Annik - Saturday, May 18, 2002, 6:03 PM
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Norgan Hall (SMI)
        Sloping down before you is a large class room. A series of shallow steps lead straight to a lectern, 
standing upon a small dais. Behind the dais the entire wall is tiled with large sections of grey/black 
slate. On either side of the dais are sturdy wooden tables. Along both sides of the steps are tiered rows 
with sloped top tables and benches on one side, forcing the sitters to face the lecturn.

  There is a +view-able 'Plaque' near the doorway and a +view-able 'Blackboard'.

Contents:
Glass Dragon(#15520V)
dye basin
test tube rack(#17858V$)
Obvious exits:
Common Room  

Niobe enters from the hallway.
Niobe has arrived.

Annik is up at the front of the classroom, setting some objects on tables that have been set up behind 
the dias.

Niobe enters quietly and takes a seat nearest her Master, setting down various writing and note-taking 
parephenailia in fornt of her. A few hides also occupy the spot next to her.

Annik looks over the tables carefully, nodding as she seems satisfied with them. She turns to watch a 
few apprentices trail in and smiles as she notices Niobe. "You look well-prepared," she says, glancing 
at the materials.

"I hope so; I couldn't stuff anymore into my arms," Niobe grins with enthusiasm. "How are you today, 
Annik?" she murmurs quietly, so none of the other Apprentices can overhear.

Annik lets her smile widen into a grin. "I'm doing well. Glad to be up here teaching instead of doing 
hidework right now," she replies. "And how have you been?"

"Busy - like i'm supposed to be." A wry grin again. "When I got wind of this class, I made sure I was the 
first one to sign up for it." Niobe is almost buzzing she's so happy.

Annik nods and glances up to see that nearly everyone is seated and ready. "I hope you and the other 
apprentices get something useful out of it. Now I think it's about time to start," she says and heads to 
the front of the room.

Niobe calms her grin and now appears to be very attentive.

Annik smiles and glances around the classroom. "I will be briefly discussing precious metals and their 
characteristics. Most of this lesson will be focused on jewelry, but this information should be useful to 
all metalsmiths and Smiths in general."

Annik begins, "First, there is gold, a very popular metal, especially for jewelry." She steps over to the 
display table and picks up a fist-sized chunk of gold metal. "Gold is easily recognized by its golden 
yellow color, though alloys of gold can come in several different shades, which I will talk about later."

Niobe takes up hide and pen and ink, jotting down things in her own shorthand notation.

Annik sets down the chunk of metal and picks up a finished gold necklace. "Gold is a wonderful metal 
for jewelry because it is not only considered very beautiful, but it is also fairly soft and easy to work 
with. It is the most malleable and the most ductile, so it can be rolled and hammered, as well as made 
into fine wire. Gold is resistant to chemical changes, so it is not affected by oxygen in the atmosphere."

Scribble-scribble... Niobe must devour every iota of this.

Annik steps away from the lectern and starts to walk around the room. "Gold is often measured by how 
pure it is, otherwise known as how many karats it has. Twenty-four karats is one hundred percent
pure gold, but that is very soft and not as good for jewelry. About fourteen to eighteen karats, which is 
about fifty-eight to seventy-five percent pure, is the usual amount of gold in most fine jewelry."

Niobe squees! inside her own head, thinking of the wonderful things she will make soon...

Annik returns to the tables and sets down the necklace. "Now, as I mentioned earlier, gold has many 
alloys, which turn the metal to different colors." She picks up three chunks of metal and holds up a 
yellowish-gold one. "Of the most common is yellow gold, which is about half gold, one quarter silver, 
and one quarter copper." She holds up a silvery chunk. "There is white gold, which uses about a 
quarter of platinum or an eighth of palladium." She holds up the third metal chunk, a pinkish one. 
"There is also rose gold or pink gold, which is half gold, fourty-five percent copper, and five percent 
silver."

While scribbling this information down Niobe wonders about /green gold/... There just has to be 
green gold somewhere...

Annik puts down the three chunks of metal, picking up two new ones. The first that she holds up is 
blue-tinged. "Some of the less common alloys are blue gold, which is gold and iron, and green gold, 
which is a mix of gold and silver, or silver, cadmium, and zinc," she says, holding up a greenish chunk 
with the last description.

Niobe almost claps her hands in joy. Blue, too!

Annik returns the blue and green metal chunks to the table. "Any questions so far?" she asks with a 
smile.

Niobe raises a hand.

Annik looks at Niobe and nods. "Yes, Niobe?"

Niobe queries, "When mixed in slightly varying proportions, will the basic colors that the added metals 
bring to the basic gold change it's hue - say like from rose gold to pink gold?"

Annik smiles and answers, "Well, rose gold and pink gold are really the same thing, just different 
names. But you're asking if the alloyed colors will change? Yes, depending on how you mix them, you 
can vary the hues a bit."

