Venetian plaster: features of the use of material
Venetian stucco decoration at all times was the prerogative of elite buildings and rich houses. Expensive material with an incredibly complex method of application simply could not be available to everyone.
Over the past centuries, the composition of Venetian plaster, the basis of which was originally marble dust, has undergone some changes. In the modern "Venetian" marble may not be at all.
At the same time, the price of the material is significantly reduced, and people with average incomes can also use it for the design of their home. It only remains to learn how to work with it yourself, the video in this article will help you navigate this issue.
The content of the article
A small digression into history
To make it clear what constitutes Venetian plaster, let's look into history. Judging by the name, one might think that she appeared in Venice - but this is not so. In the vicinity of Rome there were many marble quarries, and in the city most of the buildings were built from it. It was almost a thousand years BC, and it is clear that in those days the stone was processed almost manually.
So:
- The work is incredibly hard and painstaking, and therefore the cost of this building material was so high. The poor people built from cheap improvised stone - although the houses turned out to be solid, they did not differ in such beauty as marble buildings.
- So one of the masters came up with the idea to use for the decoration, so to speak, waste from the production of marble slabs. Gathering dust and crumbs, he made a mixture, covered it with the walls of a simple dwelling and smoothed it well. The result exceeded all expectations - walls covered with improvised plaster could not be distinguished from walls built from solid stone.
- People at all times argued about the same: "If there is no difference, then why pay more." Moreover, with the advent of plaster, the need to process and transport heavy blocks of marble has disappeared. At first, marble dust was waste material and was used exclusively by the poor, but because of this it was not immediately widely used.
The term “plaster” appeared centuries later already in Venice, when the method of coating the walls with a mixture of marble dust was rediscovered and began to be used by artists to create frescoes. It was a painting on raw plaster, on which whole pictures were created, and many of them have survived to this day.
Venetian Plaster Components
Similar techniques were used by many peoples, but it was in Italy that the art of creating frescoes reached its peak. By the way, during the Renaissance, it was the main measure of the artist’s talent.
Many of them made solutions according to their own recipes, experimenting in order to achieve the greatest strength for their creation.
So:
- Lime was used as a binder: both in pure form, and its mixture with casein, or animal glue, egg white. The compositions introduced milk, ground pumice, which made it possible to strengthen the layers of plaster.
- The soil (preparatory layer) under the mural was superimposed in several layers.Larger fillers were added to it: sand, crushed brick, straw - which protected the coating from cracking.
- Paints to create frescoes also used organic, which were applied to dry plaster with glue. No matter how juicy the color is when applied, after drying it faded - the reason for this is a large number of layers. Therefore, images have always been obtained in pastel colors.
- Technological progress could not but affect the composition of the Venetian plaster. Today, polymer resins and additives are added to its composition, which not only improve the mechanical characteristics of screeds, but also make them immune to moisture and temperature extremes.
Note! Until the time when polymers began to be introduced into the composition of Venetian plasters, in our climate they could not be used for exterior decoration. Now there are both interior options and facade ones, allowing you to beautifully finish the building not only inside but also outside.
Dyes having a chemical origin, allow you to create a picture of any color saturation. In modern interiors, you can even see phosphorescent images that are performed using fluorescent paint.
Decorative effects
To apply artistic images to the walls, it was necessary to obtain a perfectly smooth surface. That is why fine sand and finely ground marble were used as filler. But not everyone is able to create a fresco in the style of Michelangelo, so the paintings on the walls and ceilings today fall into the category of elite finishes.
- Introduction to the composition of larger fillers, as well as the use of structural rollers (see Rollers for decorative plastering and creating a relief surface), made it possible to obtain an interesting relief on the surface and, most importantly, to do it yourself, without the participation of eminent artists. By and large, all modern compositions for decorative plastering and staining originate from Venetian plasters.
- If the image on the ancient fresco depended entirely on the imagination and skill of the artist, then modern decorative plasters allow you to do it yourself. Modern manufacturers, as well as artists of the Renaissance, experiment with fillers and additives, they often use not organic, but synthetic additives.
- Enterprises specializing in the production of decorative plasters are interested in sales, and understand that you can’t go far with a product focused exclusively on rich people. Therefore, the production is aimed at creating such compositions, with which you can get an interesting effect, without resorting to expensive specialists.
- As Italian artists did not try to protect their murals from cracking, time still had an effect on them. The ancient images, covered with a thin network of cracks, became even more attractive to the eye and served as an impetus for the creation of modern plasters with an effect called “craquelure”. They are used for interior design, and you can see a similar example in the photo above.
