On a rainy day, an elf plays with clay

By the Goddess of the Moon, how it rains today! Not a bad thing, not a bad thing at all. Goooood for the soil, plants grow big, very big. Too big as the forest forces them look for sunlight and little of it do they find, so they stretch and stretch. An elf must place many structures to keep them from falling and breaking apart. But the elf loves his plants and takes much pleasure in helping them on their life journey.

Yet, we can't be outside all day with this downpour, so it's necessary to find some entertainment. Solar panels don't provide much in the darkness so no Tubes or Hubs or anything of the sort, lest we run out of electricity to keep the lightbulbs on.

A treasure we have found!

What might be done from this noble material the land has provided? A pot? A figurine? Perhaps a tea cup?

No, no. Think clearly! After all this time smoking from a raw clay sphere, do you not think we should have a proper pipe?

Yes, that is a wondrous idea! Let's do that!

The inappropriate pipe

Much dust must be gathering in the elf's lounges. Fortunately, the elf is not a chain smoker or anything close to that.

Let us begin. It would be nice to have a long pipe for extra comfort, so let's try with this shape:

A turd it may seem, but the truth will be revealed!

A turd it may seem, but the truth will be revealed!

Now, this could work as a nice sleeping bag for a fairy, but the elf already desires his pipe and will be getting it.

Some proper decoration is needed for a pipe to be more than just a few holes from which to blow smoke. Anyone can muster two holes, but a decent pipe needs some extra attention to detail.

I must confess I am a beginner in this crafty art so simplicity will work best for now. However, the joy and pleasure of this work have my heart looking forward to diving deeper into the practice.

Now the alchemy of time begins. It will need to wait until fully dry so that it may safely enter the fire without cracking. From there on, the flames will do their final work on this piece and it will be ready for use. Finally, an elf will enjoy a proper smoke if all goes well.

Unfortunately it got a bit burnt on the side.

With some scrubbing it was less noticeable. This will be tricky on future creations as I don't know how to prevent it yet.

From a top down view it looks great though!

I had the human give it a try and apparently the hole was a bit too big, which made him burn his throat a little 😅 Fortunately, we had a fix for this.

This here is a lichen that grows abundantly in the trees nearby, we have used it as a filter before and we'll do it again.

Just stuff a little at the tip, you don't want it to get to tight or the air will not flow. With a little bit of this, the pipe was working beautifully and ready for everyday use.

I must say this was a delightful way to spend a rainy day and look forward to doing more works with clay. This wasn't the best quality clay either so next time I will be using a better one I have in store for another rainy day.

Be seeing you, thanks for hanging out!