DarthStig
New Member
Hi guys, I'm trying to redo my foyer and I want to do a Venetian Plaster but man, pre-made VP is *expletive* expensive. So being an art grad, I figure I could make the stuff like the Italians of old and man it's been a pain. So far I've been unsuccessful in my attempts to recreate it. So now I'm here trying to find a recipe and perhaps more information as to why certain ingredients are needed.
All of these trials have used stainless steel 6" putty knife I rounded the edges off as an application. I mixed them all using a power drill mixer for joint compound (Internet #100392767 on the Home Depot website). They are 3 layers thick and all have been finished by sanding with a Dewalt DA sander with 600 or 800 grit.
Attempt 1:
1/2 marble dust (specifically Fredrix powdered marble)
1/2 Behr Premium Paint & Primer in one (matte I believe)
Outcome: The consistency was runnier than the limited videos I saw on YouTube about Venetian Plaster. It dried hard (pressing your fingernail into it didn't scratch it, so greater than a 3 on the Mohs hardness scale which would mean the paint calcified to hopefully limestone). The problem is there is little to no variation in the colors. It's just one solid color. After burnishing, the putty knife left scuff marks which made the light color I chose look dirty. Sanding was easy and I was left with a very smooth feeling wall (nearly glass-like but not quite). It'd be perfect but I had no contast in the paint and the finish wasn't shiny enough (I'm not going for glossy, just a high-eggshell or satin sheen).
Attempt 2:
All the same except I used eggshell and a darker sample to try to bring out contrast as well as sheen to the finished product.
Outcome: The same as Attempt 1, no luck with either color contrast or sheen.
Attempt 3:
I read somewhere that pigment to dust & lime was around a 10:1 ratio so...
1 part paint
10 parts marble dust
X parts water to allow even distribution of everything and turn the very dry powder into some sort of plaster.
Outcome: Worst outcome so far, but I was impatient and a little annoyed. Obviously without the binder in the paint or anything else, the marble just slid off more or less after the water had evaporated. Sanding was laughably inefficient at getting a good surface. I should have known better, but hindsight is 20/20.
*At this point, I realized art studios and Home Depot/Lowes materials weren't going to cut it. So I went to a masonry/construction products place just outside of Atlanta. I spent $30 total on 50 lbs of lime to make lime putty and 100lbs of marble dust... I spent that just on 3 samples of paint from Home Depot. Ridiculous how much they charge, anyways:
Attempt 4:
10 parts Hydrated lime known as Mortaseal autoclaved mason's lime (Which is a Type S Hydrated/dolomitic lime)
10 parts marble dust (still Fredrix)
1 part paint
X parts water to create paste/putty consistency
*No time given to lime to "mature" or to crystalize (more on this later)*
Outcome: The mixture was much more... gummy. It looked, felt and applied much more consistent with what I believe I saw in the videos. It's like a very thick paper mache feel and it kept soaking up water as I was mixing it all together. On the wall, the paint pigments did not mix (I guessed that beforehand) and it was speckled, but not in a nice deliberate way. There's almost no color at all due to the extreme ratio I used (again I knew that would most likely happen). The texture is also rough, like the lime didn't soak up enough water to make it smooth so it feels like the plaster has a very fine grit of sand in it. The dried variation is soft and can easily be scratched with a fingernail... not good.
Attempt 5:
Same as attempt 4 (in fact the same leftover mixture I used), the difference is it's been sitting with water over the surface of the paint for 5 days. The reason for this is to allow the lime to "mature" for at least 24 hours. I've just been busy and haven't tried it again.
Outcome: Not determined as of yet, but I can't see it going much better. Fingers crossed but most likely it'll be soft and gritty again.
Other experiments:
- Straight hydrated lime allowed to mature (again 5 days or so. I used the "1:3" ratio, water to lime, and it was nowhere NEAR enough so I added probably enough to be 1:2)
-Natural pigments for suspension instead of paint i.e. "epoxy pigments" found at my local Blix art shop
-Possibly add Linseed oil (not sure why it's needed in the plaster aside from giving it a sheen)
-Soaked ivory barsoap, whipped with a food processor until the consistency of whipped cream and used as a topcoat/polish I think...
