Hello Everyone
I thought I would start this thread to give everyone a chance to introduce themselves. What got them intersted in plaster. Would be nice to get to know the people that we are talking to here. Enjoy
Doyle

[ November 25, 2002: Message edited by: Doyle ]

I guess I will start. My name is Doyle L Self II and I am your host.
I started house painting at 17 and did so for over 20 years. At 19 I ran a 30 man crew and loved it. The money was good, could always get a job. I have painted about everything in that time. Swing stage work off of high rises, Malls, industrial, houses and even some robots. About every 5 years I would get the desire to do something else. But never could think of anything I would rather do. Linda and I met in the beginning of 96. I started another paint company and we sold it a little over a year later. Same problem, we got burnt out wanted to do something else but did not know what. I was surfing the internet one day and saw that they had faux painting schools here in the US. I have done some easy faux techniques and enjoyed it. So we started taking faux classes. We went around the country taking classes. Linda and I both enjoyed the textures. Spent allot of time trying to create old world finishes. Then 2 years ago I reached the point " if I couldn't trowel it I didn't want to do it". So I started looking for plasters from Italy on the net. I was looking for some that burnished easy, and gave me the authentic look I was after. That's when I ran into Safra. Had no intentions of being a distributor or teaching a school. Linda and I enjoyed not having any employees. But when I saw how durable and user friendly these plasters was I decided to open the school. I can't tell you how rewarding it has been. Linda and I teach and apply the plasters. We are having the time of our life's. Montovano is my favorite. When we went to Italy and saw the plasters everywhere we looked, it was then that we really understood the beauty of what we do.
Doyle

Hi Doyle and the rest

I've been plastering since I left school at 16. I'm now 32 and am more obsessed than ever with my craft. I was fortunate to serve my apprenticeship with a fantastic craftsman who taught me all the traditional methods. I also did my Advanced Craft in Plastering, which qualifies me to teach it at colleges, although I have never taken that route. I recently was made an Associate of the Worshipful Company of Plaisterers, a craft guild established by King Henry VII in 1501.

In the past I worked in partnerships with various people, but have now moved away from that (must update the website) - now I work with my wife, Siobhan, who comes from an artistic background and has taken to applying marmorino like a duck to water! Her forte is formulation of colours and we make a great team.

My real passions are limes and old recipes for stucco and marmorino. The History thread on this forum is brilliant and I can tell I'll be spending a lot of time there.

Paul

Hi Doyle and everyone else, my name is Giuseppe and I've been in the paint trade for 25 years in Montreal, Canada. Pretty much like yourself Doyle, I was surfing the net for faux fini classes and stumbled across a much more interesting and authentic look like Venetian Plasters. Now I spend countless hours studying and reading as much as I can about the various products available on the market. Although I've taken some faux fini classes, what I really want to learn is the Venetian Plasters. Paul, I've seen your postings on other message boards and I must compliment you on your knowledge of plasters and expertise. I'm happy to see you on this site. Others, like myself, will benefit with what you have to say.

Hello Doyle, and hello to the other applicators and students of Italian plaster. My name is Ralph, I got into veneer plaster over 12 years ago from the drywall business. I began tinting domestic plaster in a veneer system a little over 10 years ago, it took such a long time to learn color design in plaster on my own, there are no real hand books on tinting plaster. Learning to mix color alone is an achievement, much less trying to learn color mixing in plaster to start with. I admit that I have not taken the easy (or should I say intelligent) road to where I am. I have a record of every formula that I have designed and installed. It took me almost 6 months before I developed attractive colors with this process. About 6 years ago I started hearing about Venetian Plaster, and I looked up a company on the web, and after I made them aware of my client list they invited me to come a do a project with them. I spent a week on a Marmorino job and began designing color and finishes in the different products that were available to me then. Last June I contacted Doyle because I wanted to learn more about the roots of the finishes in Italian plaster, he told me of Safra, and got me in touch with them and I went over and trained with Luciano for 2 days in the finishes that I was interested in. The experience was a once in a life time for me. I was enlightened in terminology and effects with different products. I feel Safra offers the finest products in the Italian plaster market. I have used a few, to dated I have installed over 100,000. sq. ft. of Venetian and Italian plaster finishes and at least 4 or 5 times that amount in domestic tinted plasterin a veneer system. I look forward to hearing from other applicators and know that we can all learn from each other in a forum like this. Thanks to all,
Ralph Murphy

I don't know if this will work, It is my first post here. Hi! I'm Sheri, I have played with a lot of plasters and paid a lot of money to study plaster. I love plaster it is real it is not faux. I especially love ornamental plaster and fresco and the decoarative applications for plaster. It is soulful and beautiful but so damn labor intensive. My elbows are running out of grease!!

