Since the base was made of the clay and it adheres very well to itself, it was easy to build up to a sufficient height. After that, it was just a lot of smoothing with my fingers and using the tools to make the cross-sectional profile as consistent as possible. I had to use my fingers to do the smoothing since the path of the grip was too irregular to utilize them to the full extent. I did use the sponge to smooth out the surfaces, and ended up with a pretty nice finish overall. The smooth finish can be seen in the same picture above. However, it didn't turn out perfectly.