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Fuchsia and Mud!
Nov. 30th, 2009 02:39 am
The picture comments say it all:
The picture comments say it all:
Plaster Progress
Nov. 28th, 2009 03:39 amThanks to help from several friends, my new housemate's room is coming along at a phenomenal rate. Except for minor touch-ups and finish work, the natural plaster is finished, meaning that about 200 lbs. of sand, clay, and pigment have been loaded onto the walls. I'm not 100% happy with the result, yet, but over all it's not bad for a first try. The final color is a light terracotta, with the ceiling left a much-lighter natural clay color. One nice thing about clay plaster is that all one has to do to re-work it is get it wet and wait a while.
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Playing in the Mud
Nov. 24th, 2009 02:45 amSo in my ongoing project to deck out the walls of my guest wing with natural plaster before my new housemate arrives on the 28th, I've now finished priming both rooms (including the ceilings) and with the help of ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
trippedbreaker have moved on to putting down the first layer of plaster.
Originally I was going to use American Clay products, but at about $75 for a 50# bag and the pigment to color it, I was out almost a grand by the time I had enough to do the entire wing. However, I recently went to a Design, Build, Live presentation by Carole Crews a life-long veteran of earth building and plaster, and purchased her new book Clay Culture (currently only available from the author.) I decided that, despite the tight deadline, it was worth trying to mix the sand, clay, binder, and pigment myself if it were cheaper. And it's *much* cheaper. At *most* 50% as expensive, and likely more like 35-40%! I made a small test batch of each recipe, with and without the pigment, and decided I liked the homemade stuff better, anyway. The pigments are also much cheaper at Armadillo Clay, but I couldn't wait until tomorrow to start plastering, so I decided to put the first coat down without pigment. I actually liked this color the best, anyway. However, tomorrow I will proceed down to Armadillo and check out some of their other pigments. I should be able to find something exactly like I want, instead of having to settle for the meager selection of colors at my American Clay supplier, and afterward I can likely sell the American Clay products at cost and recoup my losses.
trippedbreaker have moved on to putting down the first layer of plaster. Originally I was going to use American Clay products, but at about $75 for a 50# bag and the pigment to color it, I was out almost a grand by the time I had enough to do the entire wing. However, I recently went to a Design, Build, Live presentation by Carole Crews a life-long veteran of earth building and plaster, and purchased her new book Clay Culture (currently only available from the author.) I decided that, despite the tight deadline, it was worth trying to mix the sand, clay, binder, and pigment myself if it were cheaper. And it's *much* cheaper. At *most* 50% as expensive, and likely more like 35-40%! I made a small test batch of each recipe, with and without the pigment, and decided I liked the homemade stuff better, anyway. The pigments are also much cheaper at Armadillo Clay, but I couldn't wait until tomorrow to start plastering, so I decided to put the first coat down without pigment. I actually liked this color the best, anyway. However, tomorrow I will proceed down to Armadillo and check out some of their other pigments. I should be able to find something exactly like I want, instead of having to settle for the meager selection of colors at my American Clay supplier, and afterward I can likely sell the American Clay products at cost and recoup my losses.
