Fresco painters and lime plaster

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miken

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hello everyone,

Anyone here ever work with buon fresco artists, who use lime plaster for their paintings?

I am a relatively new buon fresco artist. Buon fresco requires an artist to paint into a freshly laid lime plaster wall, while the plaster is still moist. Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel frescoes are the most famous examples of the technique. While I consider myself a competent painter, I am a bit in the dark with some aspects of lime plastering and have some questions for those of you who may be able to help me.

I have been honored with a chance to paint a 10 foot by 30 foot fresco in a historic greek revival building. I think the building was constructed around 1910. The frescoe would consist of 5 layers of plaster totaling about 1.25 inches thick. The wall that has been chosen for the painting is red brick, with an old layer of plaster on the top. I am unsure about the condition of the bricks beneath the plaster and the amount of work needed to correct them. If they contain white salt deposits or are purplish from over baking they would need to be dug out and replaced. As a alternative support, I can create a panel on the outside of the brick wall, which is not uncommon for fresco painting. However, I can't find any solid information regarding the proper construction of a panel wall for something that may be 300 square feet and weight over 3,000 lbs. I have seen wooden frames used to support much smaller paintings (6x9')

I would assume such a frame would include studs (like any wall) and I plan to use a 3/4" plywood surface with metal lath. All of this would be anchored into the brick wall. My questions for you: Does this sound feasible? Would a panel wall for a 10' x 30 ' plaster wall needed iron support beams for the weight? What would this look like? Would it be easier and safer to just remove the old plaster and re-plaster right on the old brick?

Thanks a ton for any help you can offer. I am thrilled to have found this site!

mike
 
as a plasterer do you think venetian plastering is something you could do at home on a main wall, or do u need a pro or at least a weekend coruse.?
 
Ive been plastering for 15 years so i tried V Plastering cause it looks so easy and it looked crap. So i did a weekend course with Juan. It is really easy when you know how, you can watch as many videos as you like but you wont get it right. Try Juan at The British School of Polished Plaster
 
CKJ are u juan?lol nah maybe its sill cheaper to do a course then do it..would materials cost much for one wall?
 
miken said:
hello everyone,

Anyone here ever work with buon fresco artists, who use lime plaster for their paintings?

I am a relatively new buon fresco artist. Buon fresco requires an artist to paint into a freshly laid lime plaster wall, while the plaster is still moist. Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel frescoes are the most famous examples of the technique. While I consider myself a competent painter, I am a bit in the dark with some aspects of lime plastering and have some questions for those of you who may be able to help me.

I have been honored with a chance to paint a 10 foot by 30 foot fresco in a historic greek revival building. I think the building was constructed around 1910. The frescoe would consist of 5 layers of plaster totaling about 1.25 inches thick. The wall that has been chosen for the painting is red brick, with an old layer of plaster on the top. I am unsure about the condition of the bricks beneath the plaster and the amount of work needed to correct them. If they contain white salt deposits or are purplish from over baking they would need to be dug out and replaced. As a alternative support, I can create a panel on the outside of the brick wall, which is not uncommon for fresco painting. However, I can't find any solid information regarding the proper construction of a panel wall for something that may be 300 square feet and weight over 3,000 lbs. I have seen wooden frames used to support much smaller paintings (6x9')

I would assume such a frame would include studs (like any wall) and I plan to use a 3/4" plywood surface with metal lath. All of this would be anchored into the brick wall. My questions for you: Does this sound feasible? Would a panel wall for a 10' x 30 ' plaster wall needed iron support beams for the weight? What would this look like? Would it be easier and safer to just remove the old plaster and re-plaster right on the old brick?

Thanks a ton for any help you can offer. I am thrilled to have found this site!

mike
Click to expand...
me thinks he,s taking the pizz :D :D :D ask on the screwfix forum mate, they will put you right :D
 
everybody checks out the forum before joining.myself included and gets the gist of questions asked and answered.somebody who has been commisioned to do this type of work trust me on this,would not need to ask such a question and would have already done assesment of works been commisioned and problems and concerns addressed well before.most of the artisans currently involved in fresco works view us and i say us as we are all plasterers whatever materials we use.as something from under their fingernails.most definetley somebody with a sense of humour.those guys do not use general forums.could reccomend him some books.lime plastering by jeff orton.or painting by numbers.
 
Hi I am Juan and have just joined this site. We run courses on Venetian Stucco (Italian Polished Plaster) and also can apply frescoes to the plaster so just check out www.naturaldecor.co.uk and contact me for more information. i would love to help you out. we also have a new product called microcement which is becoming really popular as it is so hardwaring.
let me know if you have any questions. and thanks to CKJ for recommending us.
regards
juan surfer
 
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