Welcome to this stunning sea view new house in Mt Eliza.
We first came for a 200sqm  clay plaster with trowel effects (see Picture), but unfortunately the supplier only certified an acrylic render  because of the very special material used: The magnesium board with polystyrene isolation (never seen before). It seems to be "ecological" despite the fact it's build in China, but the great issue is about the moves of the board. So to prevent any cracks problem we follow the specification, 2 coats of modified cement render with a mesh covered with a coloured primer, finished with a thin acrylic render coloured in unbaked clay. That's a lot of steps  and even more with this uneven and unpredictable Melbourne's forecast (rainbow is rarely a good sign).

Here is the final coat, I'll add some pictures when the the house will be finish.

A bientôt!!

For changing, some paint to take away the pressure, which is pretty high lately

No wonder of the meaning, I've no bloody idea!

First a little presentation of this beautiful and atypical house. Hide in the heights of Warrandyte, this beautiful house is nearly melting with it's environment combining wood, mineral and wide opening. 

Concerning our job we are working today on a woodwash (soft translucent wood paint reminiscent of Scandinavian limed timber)  renovation, after 50years despite a very good general condition, the wood is showing sun stains and a few alterations from heater, or light installation.

The original woodwash is originally a green-grey colour, maybe inspired from the use of copper in wood protection (insecticide and fungicide). After a good sanding we will use this time a lighter colour: Natural white, giving even more light but allowing the original colour to come by transparency. With 2 coats and a light sanding to accentuate the aging and make the colour more matt, it looks as new as old ( hopefully that was the aim)

This antic art have been used in Pompei or even by Michel Angelo in the Sistine Chapel. It's above all the art of taming a special material: the Lime. The word come from dipingere a fresco: paint on a fresh render. This render is made of lime putty and sand. The colors used arepigments compatible with lime thin in water. 

First we'll prepare the tracing paper:
The speed of execution needed for this fresh render paint request a long preparation of the pattern to draw. To prepare the paint, we often made a first try with aquarelle (watercolors) to help thinking about colours, shades, transparency, light...
Then we use a tracing paper to be able to report the pattern on the fresh render.
Then we have to perpare the renderWe render only the area we can paint in a day, it's the giornata. The coat will bring the humidity needed for the fresco. The first coat is a stick coat between the masonry and the other coats. The second one is to straighten the wall (Arricio) and the third one is a thin final coat who receive the pigments (intonaco). 

When the render is strong enough under the fingers, you place the tracing paper, and trace with a sharp piece of woodto just dig lightly the outline.Start colouring the background and slowly add colours to every details anding with the light and shades.The intensity of the colors is based on the number of layers of pigments, between each you need to wait 5minutes and smoothened the surface with the trowel to incorporate the pigments in the lim render.The pictures are from a french website specialise in fresco, in the future i will make a little tutorial and get my skills to the job.But it's a bit of a challenge for my my mason's hands. 

Travertino effect is a finish characterise by pit and drag originally imitating travertin stone used in Rome. This special effect of Tonachino allow to create antique decor as very modern and styli finishes. I have compile some exemple of what we can create to give you some ideas. 

I hope it gives you some ideas and show the wide variety of finishes lime plaster allow, and all this with an antique and ecological product. What else...

A bientôt!!

This glaze is a sophisticated variation on the milk paint theme, allowing for beautiful effects of layering one or alternate colors over another. Use on absorbent surfaces, white for a base background or the color of your choice. It also makes a wonderful topcoat over milk paint (lime or borax type) to deepen the color, make it more waterproof, or provide a medium for special effects. 

Ingredients:
- 800ml of quark (made from 5L of milk see the milk paint recipe)
- 125ml of boiled linseed oil
-80gr of earth pigments
To create a glaze, follow the milk paint recipe to create your quark, (watch avideo on making Quark). For this amount (800ml of quark made from 1 gallon of milk) you would add 1 cup of Boiled Linseed Oil. Once your quark is created, rinse the curds with fresh water. Place them in your paint container and whip them with an electric beater while slowly drizzling in the oil until completely emulsified. Next add your pigment or mica powder that has been slaked (soaked) in an equal volume of water to make a homogenous paste. Once fully mixed, dilute with water to create a glaze consistency. Apply with a wide brush suitable for glazing. Each coat will take 2 or 3 hours to dry. Once complete, the oil in the glaze will take several days to completely dry. Wash tools in warm, soapy water. Glaze can be a wonderful medium for experimentation. Some pigments will work better in glazes than others, depending upon their transparency. 

Clay plaster is the older wall finishes ever, as soon human have been able to build they have used clay to protect their wall. Of course the first things to notice is how this product is ecological and totally harmless to your health contrary to most wall coating currently used. But one great quality of clay is that we can do whatever we want with it, add special sand or straw to give an authentic touch, add little objects, add panel of reed behind or even use technique of sgraffito to make appear special pattern. Let see some of this amazing finishes.

The Sgraffito (mean scratch) is use to dig patterns, grooves or to make lightly texture hollow out appear  or sculpted effects on inside or outside wall.

Apply a first coat of tinted lime render. Let it dry and apply a second coat of 2-3mm thickeness of lime putty and marble dust.

Draw the pattern by tracing or directly if your a good drawer (it's not really my case). If you haven't got the time to end the whole job in one day, take care to cover the surface where you work with wet rag or plastic. 

You must chose well the time when you scratch (fresh, half dry or dry). Most of the time we work on wet surfaces. In fact the work on wet matter, is more porous and more absorbent and let darker mark. If the surface is drying the effect of the scratching will be more hatched and the aspect more intense. For this you won't need specific tools, you can use paint brush, scalpel, shaving blade or whatever you may find handy.
Usually a lime paint is used after to enhance the final effect. 

In the future we'll do one together as you can follow the different steps

Et voilà!!!

To finish the natural paint collection: the egg tempera, this paint is more concerning artists than craftman but it's always good to know it.
Tempera painting preceded oil painting as the favored medium and remains unique in its characteristics producing crisp, luminous effects that differ from oil. Using egg yolk as the binder, this ancient technique produces a water-soluble paint that dries quickly to an insoluble surface allowing for overpainting with more tempera or other mediums. It is a very permanent technique. 


Ingredients:
- Egg yolk
-pigment
-clove oil
Just as with Oil paints, the recipe is a simple mixture of the binder with the pigments to produce the proper consistency. The first step is to properly separate the egg from the white. Break open an egg, cleanly separating the yolk from the white. Keeping the yolk whole, dry it by passing it back and forth in the palms of your hands, drying the palm with each pass. The yolk must then be removed from the sack. This is easily done by holding the yolk over a dish or jar with your thumb and forefinger, piercing the sack to allow the contents to flow out. Discard the empty sac. The yolk itself can then be mixed directly with your dry pigments using water to lengthen, or the yolk can be mixed with one part water in a jar and shaken vigorously to prepare an emulsion. A drop or two of Clove Oil can be added to impart a pleasant smell and retard spoilage. Tempera should be applied over a glue gesso or rigid panel. Remember that tempera dries quickly. Be sure to clean all tools well in hot, soapy water.