While I’m some time away from completing the conversion of two bedrooms into one, the huge gap between the two ceilings is no more. After delaying for too long, I finally got around to a first full coast of plaster yesterday. 

It looks a little rough, mainly because I’d grossly underestimated the time I’d need to cover the whole ceiling, but I’d always anticipated a second coat. 

It’ll be another couple of weeks before I can do that (one has a life outside the spare bedroom), but I’ve decided on dividing the whole into managable chunks to make sure I’ve time to work with the plaster before it goes off (the tartar sauce tip proved to be an ineffective method of slowing down the hardening process).