-Imerys Pool Mix Marble Dust (Product number: AAA-37-0100)
Can anyone help me out to get something CLOSE to Venetian Plaster? Am I on the right track? Does someone know a good pigment brand/what I'm looking for? etc.
Thanks so much guys!
~DS
All of these trials have used stainless steel 6" putty knife I rounded the edges off as an application. I mixed them all using a power drill mixer for joint compound (Internet #100392767 on the Home Depot website). They are 3 layers thick and all have been finished by sanding with a Dewalt DA sander with 600 or 800 grit.
Attempt 1:
1/2 marble dust (specifically Fredrix powdered marble)
1/2 Behr Premium Paint & Primer in one (matte I believe)
Outcome: The consistency was runnier than the limited videos I saw on YouTube about Venetian Plaster. It dried hard (pressing your fingernail into it didn't scratch it, so greater than a 3 on the Mohs hardness scale which would mean the paint calcified to hopefully limestone). The problem is there is little to no variation in the colors. It's just one solid color. After burnishing, the putty knife left scuff marks which made the light color I chose look dirty. Sanding was easy and I was left with a very smooth feeling wall (nearly glass-like but not quite). It'd be perfect but I had no contast in the paint and the finish wasn't shiny enough (I'm not going for glossy, just a high-eggshell or satin sheen).
Attempt 2:
All the same except I used eggshell and a darker sample to try to bring out contrast as well as sheen to the finished product.
Outcome: The same as Attempt 1, no luck with either color contrast or sheen.
Attempt 3:
I read somewhere that pigment to dust & lime was around a 10:1 ratio so...
1 part paint
10 parts marble dust
X parts water to allow even distribution of everything and turn the very dry powder into some sort of plaster.
Outcome: Worst outcome so far, but I was impatient and a little annoyed. Obviously without the binder in the paint or anything else, the marble just slid off more or less after the water had evaporated. Sanding was laughably inefficient at getting a good surface. I should have known better, but hindsight is 20/20.
*At this point, I realized art studios and Home Depot/Lowes materials weren't going to cut it. So I went to a masonry/construction products place just outside of Atlanta. I spent $30 total on 50 lbs of lime to make lime putty and 100lbs of marble dust... I spent that just on 3 samples of paint from Home Depot. Ridiculous how much they charge, anyways:
Attempt 4:
10 parts Hydrated lime known as Mortaseal autoclaved mason's lime (Which is a Type S Hydrated/dolomitic lime)
10 parts marble dust (still Fredrix)
1 part paint
X parts water to create paste/putty consistency
*No time given to lime to "mature" or to crystalize (more on this later)*
Outcome: The mixture was much more... gummy. It looked, felt and applied much more consistent with what I believe I saw in the videos. It's like a very thick paper mache feel and it kept soaking up water as I was mixing it all together. On the wall, the paint pigments did not mix (I guessed that beforehand) and it was speckled, but not in a nice deliberate way. There's almost no color at all due to the extreme ratio I used (again I knew that would most likely happen). The texture is also rough, like the lime didn't soak up enough water to make it smooth so it feels like the plaster has a very fine grit of sand in it. The dried variation is soft and can easily be scratched with a fingernail... not good.
Attempt 5:
Same as attempt 4 (in fact the same leftover mixture I used), the difference is it's been sitting with water over the surface of the paint for 5 days. The reason for this is to allow the lime to "mature" for at least 24 hours. I've just been busy and haven't tried it again.
Outcome: Not determined as of yet, but I can't see it going much better. Fingers crossed but most likely it'll be soft and gritty again.
Other experiments:
- Straight hydrated lime allowed to mature (again 5 days or so. I used the "1:3" ratio, water to lime, and it was nowhere NEAR enough so I added probably enough to be 1:2)
-Natural pigments for suspension instead of paint i.e. "epoxy pigments" found at my local Blix art shop
-Possibly add Linseed oil (not sure why it's needed in the plaster aside from giving it a sheen)
-Soaked ivory barsoap, whipped with a food processor until the consistency of whipped cream and used as a topcoat/polish I think...
-Imerys Pool Mix Marble Dust (Product number: AAA-37-0100)
Can anyone help me out to get something CLOSE to Venetian Plaster? Am I on the right track? Does someone know a good pigment brand/what I'm looking for? etc.
Thanks so much guys!
~DS