Ceramics update

Fairly productive evening at ceramics class.

1) Rolled out the necessary clay slabs to form the underlying structure of my HO scale St Paul-St Louis.

Basically, I see the facade as having two layers or depths.

To achieve this I rolled out one large slab and then three narrower slabs which will be stuck on to give the structure in the diagram above.

The main slab rolled out (took 15 minutes with a rolling pin)

Checking it's the right size.

On the left, the three narrower slabs or strips to be stuck on to the main slab.

Put them away in the damp cupboard to be worked upon next week.

2) Then returned to my blackened row of shops/apartments.

Used shellac (Button Polish) to paint over everything but the windows and doors. Then, next week I'll use a wet sponge to wash away the non-shellaced areas. This will indent the windows and doors and thus differentiate them. The shellac burns off in the kiln.

The slab of clay.

Shellac or Button Polish

3) Took home the 4 pink walls of my Boulevard Haussmann building - will work further on them here.
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Last night's dinner:

Roast chicken leg, carrots and braised cabbage.

Made the gravy with this stuff - very easy.

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Sibelius 5th Symphony:

Feeling terribly morose.

In a mood like this I want the company of other morose people so that I know that it's a valid human condition.

The best form of company for me is melancholic music and for over 40 years ago I have played this brilliant symphony knowing that others who listen to it feel the same as me.

Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer, born in 1865 and died in 1957.