Historically this is how I would spackle:

1. Scrape the spackle into a hole with a putty knife.

2. Repeat until the spackle is flat.

3. Wait 30 minutes.

4. Clean around the hole with a damp paper towel.

This is, I have been sternly told, not how you spackle. Someone watched me spackle in aghast horror. Interventions were staged. You can’t do that, they said. Others will notice.

This is how they spackle: