Venetian plaster – the basis of original interiors

Venetian plaster is one of the few finishing materials that have managed to reach us from such an ancient time and yet it does not lose its relevance.

This type of finish is luxurious. It allows you to create really beautiful, rich-looking interiors, not only residential spaces, but also official premises. In a similar way, galleries, ceremonial halls, foyer theaters, offices are decorated. The material carries with it the breath of the ages, so it is relevant in stylistic interior solutions of any direction.

Recreating the beauty – it was never a simple occupation. Work with decorative plaster of this class, like no other, requires a professional approach. This does not mean that you can not try to finish the finish of the room with Venetian own hands. This suggests that before you do business, you should thoroughly understand all the subtleties of the process. That’s what we’re gonna do.

Venetian stucco, what is it?

Composition

Begin the acquaintance with the decorative material from its composition. The main component of the mixture is stone flour. The best aesthetic effect will be given by the Venetian with the smallest dust fraction.

Stone dust is obtained from:

1. Granite.

2. The quartz.

3. Marble.

4. Onyx.

5. Malachite.

6. Limestone.

7. Valuable rocks rocks.

Dust mixtures are often used

The second number in the composition are binders. Today, synthetic fillers, such as acrylic resins and polymers, have almost supplanted slaked lime, which has not made the material less environmentally friendly.

The last element of the decorative composition are pigments. They can be of organic or inorganic origin. They are added in order to give the mixture a certain shade and improve the quality characteristics in terms of resistance to ultraviolet radiation. The plastered surface is protected with wax. It adds aesthetics to the coating and prevents the dust from settling on it.

Properties

The Venetian is an exceptionally interior decoration. It is never used on facades, since the material is not resistant to being in an aggressive environment and to the destructive effects of precipitation, fluctuating temperature and other natural factors.

Inside the house, with a favorable microclimate, Venetian stucco, even laid by their own hands, has just excellent performance indicators. It is durable and can last more than ten years. Time makes it only stronger and better. The coating is waterproof, but vapor-permeable. It is highly decorative and perfectly in harmony with the doors, windows and furniture in a modern design. Unlike colors and wallpaper, Venetian plaster never peels, does not peel off and falls off the walls. The coating can be treated with mild cleaning agents that do not contain solvents or other aggressive components.

The material is fireproof, does not exude foreign odors, is environmentally friendly. If you want to change the decor of the room, you do not need to remove the finishing layer from the walls. Wallpaper and paint can be applied and glued directly on it.

The shortcomings are mainly attributed to the cost of the material, which can be quite high, as well as the high cost of the work. If you can not argue with the former, you can save on the issue of hiring specialists. It is enough to do the decoration of the walls by the Venetians with their own hands.

One more thing. This type of decoration is not elastic, so the sagging of walls is fraught with the appearance of a network of cracks in the plastered network, which can not be corrected and repaired. This creates the need for careful preparation of surfaces for decoration.

Kinds

Decorative plaster from the category of the Venetian is presented today in the widest variety. On the shelves there is a product of domestic and foreign production.

What kinds of Venetians are most in demand?

Trevignano

When applied to a wall, the coating looks illuminated from the inside. A unique effect is achieved by the translucence of the layers and the color game. Externally, the coating is similar to travertine or mirror marble. Finishing with the effect of vintage, so a frequent guest in the vintage and classic interior solutions. Perfectly harmonizes with aristocratic murals.

Veneto (V’eneto)

The most common type of Venetian plaster for work with their own hands. The composition is easy to apply, not fastidious to operating conditions, easy to care for, has an attractive cost. In the finished form it looks like polished matt marble.

Marbello (Mardello)

“The Venetian plaster of this brand is in demand in decoration of rooms of a specific purpose, differing by a damp microclimate”

Although the surface obtained after plastering resembles a rough-hewn marble, it looks quite nice. Velvet wall with a cobweb of polished glossy veins attracts by the game of shades, the appearance of which contributes to the slightest change of lighting.

Venetian plaster of this brand is in demand in decoration of rooms of specific purpose, differing by a damp microclimate.

Imperiale

One of the latest developments. In the plaster composition there is a golden pigment. This allows the decorative coating to play not only with sunlight glare, but also to please the eye with the luxury of the glitter of gold. The resulting surface is translucent and can have a dozen shades, which fully confirms the association of marble with the “shining stone”.

Encausto

This kind of Venetian allows you to get a decor that mimics the granite. The semi-matte surface is full of dark impregnations. Option, requiring good protection, so it is necessarily covered with a layer of wax, which will have to be updated periodically. This will increase the resistance of finishing the moisture.

