With only two days remaining of my holiday, I was determined to make some serious progress with the study today. Up that ladder I strode, paint tin and brush in hand, to apply the first coat of white "satinwood" gloss to the cornice.
One side of the cornice has suffered badly from the ravages of time. Its lower edge is almost completely gone, to the point where in places it's indistinguishable from the wall. We decided long ago that the best way to deal with this was to mask it off in a straight line and paint it as if it were still whole. Having barely a half-inch of Natural Hessian emulsion left in the second tin, and not wishing to start in on the third, I had to finish the cornice off in case any touching up of the walls proved necessary owning to drips or splashes.
This proved to be the right decision as I'd forgotten quite how runny Satinwood gloss can be, and overloaded the brush along the first section of cornice leaving four or five drips in my wake.
Like most first coats, this first coat ended up looking very streaky in places but in those places where it wasn't streaky the final effect was visible and most gratifying. For a little light relief I glued and fixed the quadrant moulding I'd cut on Thursday afternoon ready for priming tomorrow, and called it a day. But not until I'd peeled back the masking tape to reveal a wonderfully straight-edged finish to the damaged cornice. Close scrutiny will still reveal the chewed-up edge but out of the corner of your eye (the usual way to see cornice), the damage is unnoticeable. Result!
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