's more knowledgeable of dying than actual leather practices. "And what about combining sticks. Would that make a combined color? Like blue and green for teal and blue and red for purple?"

R'sli nods to Lorsalia. "That's right, except for the pink part. Two sticks would make a more vibrant shade, I think."

Khena eyes glaze over as she communicates with Mneoth, then shakes her head grimacing. "He doesn't.. Says that they should be either natural or black," she says, her look to R'sli somewhat apologetic as she glances back at him. Spreding the strips of wherhide out in front of her, she glances around for a set of tools she's seen the others use.

"Black, eh?" the Weyrlingmaster says, and moves to the shelves. "I think I can manage that." And a black stick is produced. "The black is strongest, so it'll mask out the blue quite nicely." He grins. "It's saved more weyrlings from botched dye jobs than they would admit to." That said, the black stick is added, and the stirring recommences.

Lorsalia shudders at the black and eyes Khena, wide-eyed. "Your Mneoth is one of the darkest creatures I know. How could anyone want black straps, I dunno. They're so...boring." Is her opinion and Yajisarath, still back on her couch, rumbles in agreement. "Besides, they're ugly as all get out."

Reiko frowns as the blue disappears in a wash of black. "I guess Cerdith will have to wait," she murmurs, turning away from the dye buckets with a shrug. Cerdith croons sadly, and she crosses the barracks quickly to give her lifemate a comforting caress. "Don't worry, dear. I know how to do it." Since she actually had the lesson already. More than once. "Why don't you swim for a while, and I'll start your after lunch?" Assuming she remembers to eat. This seems to satisfy the blue, who slips off his couch gracefully. "Thanks, Ris." Reiko belatedly remembers her manners, giving the others a distracted wave as she and Cerdith make their way outside.

"Looks like you'll be getting your black straps, Mneo..." Looking over her shoulder, Khena grins at her lifemate, a smile quickly wiped off her face as she hears Lors' comment. "Mneo is /not/ dark!" A statement punctuated by a deep bugle from Mneoth, the dragon's eyes whirling faster and his tail whipping back and forth. Deciding to just ignore Lorsalia, Necha grabs V'king's tool, the blueling done using them anyway, and starts poking holes in the strips in front of her.

Reiko heads out to the Training Grounds. Cerdith heads out to the Training Grounds.

R'sli nods at the water, and motions Khena over. "Let me have a few of those strips, Khena," he instructs. "Just drop them into the water there. I think you'll be surprised, Lorsalia. The black straps come out sort of glossy, and aren't nearly as unattractive as you might think."

Lorsalia shakes her head, protesting. "No, black is horrid. I never wear the color if I can help it." Unfortunately, the Weyrling uniform includes black. She steps back, and flops onto the ground once more to continue boring holes into the strips of leather. "Hey, can the straps be dyed after they're sewn together or only before they're sewn together?" She asks sweetly, quickly following it with another question. "And can designs be dyed into them? Yajisarath says that she'd like to have flowers on hers, to match the colors in her hide."

Getting up, Khena grabs the whole lot of the strips she's working on. "They'll dye differently if you do it over more times, right?" she asks, dropping all her strips in the blackened water. She could punch those holes later on. Rolling her eyes at Lorsalia's rant, she crosses her arms, keeping an eye on the dying of Mneoth's straps. "How long'll they have to stay in there?" Indicating the water, she looks back up at the weyrlingmaster.

R'sli nods to Lorsalia. "There are topical dyes that you can use to make designs, although you'll have to ask the Weyr tanner for it, as it's very expensive to make, I'm told." He stirs a bit faster as the straps are added. "You have to keep them moving, so that the dye is even. It's hard work. You'll have to leave them in there for at least a quarter candle-mark, to get the best coloring."

Lorsalia nods slowly, still paying attention to the strips of undyed leather and the holes she's punching into them. "So once we get some sets of strips sewn together, how do we figure to shape the straps to fit our dragons?" She asks, only barely glancing up. "Afterall, they aren't just a ring around their necks." Are they?

Khena hms, taking the paddle from R'sli, continuing the stirring at the same pace as the weyrlingmaster. "I'd s'pose they have to be washed out afterwards too," she says, more of a statement than a fact, as she grins over her shoulder at Mneoth. "He says to thank you for helping dying his straps black, R'sli..." Looking at Lorsalia she nods reflectively. She had a point there.

R'sli grins, and nods. "After they've soaked, you'll rinse them in the water, and hang them on the racks there to dry." Moving over to Lorsalia, R'sli nods in answer to her question. "You'll want to make two circles, actually, with buckles to make them adjustable. then, you'll connect them together with two straps, which is where you'll attach your belt."

Lorsalia absorbs that for a moment, then asks yet another question. She wants to be sure to get these right. "How is my belt attatched to them, then?" It seems the slender green is in on the deal too, dangling her head over the couch to watch. "And are there buckles between the two parts or just on the two circle parts themselves?"

