13903/A Nice Piece Of Glass

A Nice Piece Of Glass
Date of Scene:	19 January 2023
Location:	Empire Glassworx
Synopsis:	Joan swings by Empire Glassworx to show Nick Lytton pictures of some fine pieces of glass. Tiffany's to be precise.
Cast of Characters:	Nick Lytton, Joan Wright

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Nick Lytton has posed:
    Everything appears normal at Empire Glassworx.  Or at least as normal as a Brooklyn glass art gallery -- with or without a metahuman star artist -- can be.
    So, only kinda normal.  You get what you get with artists.
    From without: a fairly typical gallery, with sculpted, flameworked, and stained glass pieces decorating the main windows, and a really complicated neon sign advertising the gallery.
    Looking through the window, past the /objets d'art/, one might see a dark-haired young woman making notes, and in the window behind her, activity in the studio that's rather harder to make out at this distance.
    Essentially normal for Empire Glassworx, really.

Joan Wright has posed:
In the fairly typical gallery there is a fairly typical entrance. At that fairly typical entrance is a fairly typical door. The door then decides to do something atypical by moving into an open position, granting access to a young light brown haired woman. While one might expect someone extremely dressed up when coming to an art studio, Joan appears to be in relaxed attire. Certainly the cargo pants are new, but they ARE cargo pants and the abundance of pockets mar any chance of her being mistaken for being at the height of fashion.

But that's fine. She prefers functional anyways.

As the door paps shut, Joan moves over to the front desk, giving the woman seated there a pleasant smile. "Hello. Joan Wright to see Mr. Lytton?" She waits a moment to let the names register, "I have an appointment."

Nick Lytton has posed:
    The woman at the counter virtually comes to attention when the door opens.  "Ms. Wright?"  She checks her notes -- perfectly aware that Nick could easily have forgotten to mention meeting a client -- and adapts accordingly.
    Because of course Nick forgot to mention that he had a client coming.
    She opens the door to the studio area, and there is an audio assault, courtesy an overloud stereo system.  Never leave Nick alone with Bluetooth speakers.
    o/` While the firelight's aglow / strange shadows in the flames will grow o/` and *BAM* foes the door, cutting off the music again.  There are the predictable few moments of trying to scream over the too-loud audio, of turning it down and the baffled look on the glassblower's face, and then both of them heading back to the storefront, she with a slightly exasperated look, he reasonably oblivious... and manipulating a blob of molten glass in his hands.
    The door opens again -- still loud but not as loud as before comes, o/` While the storyteller speaks / A door within the fire creaks o/` and *BAM* the door back to the studio closes again.
    The man is youngish, mid-30s probably, with jet black hair and propane-blue eyes.  "Ms. Wright?  Did we have an appointment today?"
    The girl at the counter comments flatly, "You did."
    He grins.  "Thus speaks Ginny, she who knows all.  My apologies, Ms. Wright, but as Ginny will happily tell you, I can forget my own name under the right circumstances."
    Barely audible from the counter comes the rejoinder, "...and under any other circumstances."

Joan Wright has posed:
As the doors to the studio opens up to let the wall of sound come out. Joan gives a slight nod before reaching into one of her many pockets to pull out something orange. Hands join together briefly before going to each ear- Ok two, something oranges.

Joan calmly waits for the visible cue that the meeting has started. Once the man comes into view,she pulls the earplugs out, dropping them back into her pocket. "Yes." Joan responds, confirming Ginny's confirmation while she moves her hand to another pocket to pull out a sizable phone. "The circumstances being when you're left to work in your element?" Joan wonders aloud. She smiles, "Understandable. I'm like that when I'm working with LEGOs."

Nick Lytton has posed:
    Nick grins broadly.  "Something a lot like that, yeah."  He fiddles with his phone, and opens the door back to the studio area, and the music is a lot less assaultive.
    He holds it open and waves Joan through, with a bow.  "Please, join me in my laboratory, and we can discuss your project!"

Joan Wright has posed:
Joan follows after Nick until he pauses at the doorway, stepping through, she shifts to the side to allow him to take the lead once more. When she's no longer walking around, she puts her attention back to the phone in hand. "Well, in short, we're looking for someone who might be able to recreate a glass fixture."

Two fingers set upon the glass of the phone and splay out, causing for the image on the screen to enlarge. "A staircase in a historical building got damaged and they had some very unique looking glass finials. Had. This is a photo of what they looked like."

Nick Lytton has posed:
    Nick stops, reaches to collect the phone, then stops.
    He *does* have a handful of molten glass in the other hand, after all.
    So first he chucks the blob back into the furnace.  Also, he runs his hands through some cool water.
    Generally speaking, it's a bad thing to melt a client's phone.
    "Ooo, these are gorgeous," he said absently, rather as if he were just being shown some pretty artwork and not being asked to re-create it.  Focus, Pinky, focus!
    Somehow or another, he pulls himself out of art appreciator mode and into artist mode.  "Hm.  Well, let me ask first, how many need to be completely re-created, and how many are merely broken and need to be fused back together?  I mean, these are historical pieces, and the more original they can stay, the better...."