Venetian stucco in the interior stylistics

“Venetian plaster is easily combined with other types of finishes”

Decorative plaster is versatile. Thanks to the beauty, environmental friendliness and practicality of the coatings obtained with it, it “enters” in almost all styles. The material makes it possible to create the appearance not only of the cladding of walls by an expensive and noble stone, but also a luxurious fabric. Finishing will give the atmosphere aesthetic perfection, even if the Venetian plaster will be applied by hand with slight flaws.

Such decor of the walls will be indispensable in baroque, empire, rococo. It will become an excellent background in classicism. Reflective effectively stucco surface – an option for modern trends: art deco, avant-garde, minimalist interiors, high-tech.

Embossed plaster is the best solution for castle styles with ethnic features of Gothic or Romanism.

The list can be continued, as Venetian plaster is easily combined with other types of finishes. This allows you to use the material in such difficult to reproduce styles as loft, Mediterranean.

It can become the basis for frescoes or organic panels. This move allows designers to bring a touch of grandeur to the atmosphere. It is rumored that Rafael himself painted the walls by the way of the plastered surface.

Venetian plaster with own hands

In work, structural mixtures are complex and fastidious, but still remain in demand in the centuries, as they allow you to create truly individual, with a unique style and colorful interiors.

Venetian has sufficient plasticity, so its application does not cause difficulties. It is much more difficult to get the surface of the required texture, since here it will be necessary to correctly apply layers and select shades. Having certain skills in this kind of work, you can experiment with the material without any restrictions, and therefore, create decorative covers in the most creative forms.

Cooking the walls

Since the Venetian plaster is finish finish, it is performed only after installing windows, doors, removal of construction debris and laying the floor covering. Works are conducted on a previously prepared wall surface. What is important with this training.

If the previously decorated walls are to be finished, then the existing finishing layer should be removed: scrape off the remains of the paint, remove the wallpaper, remove the remaining putty. The cleaned areas are dedusted. It is better to make it an industrial vacuum cleaner.

Look at the wall. In the presence of oily areas, they must be degreased. The process technology is simple. The spot is treated with a solvent and washed with a mild soap solution.

A dry, clean base under the Venetian is primed with a solution with a firming or water repellent effect. In wet rooms, an additional antifungal primer is additionally used.

The next preparatory stage for decorating the Venetian plaster with your own hands will be the elimination of cracks. If there are similar damages on the wall, they must be expanded along the entire length, cleaned, primed and filled with a corrective compound. After the mixture dries, the repaired areas are wiped.

If it is planned to finish the Venetian capitally renovated and freshly plastered walls, then the surface will need to be let out for at least a month, after such works.

Technology of decorative process

Work with Venetian plaster, in most cases, the prerogative of professionals. Builders and painters home spill with a similar technology will be difficult to master, but if you want and perseverance, they will also be able to get an excellent result.

The easiest way to reproduce in a home interior is the imitation of marble. To ensure the durability of the decor, it is necessary to apply it to the primed surface. In our case, the optimum option will be priming compositions with fine quartz sand.

Doing the covering of the walls with Venetian plaster with your own hands, do not hesitate to consult with the sellers which are the best types of soil suitable for the plaster you choose. In the store it is worth ordering and coloring the finishing material. To get the right shade “by eye” is extremely difficult. If you do not guess with the amount of pigment, you can spoil the expensive material and repair in general. In case of computer tinting of structural plaster, similar “misfires” are excluded. For the case in question, a Venetian plaster of two colors is required. One part should be lighter than the other.

Let’s return to priming. Primer is applied to the wall with chaotic movements, short strokes. Make it a tough mackerel. The treated wall is allowed to dry. This usually takes 6 to 12 hours.

At the second stage of work with the Venetian, you will need:

1. Steel trowel of good quality (better from polished stainless steel).

2. Putty knife.

3. Wet rags.

Theoretically, the workflow looks even primitive. With a trowel putty on the trowel, apply a little of the finished mixture and transfer it to the wall with short movements. Here lies the first practical complexity. The mixture must be able to distribute on the surface extremely thin. This effect can only be obtained by properly holding the trowel. The tool should be placed almost perpendicular to the wall and when working hard to press against it.

The next subtlety of working with Venetian plaster is the location of the smears. If the first was made in a horizontal plane, the second must have a direction perpendicular to it. In the same vein, subsequent work is carried out. Thus, various drawings, semantic pictures can be created, but this will become possible only with the advent of experience.

In the case of obtaining the effect of the marble surface, the task is reduced to covering the entire wall with such chaotic smears of the Venetian. The work is done by the plots. You can not start to make out one wall and, not having finished works on it, to pass to the following. The plastered wall is allowed to dry for at least 6 hours.

