Sculpting with Lutece 2000
May 25, 2007
I have triumphed the virtues of Lutece 2000 quite a few times in my blog and I have to do so again.
I read recently on a French forum that plastering is best left to experts and it takes a lifetime to re-create what a French artisan can achieve.
Poppycock! is my response. I came here as a novice in plastering and I feel now more than competent and extremely happy with the results I can achieve.
I would rather spend a day plastering and go over it again to get it right than pay 30.00 euros an hour for someone else to do it and believe me, whatever your level of expertise the satisfaction is immeasurable.
One little tip I would like to share is the profiling of akward little areas where you might meet a beam or wall.
These can be rather tricky to negotiate but worth taking a bit of time over.
I have three exposed poplar tree trunks. I would call them beams which they really are but tree trunks seems the more appropriate, because that is what they are.
They were literally cut down, de-barked, trimmed with an ads (I'll check spelling on that but an ads is an axe shaped like a garden hoe in rough terms) and inserted in the walls to support the roof.
It was tricky to plasterboard above and plaster without leaving a tell tale line where I was accessing the tight space from both sides. I decided that I would fill this space and contour and profile the plaster to hug the arris of the beam. It closed the space off well and gives a very satisfying effect and a real rustic feel to the the ceiling.
I need to wash off the residue where the sponge feathered in the plaster to the wood.
The finishing off of the ceilings has taken me longer than I appreciated but it done now and I can concentrate on jointing the stone walls.