I mentioned before how good Arwen is at shredding paper. Well, she finally got her paws on a bill. I had to piece it back together with tape. “My cat ate it!” Good thing mole is really good at puzzles and found all the pieces.
Above left: Unshredding. Above right, looking down through the skylight while I was plastering the ceiling.
I set up boards over saw horses so that I could reach the ceiling. Plastering the ceiling went quite well. I followed all the directions: “Blue” board as the base, then “Kal Kote” base coat, then “Uni-Kal” veneer plaster.
One problem I’d always had when plastering was there would be small patches of the plaster that would come loose as I was trying to polish the plaster. It was as if that section did not set up as fast. I’ve finally learned that when putting on plaster, the first pass must be very thin – basically scrubbed onto the surface so it’s almost translucent. If it’s too thick, it will get air bubbles under it, and that’s what was happening to me. Then, from the same batch, I come back and build the coat of plaster up to about 1/16 inch thick. This is the first time I’ve done that (the manufacturer’s instructions say to do that — it was just never clear to me how thin the first pass must be). It worked like a dream.
So now the plastering is done in the laundry room. Here’s mole and Arwen coming to inspect right after I’d finished the walls. The plaster was just setting up; it goes a brownish grey until all the water evaporates.
Then Arwen decided to get up to her old tricks and ran up onto the roof. Here she is walking along the ridge, with the sun setting behind her. Must be a great view.
Not to be outdone, Bella jumped up onto the handrail and walked back and forth. Then she walked into the open window of the laundry room.
