Chanukiah Assembly 2

Here's the shamash mini-assembly,followed by the chanukiah on its base. I try to check carefully that it's set up straight and level,although with all that clay drying out,some invariably start to twist and turn,continuing to do so in the glaze firing. Notice that after all this work,we still don't have a functioning chanukiah until candle/oil holders are made and fitted. My current holders are made from [equal] sections of a fat rolled-out coil,impaled on a round stick and rolled over a ridged board. After tidying up,I spray the lot with water and cover well for a couple of days to let all the parts get to know each other. Every now and then I check for cracks - there are a lot of complex and stressed joins here,so you have to expect a few - they can usually be smoothed out,but sometimes reappear in firing.Life is hard. If you're planning to cover the chanukiah with slip be careful - I've lost a few that got too wet and collapsed dramatically and messily.Use a blow-torch. Glazing is another story [who has a bucket that big?] - I learned a technique from the old Cadbury's milk chocolate ads,which I'll show you if we get that far and I remember.