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themselves ‘Venetian plaster,’” explains
Victoria Bingham, founder of the Buon
Fresco studio and the Academy of Wall
Artistry in Falls Church, Va. “I defi ne
the product by its application and result,
regardless of whether or not lime is
present. A high-end Venetian plaster is
applied with a steel trowel and burnishes
naturally to a very high shine with the
same tool prior to any top-coating. A
fi ne plaster sings. Artifi cial plasters are
applied like paint and have the artifi cial
shine of paint if they shine at all.”
Sickler expands on this theme.
“One can take any inexpensive fl at
paint or patching material that has a
large chalk content, apply it to a fl at
surface, let it dry and burnish it with a
cotton cloth to a shiny surface,” he says.
“A synthetic plaster/paint formulation
with a large chalk content like this will
always remain fairly soft … and will
wash right off the surface with water.
Since chalk is fairly opaque, there is
little translucency, and only a small
amount of visual texture remains after
all the work of applying and burnishing.”
Faux plasters are an outgrowth of
the faux-paint fi nish trend, and paint
manufacturers have moved into the
business to keep their customer base,
says Tony Fiocco, managing director
of FirmoLux LLC in Sarasota, Fla.,
a division of the European company
Finergy Development. Th ey are often
based on paint formulas or portland
cement, he says. “Th ese products are
available at home centers and paint
stores, often as a loss leader so as not to
lose a paint customer.”
Paint-like products have their place,
says Bill Gauthier of American Burnish
in Beacon, N.Y., but that place is
defi nitely not the do-it-yourself market.
“Th e problem is anyone can go to a
home center and buy the product and
then they want to know, can they brush
it on? What’s a trowel? What’s a blade?
Above: TexSton’s lime-based Veneziano
plaster can be used to a achieve a wide
variety of fi nishes.
Photos courtesy of TexSton Inc.
Left: Dean Sickler, owner of Dundean
Studios, likes the natural color variability of
lime plaster. He believes lime can deliver
darker colors than synthetics.
Photo courtesy of Dundean Studios Inc.
Spring 2008 ◆ www.Hawk-n-Trowel.com ◆ 13