Niobe flushes slightly, then nods and smiles, recieving the answer she wanted.

Annik looks around. "Any more questions before I continue?"

Niobe shakes her head slightly.

Seeing no more questions, Annik nods and says, "Let's move on to silver. Silver has a metallic whitish
color and is very lustrous." Here she shows a piece of silver metal. "It is just behind gold in malleability 
and ductility, so it is also fairly soft and easy to shape. Like gold, silver is not generally used in its 
purest form to make jewelry because it is so soft."

Niobe sighs very softly. Her favorite metal...

Annik says, "The most common silver alloy, especially for jewelry, is sterling silver. This is a mix of at 
least 92.5 percent silver and 7.5 percent copper. The copper helps strengthen the silver and creates 
better resistance to wear."

Niobe scribbles more...

Annik sets down the silver and picks up two pieces of jewelry. One is a polished silver bracelet and the 
other is a tarnished silver ring. "Silver is more difficult to take care of than gold, which should be kept 
in mind with silver jewelry. It will react to oxygen, and the metal will become tarnished, turning it to a 
dark grey or black. It is possible to clean off the tarnish, but any silver items should be properly stored 
when not in use."

A star next to this note. One of the few drawbacks about silver... not that there are too many in Niobe's 
mind...

"Any questions about silver?" Annik asks as she puts the silver jewelry on the table.

Niobe shakes her head in the negative.

Annik smiles, taking a small silverish metal chunk and holding it up. "Lastly, but certainly not least of 
all, there is platinum, which is just one of six metals in the platinum family. It looks a lot like silver, 
with a whitish metallic color."

If gold is the King of all precious metals, then Platinum is most certainly the Empress, Niobe grins. 
scribble-scribble

Annik says, "Platinum is stronger and denser than gold or silver, but it is much less common. It is still 
soft enough to be workable, and is often alloyed with a small portion of iridium to make the metal 
harder." She holds up a ring that is set with a sapphire. "Platinum resists tarnishing or corrosion from 
the atmosphere, which, combined with all its other properties, makes it a good metal for gem settings 
and other fine jewelry."

Niobe now finds herself in love, golden brown eyes coveting the ring and it's blue prize. /I'll make 
something like that someday./

Annik puts the platinum items back on the table and turns to face the class. "That wraps up this lesson
on precious metals. Are there any questions on anything I've talked about?"

Niobe lift a hand again.

Annik smiles at the apprentice. "Niobe?"

Niobe asks, "Are there other precious metals - but so hard to find or work that we don't mess with 
them?"

Annik shakes her head. "Not really. There are other metals we can use to make jewelry, but they aren't 
considered to be precious metals. The other category, aside from alloys, is base metals."

Niobe grins and nods, scribbling down a few more notes.

Annik glances around at the rest of her audience. "Anything else?"

Niobe has just enough guts to pop her hand up daintily one more time.

Annik looks back at Niobe. "Yes?"

"What about the ability of gold to resist saltwater?" Niobe inquires. "A friend of mine has a 14 karat 
yellow gold ring - and it's been partially ruined by repeated exposure to swimming in the ocean..."

Annik nods at Niobe. "Gold is not as resistant to salt water, so it will be affected. Generally, it is a 
resistant metal, but there are still things that can ruin it."

Niobe nods and scribbles. "Thank you."

Annik asks again, "Any other questions, or comments even?"

Niobe nods, instead of raising her hand.

Annik chuckles at Niobe. "You have something else?"

"I assume we start working on base metal first, so as not to damage the worthwhile stuff? And would 
silver be the first metal of choice to work on for apprentices?" Niobe is just chock-full of questions.

Annik nods at the first question. "Yes, apprentices will start with scrap base metals, but you can ask 
permission if you need something of higher quality. And there isn't really a 'first metal of choice'. The 
metals you work with should depend on what you're making."

Niobe smiles even more. "Ahh.."

Annik remains looking at Niobe this time. "Anything more?"

Niobe simply bats her long eyelashes, and shakes her head. "No, ma'am."

Annik smiles and turns to the rest of the class. "If that's all, this class is dismissed. You may all come up 
and look at the examples if you want."

Niobe quickly steps forward and oggles all of the examples of everything. Her wide eyes miss nothing - 
every shade, hue and tone is marked and imprinted on neurons for later use.

An apprentice runs in and hurries up to Annik. After a quickly whispered conversation, the apprentice 
runs back out. Annik smiles, saying, "It seems that we have a visitor, so if you'll excuse me, I need to go
say hello."

"Do you need any help with these, Annik?" Niobe asks before leaving.

Annik shakes her head as she heads out. "No, but thanks. Journeyman Neilson will take care of it."

Niobe smiles and watches her Craftmaster exit.

You push through the swinging doors and walk into the common room.