Hi out there, I haven’t posted for a while – I’m being a bad blogger. I’ll do better this year.
Check out this cool stop-motion video of our friend Lynn Kriley applying Marmorino Carrara to a wall up in Anchorage Alaska, He says it’s something like 35 below there at night – yikes.
Stop Motion movie of me applying Stucco Italiano Marmorino Plaster from Lynn Kriley on Vimeo.
If only we could work that fast, right?…
Kelowna, BC is a beautiful place. It’s the largest town nestled in the Okanagan Valley, home to dozens of wineries. The locals are calling it “Napa of the North” or something like that.
We have a number of projects going right now up there, I’m just begging the installers for photos. I was just there a few weeks ago and took some photos of a winery south of Kelowna that Len Trump just did using Carrara, Intonachino, and lime paint. It came out beautifully. Below is a preview – Len had some professional photos taken and I’ll post those in the next couple of days.
The grocery stores all have all kinds of really delicious grapes you can’t get in Seattle.
We have a big exterior project going on north of Kelowna, they are using Intonachino Medium. Check out this place:
The whole interior is getting the “Stucco Italiano treatment” also.
The architect and the owner want a distressed finish, which can be difficult to pull off on an exterior because of the need to work on such a large scale “canvas”. I played around with the stucco contractor on a couple of different approaches on some test walls. The house is first-coated with Intonachino in most areas, but the final finish will be done next spring.
I’ll head up there when they get started on the last coat. I like sitting in a directors chair and yelling out instructions. But seriously you often need someone to be far enough away during application to see the composition from the bigger perspective.
Distressing exteriors is a whole thing unto itself. It can go horribly wrong. And then your customer’s neighbors will make fun of them, so you must not attempt this unless you really know what you are doing, or, just get me a plane ticket and the directors chair.
I’ll do a post in the not-too-distant future on aging exteriors.
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Just got back from a nice weekend in Mosier, Oregon, helping my friend Paul install his Tadelakt shower. Mosier is a tiny little town next to Hood River along the beautiful Columbia Gorge region. So I worked Friday and Saturday and got a day off Sunday to do a little hiking.
Here’s me and the shower, no good pictures yet but Paul will send me some after he gets the bathroom cleaned up and I’ll post them.
Paul is also going to finish off the floor in the bathroom and the countertops, so it will be one of those nice seamless Tadelakt bathrooms.
For substrate we used a new product I have become very interested in. It’s called Rubberize It and it’s a Zero VOC paint on rubber coating that seems to waterproof any surface it coats. On their website they do a demonstration on the inside of a cardboard box which they completely waterproof with the rubberizer and then fill with water. Pretty impressive. Here’s a link to their website. What surprised me when I ran some tests in the studio a couple of months ago was how well all of our material bonded to it. I applied the Tadelakt directly over the coats of Rubberize It and our material bonds very strongly to it. So theoretically, in a shower one could build the substrate out of almost anything (for example, plywood) and coat with Rubberize It and end up with a waterproof surface the Tadelakt will bond great to. Seems like it should work. Paul is one of the principals in the company so he gets to be guinea pig for a few months and then I am going to use it in my house for a Tadelakt shower as well. I’ll keep you posted.
You can also use the material on exteriors, which is very interesting, and they seem to be doing a brisk business selling the coating for roofs, as well as koi ponds and other water garden features.
The Columbia gorge is such a beautiful area, go there if you can. Here’s a couple of shots I took during our hike:
Nice, right? We have a couple of spots left in our certification class next week, and there is also room in the one-day Tadelakt class. I’ll be using my new find Rubberize It to prep all the Tadelakt boards. I’ll post photos of that finished bathroom as soon as I get some.
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Due to popular demand we’ve added a basic one-day Tadelakt workshop to our class roster. Here’s some of the info for the class:
Our One-Day Tadelakt Workshop will introduce you to the basics for applying our Italian manufactured Moroccan-style Tadelakt product.
You will also learn about substrates and sealing Tadelakt, how to apply in showers and wet areas, and how to create high polished Tadelakt.
The One-Day Tadelakt Workshop is held on Day 2 as part of our 3-Day Stucco Italiano Certification Course. The Tadelakt class may be taken as part of the Certification Course for $795, or it can be taken separately for $300.
UPCOMING CLASS DATES:
¨ Tuesday, September 20
¨ Tuesday, December 6
Please call the studio for more information or to hold your spot in class! Or you may sign up on line here.
Hope to see se you in class!…
I just got off the phone with one of our applicators who has used Moroccan Tadelakt many times in the past. He trained in Morocco on it’s use. He just finished a large steam room with Stucco Italiano Tadelakt and could not stop raving about how much he loved it. It is a truly wonderful material.
This reminded me that I get asked fairly often if our Tadelakt is the “real” Tadelakt. When people ask this they are usually asking if it comes from Morocco. Stucco Italiano Tadelakt is manufactured in Italy.
In our humble opinion, ours is an improved version of Moroccan Tadelakt. This is what our applicators are telling us as well. Stucco Italiano Tadelakt looks the same as Moroccan Tadelakt, it has the same chemistry as Moroccan Tadelakt. But due to the Italian refinement in the manufacturing process it is easier to polish and less likely to peel off when it is being polished. On flat surfaces it can be brought up to the highest sheen with only a trowel – a stone is not necessary. So it looks better more consistently and requires less labor. Anything wrong with that?
Here’s the official statement from our website:
Stucco Italiano Tadelakt is manufactured in Italy by Giovanni Polistena. Giovanni’s intentions in developing this Moroccan-style Tadelakt were to remain entirely faithful to the look, feel, and chemical makeup of the original Moroccan Tadelakt, while creating a more sophisticated, user-friendly product. Enlisting the help and guidance of Moroccan Tadelakt installers, Giovanni spent many months formulating the perfect blend of natural limes, clays, and sands.
Stucco Italiano Tadelakt is now preferred by many installers of Moroccan Tadelakt for it’s beauty, ease of installation, and ability to resist delaminating/detaching from the surface as Moroccan Tadelakt often does in the hands of anyone but the most expert installers. The results speak for themselves – Stucco Italiano Tadelakt is the equal to Moroccan Tadelakt in it’s look and durability, and superior in ease of application, price, and availability.…
Stucco Italiano is a member of the US Green Building Council. Naturally high in pH, lime finishes act as an anti-bacterial surface, neutralizing the development of organic substances such as mold and fungus.
Non-toxic and green, our lime plasters are ideal for interiors or exteriors. A breathable system, our lime plasters allow water vapor to permeate freely so moisture evaporates quickly, unlike acrylic finishes which can trap moisture inside the wall.