I agree with you. Most plasters you have to work very hard for minimal results. Many plaster you have to sand in-between coats, base coat the same color as the plaster. All say you have to wax and or topcoat. None tell you they can be used inside a shower stall or the outside of a house without wax or a topcoat. We offer 15 different plasters. We even have unmodified, unfiltered, lime plasters that they use on the historic buildings in Italy. We also offer in 1275 colors. Artenova plasters by Safra are much easier to use than most others. Which is what got me to look for a new plaster. And I agree with you, my wife and I truly love the plasters. Seeing them in Italy will also change your perception. Every where you look, beauty and history. Linda and I had about 7 days off last year. We never get tired of the plasters. It satisfies the creative side in us. The effects are only limited by your imagination. Each job we do is our signature. Our clients get a piece of history that will last for years to come. I'm not just the importer, distributor, teacher I am also an applicator.
Welcome to our board.
Doyle

Post deleted by Doyle

hi all,
I'm Luca and work with Safra Italy. I entered the Italian decorative and mineral finishes world back in 1993 and I haven't finished learning since then.
At that time I knew Safra only as the leading supplier of specialty finishes to the Italian paint industry and the company I worked with used to buy some of them. Even today over 70 italian decorative paint manufacturers buy their specialty finishes from us and sell them with their brands.
The world of finishing plasters is undoubtfully the most fascinating part both for its long history and for its incredible decorative potential!

hello
mt name is albert ciervo
i have been doing mural and faux finishes
in southeastern, pa for @ 7 years.
i have always wanted to learn the art of
italian frescoe painting
so , one day, while on the computer, i stumbled upon the school of italian plasters
that little discovery changed my whole direction
in the art field and fueled my passion for old traditional , almost lost art.
along with my brother in law, who quit his job to pursue this career, we went to atlanta for the class. it was probably the most valuable class i have ever taken.
we are just now reallly hittin stride with the finishes. once people see the effects there is no faux finish they can compare it to. this lost art that we have taken on is addicting, i never want to do another faux finish again. leave them to all the housewives.

Hello Doyle and all the rest of the Italian Plaster applicators.
I am Stephen Huls, I have been in the Drywall Finishing Trade for 11 yrs. Have enjoyed working on the High end homes and projects that require the artistic touch in the finishing. In the last few years have been finding drywall contractors changing from high quality to fast and cheap, So as I prefer to do High quality work, I started looking around for a way to leave drywall. Looking for a Trade that would appreciate the effort of High Quality workmanship.
Had an old boss who studied some decoritve plasters years ago, so I looked up Italian plasters on the internet, found Doyle's site and went to BB's school in Colorado, I have a Artistic background and like to dream about what the possibilities can be for a clients home and like learning new and creative ways to provide a Great work of art to the clients. Well this seems right up my alley, I am glad that I attended the school and BB was great !
More, what Doyle is putting together for his schools and the help he is offering for those who have gone through the school is awesome. Great support system.
Things are looking up and I am preparing for the future in this exciting art form of Italian plasters. And looking forward to learning more.
Hope for Great success to all. The ever learning and challenged mind, becomes a creative and ever young mind.
Stephen

My name is Philip LaMachio and my company name is Estate Plaster. I took Doyle and Linda's class two weeks ago and after 18 yrs in the plaster restoration buisness, dealing with repairs mainly, I am excited again about what I do. I was really getting tired and was unchallanged before. Besides, my work was limited to buildings of a certain age that were damaged.

Safra's products are unlimited in application and that's really exciting. Also the fact there is no sanding and no dry mixing means no dust to breath, which I was always concerned about.

I learned the rudiments of my plaster restoration craft in Chicago Ill. working with a painting co. and continued to develop my knowledge of plaster here in Greensboro, occasionally working with a journeyman plasterer from Great Britain.

Still, information and training has been hard to come by, and sometimes jobs too.

I truly hope that this new direction will be as exciting and profitable as it seems to me now. I also look forward to going to Italy again. I've been there as a teen with a group and had a blast, studied Italian in college, and now can't wait to go with a specific goal in mind. But it will be fun too !

Glad to be aboard,

Philip

I have done faux and painted finishes all over the US. I got roped into pushing paint brushes by my mother, who is terribly talented. I started painting around the age of nine (lucky me! I got to do the register vent covers)and by the time I was twelve, I was finishing faux jobs when my mom would get called out of town or whatever crisis reared its ugly head. I got into the decorative italian plasters by complete accident. I took some time off, had a few kids and decided that I needed to get back to work. I was missing professional creativity. I went to SOIP and here I am, green as ever, but armed with the skills to offer my clients as much as I can.

Hello all,



I am 31 years old and live in Cincinnati, Ohio.

I attended the first class at the School in Sept. 01.

I thought the first day was going well until the planes hit AHHH! Besides all that it was great. When I saw the plaster samples for the first time, I couldnt believe the beauty. I had to learn.

When I returned to Cincinnati I was very hesitant to get into it. I went back to the school the following February for an advanced class. That is when I bought a couple thousand worth of products. I contracted couple jobs for a decent price, did a couple home shows and I was off. I do not let any of these plasters intimidate me. I just do it and pray they look good. :-)

They always turn out amazing. I have allot of faith in Safra products. I also appreciate all Doyle has done for the plaster applicators,.. what an awesome website we have here. My mother hung paper for 24 years and I have been pasting, hanging, painting & wall prepping since I was in the 4th or 5th grade. I worked my way through art college and received my degree.

I spent five years in the office chair in front of a computer doing technical illustration, magazine comp, layout, and more. Well I got tired of it and went back into the contracting field. I own my own company now, Wall Creations, and I'll never look back. Thanks for your time.

Scott Fritz

Cincinnati, Ohio

go reds

Hello Paul and welcome. The only problem with what you suggest is the plaster will not be able to breathonce you apply a top coat. Will this be an inside application?
Doyle