Getting Plastered then Waxing Off

To wax or not to wax, that is the question I ask of thee.   Italian Plasterworks just got back from a lovely contemporary residential  installation.  A little chaos commenced the project as the homeowner wanted a marble sheen and the decorator wanted a surface shine.  The compromise was a lightly waxed wall.  Well what does that all mean? 

When to Wax:
Waxing a traditionally plastered lime based wall is done to protect the wall.  It should and is almost always done in commercial installations where there is a lot of traffic.  Wax does provide a layer of protection.  So if you are talking about a store or restaurant where people and things are going to be rubbing up against the surface, you should wax or apply a chemical protective coating.  Also one should protect areas that will be splashed with water.  As pure water won't stain real lime plaster at all, stuff in the water might leave a residue.  Waxing will leave a surface shine and the level of surface shine will depend on how polished the plaster is.  If you need to protect a wall but don't want any shine, then use a chemical protective coating.  This isn't as important with synthetic acrylic based plasters like Variance. 

Waxing provides surface shine of some level on all plasters but most on high polished plasters often called grassellos or Venezianos. If you are looking for the glossiest of shines, then waxing will provide that.  Some synthetic plasters are made with acrylic and thus give a more of a surface shine than authentic lime plasters but their level of shine can too be bumped up with wax.

Add a decorative layer.  When a wax is tinted or is filled with an additive like mica, it will add another decorative layer to the wall.  When doing Old World creations, a darker waxed is used to give the appearance of age and wear. It gives a glazing effect and can add a pearly or glittery look as well.

Or Not to Wax:
When a marble sheen is desired.  A properly burnished plaster does not need any thing else.  A properly burnished high polished plaster is very shiny but one can only see the shine when their eye at an angle on the wall. It has no surface shine which means when you look at it straight on, it appears matte.  This is also known as a marble shine.  This is much more common in residences as there can be a thing as too much shine.  An unwaxed lime based wall is more traditional and easier on the eyes.  Lime plaster as it was meant to be.  Most of the residence work Italian Plasterworks does, is unwaxed.    

Sophisticated International Business Women

I have a BA in history which meant I had few career choices when exiting college. I don't really like children all that much, so teaching never appealed to me. Managing paperwork details triggers some form of ADD. My dad calls it L.A.Z.Y. but I think he is wrong, its ADD triggered by computer forms. Obviously, administrative work was out. So that left sales. One of my favorite jobs was selling mathematical and statistical libraries to programmers. There was an international sales department in this company and I was really jealous of the trips they took to work 10 day 10 hour trade shows in places like Paris or Madrid. Given that I was endlessly in Las egas, it made me sick. I vowed one day to go on an international business trip!

So while waiting to board the flight from Chicago to Frankfurt with Deb Campbell of Wallartistry it dawned on me that I had finally reached personal goal set almost 2 decades ago. Whether Deb cared or not, we were Sophisticated International Business Women. Click on link at left for video. And yes, only one trip allowed us that title.

Deb Campbell and I are the only two certified instructors for Safra Colors of Villafranca di Verona. Luigi, the owner of Safra Plasters, generously brought us over to bring us up to date on the latest trends and finishes and work on sales strategies as we both now sell products for Safra.

Well Deb was fortunate that her luggage arrived with her so she had a different Sophisticated International Business Woman outfit to change into every day. I did not. My luggage didn't make it until the day before we left. I had shopped for several Sophisticated International Business Woman outfits which I did not wear. I wore the same pair of jeans and a Romeo and Juliet t-shirt I picked up in Verona. I dressed worse than I do when I am working at my studio in Solana Beach, Ca. That, though, did not deter me from Sophisticated International Business Women activities such as negotiating terms while at the same time falling asleep (due to jet lag and eating a whole pizza for lunch) drinking Proseco, eating a single plate of food that would feed my family, taking pictures of walls and letting anybody who would talk to us know that we were in Italy on business. We had plenty of opportunity to let those who would speak to us know that we were in Italy on business while we toured (as professionals of course) Verona, Venice, Lake Garda and Mantua.

Italy is one of the most lovely places on earth and all should go often. San Diego is amazing so there are only a few places in which departing causes personal suffering. Italy is on the list with London and Hawaii. Italy is also mind blowing to those of us in the industry of decorative arts and finishes. There is something about the medium of lime, whether its in the form of a fresco, marbleizng, a high polished plaster or a rough hewn exterior stucco that sets themselves apart from anything else. The way light reflects, they way in which it exfoliates, the way in which pigments display color all play apart of its unbeatable magic along with of course the Italian's sense of style.

So not only is it exciting to finally become a Sophisticated International Business Woman, being one in an industry I actually have passion for is a real blessing.

What is in a name?

Oh the joys of naming your small business. At that time I decided to focus my business on one niche in the decorative finish world (fine plaster finishes {aka Venetian/Italian plaster)the word "green" was just a color and you could only get lime plaster from a distributor who imported if from Italy.

