This is Week 2 on the Beacon Hill Ceiling Job. Today I was there by myself since Stacy had some other appointments to attend to. With no one to talk to, I reverted back to 
my trusty iPod Shuffle. I had not used my iPod in a few weeks, so had several hours of "Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell" episodes from NPR to keep me happily entertained! My right ear plug keeps falling out, so I am going to have to invest in a new set of head phones that actually will stay on while I work.
I worked mostly on the border today, but also laid out the background for the ceiling medallion.
I cut two half circles out of a heavy duty plastic to form a 42" diameter circle above the chandelier (wrapped). I have it attached to the ceiling with a repositionable spray adhesive and also some blue tape for extra precaution.
I troweled the first layer on, hoping I could get away with 2 layers of troweled Amethyst tinted plaster, but did not like the way it was covering. After I completed this 1st troweled layer, I let it dry and worked on the border some more.
I then rolled on a 2nd layer, let dry, and troweled a final, thin, 3rd layer. That’s as far as I got with this today.
Back to the border… I added a 3/4" silver stripe to both sides of the Amethyst border. In each of the 4 corners, I added a Fleur de Lis design in silver and gold. If you look closely, you will see how neatly I mitered my corners. 😉
Here’s a close up of one of the corners. This Fleur de lis stencil is from Royal Design Studios. I am highlighting with an iridescent gold which looks much nicer in person!
As I mentioned in an earlier post last week, there is always some pain associated with ceiling work. I’d say the hardest physical part is done – troweling on the 3 layers all over the ceiling. Now it’s all detail work. Not that it is not physical, but it is just not such wide, sweeping motions. I noticed a few days ago that my left shoulder was hurting. Hurting to the point where I was trying not to use my left hand/arm. I think I pulled something when I was trying to pry the lid off of the giant bucket of plaster, or from pulling myself up on the scaffolding. I was not thinking too much about it and thought it would go away over the weekend, but it’s still hurting. I’ve been taking a few Bayer Extra Strength Back and Body and that seems to be doing the trick. I have no idea when or why I picked these up, but they have not expired yet, so yay! I only have 4 left, so I guess I better pick up another bottle to get me through this job.
Tomorrow I will probably just have time to work on the border stencil design.
