20111111 N9 domeceiling1

My daughter had planned everything about this building from the start... except this. If I had time, I wanted to hide the most gemlike surprise under that big corniced roof she had planned—a domed ceiling, faux painted like the pine forests of Maine, with an oculus (hole in the ceiling) to let in the sun and lights at its adge to make it sparkle. This would big my big gift to her. So one November long weekend when she was away, I cautiously began to build something I had NO IDEA of how to do in mini—a domed ceiling.<div><br></div><div>Step one, find a "dome" to use as a form, something non-porous and approximately the same size as the shop. In this case, that was the domed glass lid from my deep fryer. I coated the lid with cornstarch to make sure the domed ceiling would release easily when it was time. Then I rolled out paperclay, very thin (approximately 1/8" thick), in a circle that was larger than the lid, then draped it over, carefully cut a hole in the center (where the oculus would go), and worked the clay, gently, until it was tightly and <i>verrrry</i> smoothly conforming to the glass lid. This took a bit of time but wasn't difficult.</div>