Ascendance of a Bookworm

Volume 7 Chapter 6: Struggling to Make Wax Stencils (Part 1)

We had finally gotten our hands on something close to coloured ink. We had to cover the paper in fixing agent or the ink would have turned black when layered. Though they still turned black when mixed on a plate, it was the best we could do for now.

“Phew, that sure took a while…” Heidi sighed, she sounded like a kid who had her plaything snatched away.

Honestly, I was more than glad to finally make the ink, but Heidi would digress because she hadn’t been able to find out what made the colour change. Joseph pinched her cheek with a frown.

“We’re done making the ink so she won’t be paying for the work anymore. No more messing around.”

“Well, since this project was somewhat a success, I have no qualms sponsoring a bit more for your personal research.”

Heidi’s face lit up with my proposal while Joseph turned around to stare at me looking baffled.

“We will need a more in-depth research if we ever want to make the colours pop out more and to expand our collection of colours. I was running short on time so I had to prioritise completing a few coloured ink first, but it should be fine for you to do your research now.”

I wasn’t the type of person who was interested in researching what made the ink colours change, so I wasn’t going to shoot down someone who offered to do it instead.

“Thank you so much, Lady Myne.”

“Oh no, you’re gonna make her worse!”

“Heidi, Joseph, from now on you are both Gutenbergs.”

I was bursting with excitement because I was one step closer to fulfilling my dreams with my new Gutenberg comrades. Ink

“Huh? What’s a Guten-thing?”

“Gutenberg. It is a title given to the very best - no the most sacred and legendary contributions to the making of books. As of now, Johann has been dubbed the Gutenberd of metal letter pieces, Benno is the Gutenberg of plant paper and Lutz, the Gutenberg of book distribution. Ingo also contributed in making the printing press. Now you two will be the Gutenbergs of ink. And it is my responsibility to help out the Gutenbergs who are going to help me fulfill my dreams anyways.”

I thumped my chest with pride. Joseph still stared at me in shock while Heidi shouted with glee.

“Joseph, she said we’re Gutenbergs! Not only is she going to give us work, but she’s going to pay for the research too! Yipee!”

Now that the coloured ink was completed, I didn’t see any problems with letting Heidi do her own research.

“Knowing what makes the ink’s colour change will surely be beneficial in the long run, I look forward to your findings.”

“Leave it to us!” Heidi cheered.

“But don’t get too sidetracked, making the ink still comes first. I will not hesitate to take away the funds if an order isn’t completed on time.”

“Yikes!”

“You are someone who easily forgets about what their priorities should be when focus too much on your research. It is important that I give you a punishment so that you will commit to your responsibilities,” I gave Heidi a stern warning.

“It takes a weirdo to know another, huh? You clearly know how to keep her in check,” Lutz smirked and Joseph quickly cover his mouth to hide his smile. Well he did seem reliable to keep a watch on Heidi.

“Now that we’re done with the coloured ink, I would like to move onto the wax stencils.”

The next thing on the list was the wax stencil, that was another crucial element if I wanted to continue with mimeograph printing.

First off, we needed to make some thin sheets of wax, after that we could use the metal stylus to write down what we want to print on it. These wax stencils will greatly speed up the process, in contrast to using normal stencils that wasted time cutting out the letters or rearranging the letter pieces everytime. The wax stencils would also allow for more detailed drawings and let Wilma’s talent shine out.

“Are the stencils we made not good enough?”

“They aren’t bad, we can still make picture books with them. Wax stencils are more superior in many areas. Using the metal stylus to write on them would be faster than trying to cut out every letter on a normal stencil, wax stencils will allow us to add more fine details to the drawings too.:

The issue was that we needed paper thin enough to see through. Lutz and I had plenty of experience making paper the last two and a half years, but that wasn’t the case for the orphans, who only started less than a year ago. It was easy to make the paper we used for the picture books, but asking them make a thin one would be tough. Furthermore, they were already struggling to do keep up in the Myne Workshop, they found it difficult to take the paper out of the frames and dry them without damage.

“If only we could use some trombe wood.”

Lutz frowned and crossed his arms together. It was easier to make thin paper with trombe because its fibers were thinner and longer. However, it was too valuable of a resource to make stencils out of.

“Using trombe instead of volrin would be too expensive.”

“…You’re right.”

I entrusted this task of making thinner paper to Lutz and Gil. They had selected a skillful group from the workshop to make thin paper while the others continue to work on the paper for the picture books.

Over the last few days, everyone did their best to make the paper and one day I had sudden visit from Lutz in my chambers after lunch.

“Myne, Mister Benno has a message for you. He has found you a wax workshop to work with. They are free for a meeting tomorrow afternoon if you’re available.”

“Is that so? Great. Now we can get Gil his own diptych.”

I asked Dad to make a cover for the diptych like Lutz’s the other night, now we only needed to fill it up with some wax. I also wanted to take this chance to refill my wax too. My diptych was running out of writing space and the available wax was getting too dry to write on. I scraped out the old wax in preparation for tomorrow.

~~~

“Good morning, Benno.”

“Morning, let’s go.”

Benno carried me up and onto his shoulders and we made our way down to the workshop. At this height I could see Lutz and Gil jogging up to keep up. Gil clutched the half-finished diptych close to his chest.

Damuel was uncomfortable letting Benno carry me, but he quickly let it go because he came to realise that I would never be able to keep up with Benno’s pace. He quickly followed after us and kept to Benno’s speed.

“Benno, if by any chance, I knew how to make wax that doesn’t smell, do you think I could sell it?”

I took advantage of our journey to the workshop to start a business consultation with Benno. It was best to discuss it now rather than getting yelled at for doing something I shouldn’t have done in future.

“Selling that to a guild like what we did with the plant paper ink would be the best. A single workshop isn’t capable enough to handle such a major project.”

“Ah, I understand.”

Apparently making deals like this required lots of money, it would appear that I would have to pay for all the research and other process for all my Gutenbergs. I tried running a simulation in my head of how the negotiations would go, but that was interrupted by Benno’s voice.

“Leave the business negotiations to me. It would not be wise to put yourself in the spotlight. We don’t know if someone like Wolf would be there.”

“Alright…”

I would let Benno take charge of the negotiations in future, and we would discuss our share of the profits later.

“If we are not going to do any business negotiations today, why are we even going to the wax workshop?”

“I would like to get Gil’s and my diptych refilled. I also need to get some wax.”

“You’re just shopping today?” Benno asked and I nodded back.

I wanted to see if there were any existing wax in this world that could be used to make wax stencils. It would be great if we could find one. Otherwise, we would need to make a new type of wax.

“I was hoping that we could get some wax to make wax stencils. If they aren’t usable I would like to get the workshop’s help to make one. I would like them to add more pine resin make a stickier type.:

Typically, mimeograph wax stencils used pine resin or paraffin, but there was no way we could distill paraffin from crude petroleum in this would. I was beginning to see some limitations to my knowledge here. After that whole mess with the coloured ink, I was expecting something weird to happen to the wax. This time I wanted to seek a professional’s help.

“Well alright, we’ll just be patrons today. We’ll only need to start business discussions if the wax doesn’t work, right?”

“Yep.”

Benno walked into the workshop first and I trailed behind. I was smacked right in the face with a heat wave, and the stench of what was probably animal fat clogged my nose. We were promptly greeted by the foreman who was informed in advance of our arrival.

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