Whelp, the clay is on. It took for-freaking-ever, but I think it was worth it. I started gap filling with plastic putty; it should work fine once the rest of the clay dries. I hit the test piece with some red and brown wash for a final paint test. Starting to smell the end of the line.
TIL
The word ampersand came many years later when & was actually part of the English alphabet. In the early 1800s, school children reciting their ABCs concluded the alphabet with the &.
It would have been confusing to say “X, Y, Z, and.” So, the students said, “and per se and.” … Over time, “and per se and” was slurred together into the word we use today: ampersand.
https://www.dictionary.com/e/ampersand/
Really, really glad I airbrushed yesterday.