Relaxing after a hard day learning decorative cement from Cindee Lundin

Even the gridlines on the map are polished plaster

One of the more interesting things about the project from a technical point of view:  The substrate walls were pretty rough.  Rather than do the standard prep of smoothing the surface out prior to polished plaster, Tina and the crew went directly over the rough substrate which ended up looking wonderful and giving the feel of those ridges under the ocean and the waves on top.  I could look at that blue wall all day.

Fun stuff

Here’s a not very well kept secret – these guys serve some of the best cocktails in Seattle

Thanks to Sun Liquor for being such a cool place and supporting the local artisans in our town

Tina Randolph just started using Stucco Italiano plasters which she says she now loves.  She’s been doing awesome decorative work all over Seattle for many years, including some great stuff in Top Pot Doughnuts which is owned by the same folks who brought us the new Sun Liquor.  I’m hoping to interview Tina next week for the blog and post some more jobs that she’s done.

Here’s some advice on how to take your distressed finishes from the sample board to the wall:

1- Study actual photos of crumbling plaster exteriors and interiors. Note the size and scale of the different layers, note the shapes and direction. I generally work with about an 80% vertical and 20% horizontal direction, very little or no diagonal direction.

2- The pattern on a sample board must be expanded to the size and scale of the walls. A sample board may be viewed as a miniature version of the wall to be blown up accordingly.

3- Move your body in a large scale. That is, be expansive, move your arms accordingly – don’t work with small, tight motions from the wrist or elbow. Instead work from the shoulder. Stay loose.

4- Create pattern over multiple layers, not just on your final layer. This will force a greater degree of randomness in your overall pattern. Here’s an example:

On this exterior project the client really wanted to see dark brown openings through a Terra Cotta finish. This created a finish with a high degree of contrast so we had to be particularly careful about not allowing the house to have a contrived pattern when completed. We needed to do the finish in two coats since it was a large exterior surface – approximately 20,000 square feet. Rather than cover the entire first coat with the dark brown we chose to cover only about 15-20%.

This “under-pattern” was designed to help the stucco installers find a more realistic shape and scale on their second pass of material. Also, note how the dark brown generally originates from the top of the wall or the sides. This is often what you will see on an actual stuccoed surface where the first coats of plaster are falling away from the surface. Kind of looked like a giant cow for a while and the country club’s community board got a little nervous, but fortunately our clients had faith in me.
This photos shows the work in progress on the 2nd layer: The dark brown is revealed in small, linear shapes beneath the 2nd terra cotta stucco layer. By following the pattern initiated in the first layer, we had a much easier time avoiding the contrived, obvious, unrealistic pattern I was concerned about.

And here is a detail of the finished exterior surface.

Final tip: PRACTICE!! On a 4×8 sheet of drywall, or your mom’s house. You’ll get the hang of it. Just don’t try to figure it out on a multi million dollar job site if you can help it. Unless you have nerves of steel. We don’t.
]]> http://www.stuccoitalianoinc.com/tips-tricks/exterior-distressed-venetian-plaster/feed/ 6 http://www.stuccoitalianoinc.com/featured-stucco-italiano-installer/lars-on-tadelakt-the-finest-of-lime-plasters/ http://www.stuccoitalianoinc.com/featured-stucco-italiano-installer/lars-on-tadelakt-the-finest-of-lime-plasters/#comments Mon, 13 Apr 2009 19:36:25 +0000 Katharine Houpt http://www.stuccoitalianoinc.com/?p=603 Lars Hansen wrote a nice post about Tadelakt. Great little summary of the history, look, and feel of one of the most popular wall finishing materials.

Speaking of Lars, if you’re in Colorado this weekend be sure to check out his Handcrafted Finishes booth at the Four Corners Green Living Expo at the Durango fairgrounds (For those of you who live in Telluride, please come down, it is only a two hour drive).

Check out Lars’ personal Stucco Italiano applicator profile…

…and Lars’ website.…

Lars Hansen wrote a nice post about Tadelakt. Great little summary of the history, look, and feel of one of the most popular wall finishing materials.

Speaking of Lars, if you’re in Colorado this weekend be sure to check out his Handcrafted Finishes booth at the Four Corners Green Living Expo at the Durango fairgrounds (For those of you who live in Telluride, please come down, it is only a two hour drive).

Check out Lars’ personal Stucco Italiano applicator profile…

…and Lars’ website.

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Marmorino all over my Chanel suit: We’ve found that, when using a natural lime based plaster such as Marmorino Carrara, if you wash your clothes the day of or day after getting plaster on them they will wash right off, unlike latex paint. In a pinch you could probably throw them in a bucket of Downey.

Why stay clean: 10 years ago when I went from being primarily a faux painter to doing much more Venetian plaster I noticed something. Plaster professionals are really fussy about the cleanliness of their tools and their buckets. Want to know why? Because a couple of little pieces of dried up plaster – AKA “hitchhikers”- on your hawk or in your bucket will ruin your morning when applying Marmorino or other smooth polished plasters. And they can also ruin a bucket of expensive lime based material. So be clean and neat and you will reap the benefits. Customers will absolutely love that about their decorative plastering contractors too.