Stir, stir, stir. Guess what Khena will be doing for quite some time? Listening to R'sli was at least some distraction from the work. Why had she agreed to dye Mneoth's straps anyway? "And how'll we attatch the buckles to the straps?" she adds to Lorsalia's question, turning akwardly while still stirring the straps around in the black dye.

R'sli grins, and shakes his head at Khena. "I knew someone would ask me that, sooner or later. There are special straps, that look like an H, that you sew to one end, over the end of the buckle that the arm swings on." R'sli shakes his head, and fishes out the special piece and a large buckle. Demonstrating, he holds the buckle against the end of the strap, and fits the H piece so that the leather strap in the middle holds the buckle firmly in place. "Then, on the other end of the straps, you'll punch some holes straight down the middle, so that the buckle will hold."

Khena nods, lifting a strap out of the dye with the paddle, deeming it well enough dyed. Retrieving a large bucket of clean water, she transfers the straps, stirring them around until the water turns murky. "How many time d'you think I'll have to do this?" Hesitating for a moment, she wonders what to do with the dirty water, then dumbs it into the dye-basin. "I s'pose we'll have to be extra careful sewing the buckles, right?"

Quara heads in from the Training Grounds.

R'sli falls asleep.

Lorsalia still sits punching holes in long strips of wherhide. She looks up at Khena's question and nods. "Probably. Or else lots of holes willmake the straps weaker." Quara is most officially here. Oh, yes. "Ooh. Making straps? That's /fun/!" So says the girl who pays the weavers to do it for her. "Holes? Which holes are these? There are lots of holes in straps, see. I need to know which ones." She can't possibly be of help until she knows what she's helping with, see.

Lifting the black-dyed strips of wherhide out of the bucket, the water left somewhat more clear now, Khena turns as Quara enters. "Not doing holes, Quara.. Still dying, see?" She lifts the paddle with black strips a little further out of the bucket, showing them off to the rider. "Just rinsing them out now." An approving rumble escapes Mneoth's throat. Even if the brown was halfway across the room, he still could see what would eventually become his straps.

Lorsalia glances at Quara incredulously. "The holes that keep the leather around the buckles and the straps." She tries to explain, but ends up shrugging and standing and retrieving an armful of wherhide. Dumping it next to an empty bucket, she shakes her head at Khena. "But I want to know how ot do it now so I can be sure once mine are dyed." See how she fills the bucket with water, then drops in two sticks of what promise to be bright pink? Yajisarath will be so proud.

Quara examines the black with pursed lips before nodding. "Nice color. Looks good with the brown, it does. Black matches everything, nearly. And... pink? Oh. My. Lis would approve, I suppose." Ah, the fashion sense of weyrlings. Some things will never change. "Those holes. Right." Improvise, Quara, improvise. "Um. Looks good. You know how to attach the buckles, right? Be sure to pick nice buckles." Qelketh probably took all the shiny ones already anyhow.

Khena shrugs, moving the almost-rinsed straps to another bucket of clean water. "It was Mneoth's idea. I think I would have preferred.. Well, not to dye 'em at all," she says, grinning in Quara's direction, while Lorsalia get a somewhat disgusted look. Pink. *ppthbs!* "R'sli said to use some sort of extra strap, then attach that to the actual strap.."

Lorsalia gawks at Quara, dropping the paddle that is supposed to be stirring the tub of pink water. "Of course we don't. R'sli was just telling us how to begin sewing the straps, then Zaqith needed him for something." That's definitely a grumble. When she feels the bars dissolve completely, the weyrling picks up the armload of wherhide once more and goes through it, dropping in the good pieces as she finds them.

Quara thinks. Because, see, it's been a long time since she made straps. "Um. Right. That's it, Khena. I'd demonstrate, but I just got a cut on my thumb and I don't want to open it back up again." See the bandage? Nice and prominent. Good excuse for not doing it. "I can tell you if you're doing it wrong, though. Probably."

Lorsalia finishes dumping the wherhide into the tub and begins to stir slowly, every few seconds scooping a strip out to inspect the color. It's coming along in a nice, richly flamingo pink color. She'd talk back to Quara now, but weyrlings aren't supposed to do that. "You're so kind." She says, instead, quite drily. "By the way, do you think this pink color will go with Yajisarath's green hide or should I darken it some?"

"Well.. These need to dry off 'fore I can start work on 'em," Khena says, pulling the rinsed straps out of the water, hanging them on the pegs R'sli had pointed out. "But I think I can do it.. " R'sli /had/ shown them what to use after all, right. And how? "Mneoth says he wants another oiling," she adds, hanging the last piece of black wherhide, the dumbs the water and turns back to her lifemate, climbing after him into their couch.