When it came to naming the business, I figured I could go two routes. One, I could use something with my name in it, i.e. Ayn Riggs Studio or Ayn Riggs Wall Finishes. I chose not to go that route for 2 reasons. One is that it might imply that I am a fine artist (which I am not). Secondly, I was afraid I might only appeal to Libertarians (being named after Ayn Rand has its issues). Thus, I chose to go the more industrial route and within minutes the URL www.italianplasterworks.com was registered.

I needed something to differentiate us from the heavy duty lath and plaster cousin, so I thought Italian would do the trick. I have been battling with the word Italian from the beginning.

"I would love a fine finish but our house is French Country."
"My house is contemporary."
"I am Italian but my husband is German."
"My house is Cape Cod."

I've even caught myself getting defensive in the Italian Plasterworks showroom.,"Does wearing a pair of Italian loafers make you a Donatella Versace wanna be? No, it just means you like things of high quality."

I wondered if some of my com padres dealt with similar angst. So, I asked Robin of Verona Walls what he has encountered. His business was first named Classical Plastering. He received too many calls inquiring for drywall work that he changed it to Verona Walls. Its worked out for him much better, although somebody did ask him if he was familiar with Tuscan Style.


John Redmon, a decorative painter in Tucson, has been focusing on fine plasters and is in the process of changing his business name from Southwest Painting and Design to Classical Italian Plastering. I wonder if he is ready for, "My house is Italian but its ultra urban."?

Deb Cambell of Wallartistry in Ohio and Partic Webb of Real Finishes in Florida have really hit the nail on the head with their company names. Perhaps I should go URL shopping again.

What's lime got to do with it?

The purpose of this post is to create a glossary to clear up confusion with some of the buzz words we hear around plaster and lime.

LIMESTONE: is sedimentary rock made up of the mineral calcite in its crystallized form known as calcium carbonate (CACO3). Its found all over the world, not just in Italy.

MARBLE: some limestone has gone through a metamorphosis (recrystallization) and became marble. Pure marble is only made of CACO3 and is white. The beautiful colors that are found in marble are from other minerals (i.e. iron oxide, clay) that were on the limestone when it metamorphosed into marble.

LIME PLASTER: is made through a process of cooking chunks of limestone until it disintegrates into a powder which is called calcium oxide. When water is mixed with calcium oxide it becomes calcium hydroxide also known as slacked lime. Slacked lime can come in powder form or when more water is added it becomes a paste. The paste form is what we call lime plaster.

PLASTER: In general, plaster can be made of gypsum, portalnd cement, lime or combinations there of. Plaster is also called stucco with usually has cement in it.

100% Lime Plaster: Means it is only made up of CACO3. Since marble is also CACO3, marble dust of various size can be mixed in with the paste and still be considered a 100% lime plaster. Lime plaster has been used for 1000's of years all over the world as an exterior or interior finish. When lime plaster is drying on a wall its called carbonating. During this process CO2 is being drawn into the plaster to help turn it back onto stone.

VENETIAN PLASTER: Is a misnomer in the United States causing much confusion for home owners, builders, architects and designers. We see this everyday at Italian Plasterworks. Back in the day, when the grand villas were being built along the canals in Venice, it was popular to use large marble slabs as your wall finish. The villas could not support the weight of the slabs so craftsmen created very fine plasters to emulate the look of a marble slab. The craft of marbleizing was born. Venetian plaster can be more considered a technique but still people haves different ideas as to what that outcome should look like.

ITALIAN PLASTER: Italians have been making lime plasters for hundreds of years. Plasters are used as much as paint in Italy. Due to delicate restoration work done in Italy, Italians have purity laws regarding the ingredients of their plasters thus are considered to make the best plasters in the world. Safra, Firenze and Firmolux are a few of the companies that export their plasters to the US. In the US, you and I could throw paint, lime, and gypsum in a bucket and market it as Venetian Plaster. Some North American companies are entering the market with high quality lime plasters such as Totem Coatings and Vasari.

VENEZIANO: is a term associated with a high polished plaster. Venezianos are made by most plaster malefactors and are very popular. Most Venezianos are not 100% lime as 100% lime plasters are hard to apply with little or no training. So most Venezianos are acrylic based to meet the needs of the contractors. Veneziano Photo

MARMORINO: Means little marble in Italian. Typically, a marmorino plaster does not have the high gloss sheen of a Veneziano but more of a semi-gloss appearance. Marmorino Photo

Benefits of 100% lime plaster: Lime plaster has been "green" since its conception because its just limestone. Even the process of making plaster from limestone is green. Because lime is caustic it resists mold, mildew and bacterias from growing on its surface. Its flexible enough that it doesn't have the cracking problems that plasters and stucco created with cement have. It draws CO2 form the air when its drying and is breathable. Some plasters are labeled "lime based". This can be anywhere from 10% to 99%. A plaster with only 10% is not going to have the same benefits as a 100% plaster.

Drawback of 100% Lime Plaster: The skill of correctly applying lime plaster takes training and practice. Both the California School of Italian Plasters and the Midwest School of Italian Plasters offer a week long program.

FAUX FINISH: Faux just means fake in French. Before fine finish plasters were readily available, artists used paints and glazes to emulate the look of a real plaster. So a wall with a plaster finish isn't a faux finish, its a real finish. But to confuse things, artists use real plasters in such a way to create an old world look which would be a faux old wall.