- To obtain this effect, special additives are introduced into the composition of the plaster, which provoke the screed on compression, as a result of which it crackes. Such compositions are focused on a single effect, and the manufacturer's instructions provide detailed instructions on the technology of their application. In this case, imagination can be shown only by playing with shades.
- Plaster compositions can also be designed to perform a relief pattern using the sgraffito technique.This is a white Venetian plaster, which is tinted during application and retains its plasticity for as long as it takes to process the topcoats.
- The drawing is applied not with paint, but mechanically - by removing fragments of the upper layer - so that the contrasting lower layer is visible. Masters apply the outline of the drawing to the eye, but it is much easier to do this with a stencil. Such a picture on the plaster looks incredibly beautiful, but it is slow and therefore expensive.
- Anyway, not everyone will be able to create a mural or pattern using the sgraffito technique on their own. Maybe that's why the texture of marble is the most popular among us, which can be imitated without even having special artistic talents.
This stone by nature has an inexhaustible palette of shades and textures, so the imitation of the marble surface can be entered into almost any interior. And even more so, it is an integral part of the design in antique, Mediterranean, and many other architectural styles. The creation of such an effect will be discussed in the next chapter.
Features of applying Venetian plaster
In order to work with Venetian plaster, in addition to general construction tools such as tape measure, level, drill with nozzles, masking tape and fur roller with a bath, you must have a set of special tools in your arsenal. Moreover, they must be of good quality and made of stainless steel.
It:
- Spatulas: large, with a canvas 20 cm wide, and small, not more than 6 cm
- Two graters of different sizes (width 28 and 20 cm)
- Two brushes: crown and flute
- Trowel venetian
- Wax polisher
- Sandpaper of various grain sizes
And you also need to prepare several containers for mixing and tinting the plaster, as well as measuring cups and a syringe for dispensing color. Depending on the intended effect, structural rollers, stencils, thin brushes for drawing veins of marble may be needed. All these little things are simply necessary to create a beautiful picture on the plaster.
Consumables
As for consumables, they need to be bought together with plaster and preferably one brand. In any case, sellers offer the buyer complete everything that is necessary for work. Each manufacturer has its own materials, and their set depends on the decorative effect for which the plaster is designed.
- Most often this is a primer; acrylic lacquer; finish varnish; protective wax for venetian plaster; glazing composition. At your discretion, you can purchase decorating additives: bronze, mother of pearl, silver, gold, sparkles. Decorative enamels are also offered with the same effects.
- We must say right away that decorative plaster should be applied to an already prepared wall. So, if you have not done this yet, you will have to buy a basic mixture for leveling - preferably acrylate, or do it with drywall - and only then create your own masterpieces.
By the way, the consumption of Venetian plaster per 1 m2 varies from 0.3 kg - 1.2 kg, and this just depends on the quality of the base.
To keep this figure to a minimum, the surface must not only be properly leveled, but also treated with a deep penetration acrylic primer before applying the Venetian plaster. After 12 hours, you can start decorating the surface.
Plaster application in the classic version
After the primed surface has dried, the next layer of soil is applied - now already tinted.Initially, the soil has a white color, and color is added to it, corresponding to the shade in which the surface will be painted. This is necessary in order to better hide the base base.
- Tinting paints are packaged by the manufacturer or seller in small jars, and their number corresponds to the dose that needs to be added to a certain amount of primer. This is very convenient: pour a jar of tint, for example, onto a ten-liter bucket of soil, mix thoroughly until a uniform color is obtained - and you're done.
- Such a composition dries quickly - no more than two hours. After the set time, the surface is slightly cleaned with a wide spatula, and then the plaster is applied directly. It is also white, and tinted similarly to the previous layer.
Important! You only need to remember that you need to tint immediately such an amount of material that is guaranteed to be enough for the area that is supposed to be processed, since it is almost impossible to get the same shade in two different batches.
- Putty is put with a Venetian trowel, in the direction “from a dry place to a wet one” - this does not leave the initial points of contact between the trowel and the surface. To get the effect of natural stone, you need to apply at least three layers.
- The layer of plaster should be thin, and it dries, depending on the humidity in the room, from one to two hours. The second layer is applied similarly to the first, and it takes as long to dry.
- The third layer is the thinnest and translucent. It is no longer applied with a trowel, but with a spatula, and within an hour they begin the important stage: ironing the surface - that is, smoothing the applied layers with a trowel. At this point, the plaster is glossy and the pattern appears. It is important not to overdo it or scratch the plaster, as it will no longer be possible to fix it.
Before it can be coated with a protective wax, a day should pass from the moment of its application. It is applied with a wide spatula, a thin uniform layer, and after 40-50 minutes it is polished. At this stage, too, there are nuances that are very important to observe, so be careful about the recommendations of the manufacturer of the Venetian plaster.
