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Activity AD01: Decorative Fanmaking

For many of our dance courses, including General Dance, students are required to own a pair of folding hand fans. These will be individually crafted by each student at the beginning of their course, from a selection of the finest materials and under the guidance of our master artisans.

Project work will take place in the Nacrarium's design studio, immediately bringing your pearl into proximity with her peers, perhaps for the first time since her finishing. The environment makes spirited conversation amongst students inevitable and we encourage this, as a means of developing eloquence, skill at repartee, and knowledge beyond owner affairs: as you are a figure of high esteem in your social stratum, it is only natural that your pearl should become such a figure in hers.

The task of creating something unique from common guidelines and materials pushes students to explore and capitalise on their idiosyncrasies, fostering a sense of individuality especially crucial to our arts courses. The effect this will have on your pearl — whether a fundamental change to her self-concept or a reinforcement of her existing beliefs — is a hugely beneficial one, and absolutely no cause for concern: our dance graduates return to their owners as obedient as when they left (if not more so), each more confident for knowing that her distinctiveness and skill gain her owner greater prestige.

Activity AD11: Decorative Fanmaking (with Summoning)

At the end of the relevant courses, each student will create a second pair of fans for herself. As well as giving her a practical memento of her time at the Nacrarium, this final activity provides your pearl with a tangible (although restricted) measure of how far she has progressed, and the opportunity to surpass her earlier work. From a developmental perspective this second crafting phase is less important than the first, however most students find it to be far more challenging and thus, far more rewarding.

The additional difficulty arises in part because object summoning techniques are used in place of physical crafting methods. With their owners' permission students will use either the objective or regeneration techniques to integrate their fans into their gems, which allows for designs with a much wider range of properties than was possible in the first pair, and intricate embellishments not achievable through handcrafting.

Whilst the project does entail some practical difficulty, the greatest challenge for our students is meeting the exceptionally high standards that they will have grown to hold themselves to. When props are used to add a new dimension to a dance they become as important to it as the artist herself, with each element enhancing the others ability to captivate and thrill. Our students come to understand this special relationship as though they had been cultured knowing it, motivating each of them to pursue the perfect accessories, best suited to her individual needs and tastes.

Activity AD12: Combat Fanmaking (with Summoning)

Students that have previously taken or are enrolled in the Bodyguarding, Intermediate Self-Defense or Advanced Self-Defense courses (including named Martial Arts courses) are eligible to take Activity AD12, an extension of the AD11 class.

The combat fan is often favoured over conventional weapons by those seeking to combine elegance and appropriateness in social settings, with the offensive capabilities of an edged weapon. Like its traditional counterpart, it possesses a narrow profile and solid edges that the skilled user can take every advantage of defensewise, while a lightweight construction allows for the same rapid movement from one motion to the next, making it an excellent tool for swift conflict resolution. This activity takes these concepts even further, turning an improvised weapon into dedicated one through the incorporation of blades, spikes, summonable attachments, metal ribbon edges, metal weaves and other design features.

Due to the technical demands of the project, students are required to take introductory sewing and armouring classes before commencing any work: these are designed to impart an understanding of materials and how to manipulate them, invaluable knowledge whether it is a material or summoned object your pearl desires. Once the necessary foundations have been covered, students will be able to divide their time between the design studio and our affiliate armoury, which specialises in ceremonial and other nonstandard weaponry. The substantial crossover between Activities AD11 and AD12 makes sharing of the design studio not only logical, but beneficial — especially for those coming to design as beginners — as students' take advantage of their pooled skill and experience.

Throughout the exercise Nacrarium staff will be close by to assist and supervise students as they work, supported at all times by at least one certified weaponsmith who will provide technical expertise, and ensure that pearls on all courses are as safe as possible.

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Greetings SU fans, a very good evening to you all, and I hope the wait for new episodes isn't affecting you too much. It's great to have something to share with you after so long, work has bee w... But this isn't about us! This is about pearls and the Steven Universe Expanded Universe (SUEU), which should be a thing!
If it isn't already a thing...
(If it is someone really needs to let me know, coz we don't get out much.) But this isn't about us!
This is about you (specifically), because I'd love to know what you think of something like this being offered for pearls, about the tone, and about non-weapon uses of the gem weapon 'slot'. Your feedback is always appreciated.