Still Depressed (the Walls--not me)

Paul caught me plastered today. I took all the moveable panels of the cottage out of their slots and laid them down to have an easier time applying the sticky, messy, stuff to both sides.

Today I took yet another, not skim coat--I wish!--more like a glop coat, to the cottage walls. This time I tinted the joint compound with ochre tempera paint (as a way to color a lot of something with inexpensive pigment). It took far more of the compound than I thought to fill in the depressions and gaps in the walls. For the first hour, I wondered if it will ever be flat and flush with the wood timbers even after another dozen coats. But now I think another pail full should do it. So much for a lightweight set! Woophf.

We spent some time thinking aloud about how I could build the landscape sets around the cottage. Of course Downstairs Clare is a treasure of set building knowledge after all the years he spent as a set constructionist for the Music Center in LA, but his focus these days is on feeling well and resting his bodkin, so that's out. We thought of several semi-skilled (more than me) construction friends we know that we might hire for an afternoon to get me set up, but no one rung a bell.

I need some help in constructing the cottage roof-line beams and some kind of movable bases for the satellite terrain pieces. If no one comes to mind, I may just hack it with recycled kitty litter tubs, hardware cloth, and cardboard!

On another note, I've decided to move Heaven rather than Earth, and will be constructing either a total enclosure or portable sky scape rather than making this massive (holy bajeebies, so massive!) cottage set turn. I plan instead to make the Serpent Musician's desert set the rotating one so the camera can travel ov'r hill and sandy dale to his carpeted holy spot.