The Plaques Of Egypt

No, it isn’t a misprint. The kitchen has been taken over by Plaster of Paris creations. One of the crafts at HBC will be to paint an Egyptian plaque.

But I only have the one mould – so I am starting now, to produce dozens of them before August 1st.

Eventually the children will paint them, and the final plaques should look something like this [half-finished] demo.

To maximise efficiency of production, I have to keep dashing into the kitchen every hour or so, and unmould the drying plaque, and mix up plaster and make the next one. They are drying out on my lightweight IKEA Lerberg shelf.

I am averaging about ten moulds a day. I keep getting interrupted by other things like mealtimes and choosing hymns** for Sunday!

Plaster Of Paris is weird stuff – the chemical reaction when the plaster goes into the water causes a lot of heat [NEVER put your hand into it - people have been burned and actually lost fingers doing that] It is also very dusty, and it’s not wise to inhale it! My plaster came in a huge tub from ESPO [who supply equipment to schools etc throughout the Midlands] and I am honestly quite surprised that it carries no health warnings whatsoever.

I have just realised that I have only painted half this Egyptian’s skirt! Finer details – like the glamorous red toenails – I picked out with a cocktail stick dipped into the paint.

**resisting the urge to choose “mould me, fill me, I give my life to the Potter’s Hand” - and anyway I chose that one last week.