Joan Wright has posed:
With the glowing mass coming towards Joan, she eeps and starts to back up. "When you're through with that of course." She adds in, not bringing the phone back over towards him until he's cooled off.

"Yes they were." Joan agrees, swiping the phone to show a smattering of tiny pieces of glass on the floor next to what used to be the banister. And then there's another swipe to show those glass pieces somehow gathered together to form the shape mostly. There are some obvious chunks missing but mostly there. "Unfortunately not all the pieces could be found. But we found most of them. Also the method holding them together should be a temporary one. We need a longer lasting solution of course."

Nick Lytton has posed:
    "Well, hm."
    There's a useful answer.
    "Okay.  If there are any intact pieces, we can use those to make molds," Nick says, plunging almost bodily into rapid speech and gesturing with his hands to try to give physical shape to his words.  "Anything that's merely cracked or broken, I can weld back together, but pieces that are genuinely shattered are going to need to be re-created.  I don't suppose the original manufacturer's notes are available, so I'm going to have to wing it regarding color, but hey, I'm an artist, that's what I do.  I think I can whomp up something that will be virtually indistinguishable from the original, even if it's not exactly the same formula.  D'you know how old these pieces are?  That can help nail down a formula too."
    If nothing else, Nick Lytton is clearly engaged with the fundamentals of this project.
    "Now, any of the ones I fuse back together," he continues, more addressing space in general than Joan directly, "might still show a little internal faceting, but I think that's probably all right.  It preserves the history of the piece as well as the piece itself, right?"

Joan Wright has posed:
Joan nods, "I would assume the parts missing had been reduced to more of a powder or grain. But there are limits to what I can pick up and find. And yes, what we can salvage from the original pieces would be greatly appreciated."

She looks to the picture of the mostly formed piece for another look, "I suppose it is possible the artist left a stamp on the pieces that we could use to track them down with. The building is dated 1910 and it is stated that while the railings got replaced, these are the originals. So around that time."

Nick Lytton has posed:
    "Ah, I always did like Art Nouveau.  Not my primary influence, but a damned important one," Nick says... and then stops and swallows hard.  "Those aren't Tiffany pieces, are they?" he asks sharply, peering closer at the phone.  "I mean, yes, what an incredible honor, but holy fu... er, uh, yeah."  Probably not much doubt as to what he meant to say, but he did have the decency to stop in time.
    "Anyway, yeah, the historical nature of the pieces has to be taken into account," he says.  "If these are by a big name, then the more original the better.  And if you ask me, even if they're not by a big name, the more original the better."
    He purses his lips.
    "And I suppose it's only fair to mention that I'm about to take up a residency at the Glass Pavilion at the Toledo Museum of Art, so I have some constraints on my time.  I can travel, though.  I really don't want to subject these pieces to the gorillas at... well, any shipping company you name."

Joan Wright has posed:
Joan's head tilts to the mention of the residency. "Oh? Well Congratulations. And I understand their importance. Which is why I'm willing to work with someone else who understands it too."

She pauses, "If distance is a concern I'm sure we can come up with an arrangement that suits both our concerns."

She pauses, "What about FTL Delivery?"

Nick Lytton has posed:
    "FTL...?  Not familiar with them.  Are they careful?  I mean, *really* careful?" Nick asks archly.  "As in, prepared to commit seppuku if they so much as get a fingerprint on a piece?"
    He grins.  He's not serious about that.
    Much.
    "I *do* take a certain pride in my work," he says with a smirk.

Joan Wright has posed:
"Faster Than Light delivery. Imagine if one of the fastest people in the world decided to open a courier service and hand delivered everything." Joan replies, reaching a hand into another pocket to pull out a set of business cards. "Hand delivered. Well, somewhat, we'd pack it before handing it off of course. But, no sorting machines or packages rolling around in the back of a truck."

She tugs out a card to show Nick the card, "We'd cover the shipping of course so you don't have to worry about the price. But once again. I understand their importance."

Nick Lytton has posed:
    "We-e-e-ell," Nick says, drawing out the monosyllable, "I suppose it's hard for someone who molds glass with their bare hands to question someone who moves at light speed.  If they're *very* careful."  He waggles a finger warningly.  "I might have been kidding about hari-kiri, but I'd really hate to see a freshly restored piece damaged so that I have to go back and fix it again."
    He flashes a bright grin.  "Out side of that, though, I think we can work together.  Conservation of art is just as important as creating new art, after all!  If you do much in this line, I think we can work together quite a bit more, for that matter."

Joan Wright has posed:
Joan offers the card for the service over to Nick. "Well, Mr. Lytton. If you have any concerns to his process, his number is here. I have copies of his information as well. But, if there had been any previous complaints about how he does business, I would not be suggesting him here."

The remaining cards are slid back into her pocket. "Glad to have you on board with this Mr. Lytton."