Clay Golem Body

The Body of a Clay Golem

"The mage draws the circle, the sculptor gives it a shoulder. If either one errs, all you have is a statue."It all begins with the clay, and that is where most golems fail. It must hold not a grain of sand nor a single pebble, because the slightest flaw becomes a crack, and a crack that runs through a circle is enough to break it. Good deposits are rare and jealously held. The earth is dug, slaked, and left to settle until only the finest remains, then left to age for months in the damp dark of a cellar, until it turns as supple as flesh. Some workshops keep stores laid down by their master's master's master.
Then comes the sculptor. The mage hands over his circles, drawn flat on parchment, and it falls to the sculptor to set them on a body: to wind them around an arm, carry them over the curve of a shoulder, close them through the hollow of a knee without a single line breaking or stretching. He does not always understand what he carves, which is why he cannot correct anything by instinct. He copies to perfection, or he starts over.
And all of it against the clock. The odem, the golem's heart, must go into the chest while the clay is still fresh. A body that has dried has nothing left to receive, however beautiful it may be. It is a statue, and it can be sold as one.