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But the piece was not ready to cool for there was still much to be done with it.
Iseult rolled the piece along the marver once, twice, then reheated it and stood alongside the bench. She angled the blowpipe against the metal arms and settled her mouth against the opening closest her, still mindful of the globule to keep the pipe rolling back and forth so that it did not unevenly distribute itself. She blew a steady stream of air into the vessel and it expanded slowly. She breaked, rolled the pipe, then blew more air into it. She did not want it to be too big or too expansive--she wanted a flatter, narrow side, after all.
She reheated the piece and sat down at the bench to use the paddles to work at the shape of the piece. She smoothed out the edges as the glass began to gradually cool. While she did not want the piece completely cooled, for obvious reasons, she did not want it at its utmost malleable either. So as it cooled she worked to smooth and narrow the sides, bringing them in a little and making them a little flat rather than rounded.
She worked away at the basic shape until she felt it completed. She set aside the paddle and picked up the jacks. She used them to pinch the mouth line along the neck of the vessel where blowpipe met glass and she then dribbled water into the new slit. It was now ready for the transfer and the final stages of shaping.
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