Hello Everyone,
I pretty well have some good experience applying venetian plaster. But now, shifting the subject to lime spatula, (with which I have no experience)I recently purchased a small amount of Baldini Marmorino Lime Spatula. I applied the first coat with hawk and trowel at about 1/8" or slightly less, and as it began to show signs of drying, it began to craze...both in the well thickened areas as well as the "too thin" areas. What happened?

Sincerely, and thank you for the priviledge of calling on you folks to help me with this problem.

Tom

quote:

Originally posted by Tom:
Hello Everyone,
I pretty well have some good experience applying venetian plaster. But now, shifting the subject to lime spatula, (with which I have no experience)I recently purchased a small amount of Baldini Marmorino Lime Spatula. I applied the first coat with hawk and trowel at about 1/8" or slightly less, and as it began to show signs of drying, it began to craze...both in the well thickened areas as well as the "too thin" areas. What happened?

Sincerely, and thank you for the priviledge of calling on you folks to help me with this problem.

Tom

PS: While I waited for a reply to the above, my mamorino sample, 2nd coat, dried for 24 hours. The dry surface seems to be chalky. You can scrape it with your fingernail.

Tom I have no experience in this plaster. Did you burnish it soon as the first coat absorbed the moisture?

Hi Doyle,
No, I did not. I applied the first coat as level as I could before the second coat which, in this case, is to be, burnished while it is still in the 80% dry zone, although it can be burnished when it is dry, too. Marmorino is definately tricky for me. I cannot even imagine at this point, how those who make those stunnning stone-like finishes using marmorino lime spatula, do it.

I did some research and found that the substrate I applied it on was totally wrong...my fault for hurrying! But, again, working with the stuff requires a different touch and technique as venetiano.

Tom

Tom, I am not familiar with the plaster line, but I know it would definitely help to have someone come behind and burnish after the applicator on the second coat or last coat, whichever it is for the application cycle. This would ensure better timing and execution for the final effect.

Greg

Tom, there are different application methods for different product lines. Some marmorinos need to be sponge floated, others require back troweling and compacting the surface etc. It depends on the product you are using and the type of look you are wanting to achieve. You may wish to contact the distributor of the plaster you used and ask them for their application method for marmorino. There are also different grain sizes of some marmorino brands so that plays into your finished look as well.

Nancy, thank you. Greg, since I am new at this product, I still can't even successfully execute the burnishing. I always drag out a line of plaster, no matter how claen my trowel is..I'm doing somethin' wrong.
Thanks for your comments.
Tom

Working with the real limes aren't as easy as many would suggest. you might be dragging a bit of marble grain across the surface and that's where you are getting scratches from. Did you try sanding your trowel to ensure it's as smooth as possible? Maybe run a cloth over the wall first and get the loose marble bits off the surface prior to burnishing? Try and see if that helps.

Hi Nancy,
It seems more like My trowel grabbed a small "lump" of the plaster, whereas the width of the scratch(s) could be almost 1/8" wide. It seems almost like the trowel grabbed a small ball of a partially dried plaster. But, obviously, I'm not certain.

I did clean the dry base coat carefully with a dry rag, I also checked it for nibs with my trusty spatula. Everything seemed to check out ok.

The marmorino I used was Modern Lime Marmorino
'Baldini Memory'

Thanks for helping .

Tom

Hi Tom, I only used Baldini once. It was the high polished stuff. I forget the name but it was way too transparent without giving much movement at all, and a local guy I know who used it got all sorts of crap reading thru from the wall so his way of dealing with that was not to burnish much. For me, my clients love the high shine and "not burnishing much" would never have been a suitable solution for me.

Nacy,
Thanks for the heads up on that one. I appreciate it very much.

Tom