In the first one she used Marmorino Carrara on the walls and Golden metallic paints and powder pigments on the ceiling. She also painted the designs in the middle.

And here is a distressed Carrara finish…

A lovely Marmorino Classic finish…

Here is a table before Mariella started…

and after a Carrara finish…

Click on the thumbnails to see more photos of Mariella’s work:

A while ago, I briefly mentioned a project Tom Williams is working on in Ballard using Intonachino Extra Fine and Medium. It’s worth taking another look. Click on the picture below to see more photos.

Of course, mold-resistance is great for optimal indoor air health as well, so intonachino and other lime plasters are also ideal for interiors. Quoting from this excellent article on lime plaster’s natural mold resistance; “the short answer as to why Venetian plaster is truly mold-resistant is that mold can only grow in an acidic and wet or damp environment. Venetian plasters breathe and do not retain moisture. Molds also require a food source and an acidic environment in which to multiply.”

For both health- and earth-conscious reasons, Venetian style Italian lime plasters are the way to go…

Don’t forget the following:

First, make sure after taping and before applying your Venetian plaster that you burnish your tape edges with a plastic putty knife or some other plastic tool. We actually like to cut up old credit cards and keep them in our tool kits.

After taping and burnishing if you are still concerned about your material bleeding through, use a water-based clear sealer and run it lightly over the edge of the tape using the beveled edge of a foam brush. This should seal that edge and stop any material from ruining that nice clean edge on your decorative painting project.

If you are having difficulty removing your tape, try using a hair dryer to lightly heat up the glue and make removal easier.

When applying Venetian plaster or other stucco or Italian plaster products, bleed should not be an issue. However, you may find when trying to remove your tape after applying Marmorino Carrara or similar Venetian plaster finishes that it can’t be removed cleanly due to the thickness of the plaster material. Try running the edge of your plastic putty knife into the seam where the tape edge is. This should help break the bond between the plaster material and the tape so that removal will be easier.

REMEMBER! 3-M blue tape and other similar painter’s tapes are not low-tack tapes. They are a long mask, medium tack tape. Use a lower tack tape to protect delicate surfaces.

5 things you’ve probably heard about Venetian plaster, and why they are wrong:

1. You’ve heard: “Venetian plaster is a faux finish.”

The truth: Authentic Venetian plaster is not a faux finish. In fact, it’s the most authentic veneer wall finish you can have. When natural, lime-based venetian plaster is applied it will eventually return to it’s original state, which is lime and marble, AKA stone.

2. You’ve heard: You can buy Venetian plaster at Lowes or Home Depot.

The truth: You will find products labeled “Venetian plaster,” but they are actually composed of acrylic polymers and fillers such as gypsum and/or clay. While these synthetic Venetian plasters made by paint manufacturers may look somewhat similar to the real thing to the untrained eye, it’s been our experience that these synthetics will ultimately fade and become “tired” looking over a relatively short period of time, just like painted walls. Unlike real Venetian Plaster, synthetic Venetians are more closely related to paint than to stone, so this should come as no surprise.

3. You’ve heard: Venetian plaster can’t be applied in the shower, on exteriors, or on any surface that will get wet.

The truth: True Italian Venetian plaster is actually a wonderful choice for surfaces that will get wet. Lime plasters perform extremely well in wet climates by simply allowing any water that is absorbed into the plaster to quickly evaporate and exit the structure. That’s why they’re called Venetian plaster, because they can tolerate rising damp and canal-side applications like in the lagoons of Venice that would cause failure in acrylic and cement plasters. Traditional Moroccan lime plaster Tadelakt has been used in the Hammams (the traditional Moroccan steam baths), and in the riads of Marrakesh for centuries.

4. You’ve heard: Anyone can apply Venetian plaster in their home.

The truth: Well, it’s true that anyone can apply it. But applying it well is a different story. While we definitely aren’t saying you’ll be a pro after one day, our new Introduction to Authentic Venetian Plaster is a good place for a beginner to start understanding the do’s and dont’s of Venetian plaster application. Also, consider hiring a skilled contractor to do the job.

5. You’ve heard: Installing Venetian plaster in your home will break the bank.

The truth: Unlike paints which must be reapplied over and over, Venetian plaster is a lifetime finish. The material is self-healing, much less likely to crack than cement finishes, and naturally mold-resistant, resulting in beautiful walls that will withstand the test of time. Green building will be a key part of America’s economic future, and authentic Venetian plasters are not only beautiful, they fit perfectly into the future of green building.

6. You’ve heard: Venetian plaster is really shiny.

The truth: OK that’s 6 things not 5 you caught me. Yes, Venetian plaster can be brought up to a natural high sheen by compressing the material as it dries. The more compression, the higher the sheen. However, natural lime plasters can also be finished to a rustic matte or satin sheen, depending on which material is used and how it is applied. The possible looks and finishes for Venetian plaster are limitless!

Got any more questions about Venetian plaster? Ask away in the comments and we’ll do our best to shed some light on the subject.

Best way we’ve done and seen done is to put material on your finger – latex glove or finger condom nice to have here – and run it into your corner just like caulk. Easy. Then clean up the wall face you are not working on before proceeding to finish the wall face you are working on. Make sense? I’ll do a short video on that soon.