Application of the second layer – the next underwater reef, which must be properly circumvented when working with Venetian plaster with their own hands. He must be different in tone and be on the shade brighter or deeper than the previous one. Finishing structural plaster can have 5 and 12 layers. All of them are performed according to the described principle.

The last, that is, the final one, will have to be glazed. For this, after plastering each square, it will be necessary to return back to the surface already seized, and strongly pressing the trowel to the plaster layer, smooth it. Trowel at the same time should lie on the wall almost flat. With each movement the plot will become all more mirror. This treatment undergoes the last decorative layer.

In order to give the decor of the color depth, two, almost monochrome layers, you can apply a silvery or golden Venetian plaster.

The finishing touch will be the treatment of the resulting decor with wax.

How to wax the Venetian

Wax composition is more convenient to apply with a flexible spatula. It can be successfully replaced and the usual foam rubber sponge. Wax slightly level the surface, by filling the fine pores. The wax composition mixed with the color of golden or pearly shade will help to give a special decorative effect to the wall.

Do not apply thick layers of wax. This will lead to the appearance of spots. Wax layer, when working on the decor of the walls of Venetian plaster with their own hands, after drying, it is polished. The process is not mechanized. Here you also have to work manually. It all boils down to rubbing the surfaces with a suede cloth. This is done in a circular motion.

Now you can talk about finishing the finishing works and admire the result.

Thin film, formed by waxing the surface, will change the angle of refraction of the light fluxes, which will give rise to the 3D effect. The wall will cease to appear flat and will lead the view inside.

Craquelure Technique

Today, fashionable interiors with a rush of antiquity. To achieve this effect, a special lacquer is applied over the layers of Venetian plaster. It is a slowly drying compound, which in the process of solidification pulls together the plaster, covering it with a network of noticeable cracks. The latter bear a purely decorative function. They are superficial and do not affect the strength and durability of the finish, only give the surrounding environment a gloss and charm.

Carrara marble

Incredibly spectacular surface. It is created by imposing large amounts of layers of variegated Venetian. The play of shades on the wall surface will create the illusion of creating a room of rare beauty with Carrara marble. Today, it is practically not mined, but you will not be worth it to create an interpretation within your own house.

Of course, it will be necessary to tinker, especially when working with Venetian stucco with your own hands, and not entrusting the process to a professional, but the result will be stunning. From the wall thus formed it will be impossible to tear off the sight. And no matter how much you paid for consumables, the interior will look very expensive.

Marseilles wax

A composition that opens up unlimited space for the use of the Venetian. Its presence in the mixture will allow the material to be used in finishing the premises with the most complex and unpredictable microclimate, for example, in the kitchen or in a super moist bathroom. You can forget about boring tiles and create in the rooms the atmosphere that you want, and not what you are forced to reproduce interior circumstances.

Nuances of working with Marbella

This compound is fast-drying, therefore, to work with it alone, especially if you first took up the decor of Venetian plaster with your own hands, it is highly undesirable. Applying the first base layer of the given thickness, it should be immediately worked with a spatula, in order to have time to create a chaotic pattern before the surface of the plaster grasps. As a result, the effect of an easy influx should appear. Smears of the next layer should completely cover the smears of the underlying. Finishing plastering is performed by the light composition of the Venetian. This gives the finish depth.

Polishing begins not less than a day after the completion of work. Mirrors Marbella attached with a hard spatula. They are easier and more convenient to draw faces and make them play in the light rays. From this type of Venetian plaster are obtained coatings that simulate the texture of moire.

A few practical tips

Requirements for tools

To finish the walls with Venetian plaster, you will need a specific tool. You can not save on this point. Be sure to purchase spatulas, trowel and floats made of forged or polished stainless steel. Trituration of the composition on the wall with standard tools made of ordinary metal will lead to the breaking off of solid dust particles of stones contained in the working mixture, metal chips. The latter will leave on the decorative surface impartial dirty stripes.

Features of painting

Working as a Venetian in the technique of a fresco or creating a color panel, make a painting on a wet, not grasped layer. Paints should be special pigments from a series of those used for painting the compositions of the base itself, that is, Venetian plaster. Such paints will penetrate through all the layers of plaster and will never erode, nor will they lose their color.

Colour

It is not difficult to paint the Venetian colorfully with your hands on the entire surface of the wall. Coloristic solutions in this case can be anything: from soft blurry overflows to contrasting geometry. Good looking walls with golden shine, butterfly flight effect.

Conclusion

Venetian plaster is not a material of mass use. This is emphasized by the elite finish. Her chosenness in the individuality of each wall fragment, every fresco created with her help. The color nuances created during the work can not be designed or copied in the future, so the decoration of the Venetian is an opportunity to give the room a truly unique image. Do not miss this unique chance!

Photogallery – Venetian plaster

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Author: Mikhail Bond

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