MARMORINO PLASTER INSTRUCTIONS

PRIMING 

On new construction, you have to prime. On remodels, where there is previously existing latex paint, you don't have to prime. The plaster will stick to previous paint.

For new construction or damaged walls, use a water based / acrylic / latex high grade primer to prime the drywall. Primer should be used on other substrates, such as wood, glass, metal or almost anything that latex primer will bond to. Not only do you want the primer to adhere extremely well to the wall, but if there is ever a leak from plumbing or rain, the primer will create a modest barrier between the plaster and the leak. Mask before you prime. (See best masking practices on page 3) Also, when using most stain blocking primers in smaller confined areas with little ventilation, consider wearing a respirator (not a dust mask). Some primers have styrene, carbonized chlorine and ammonia. Ask your paint store for low VOC primer. With Marmorino, good priming is crucial, especially on new construction. Since you will be applying layers of plaster, make sure there is absolutely no taping mud/gypsum mud showing through. This will crackle or discolor  the plaster and make for very poor adherence. In fact, priming twice is best.

After priming, if you want, you can lightly scuff the walls for a little more 'tooth'.

REMODELS AND OLD WALLS

Light orange peel texture is fine as long as you use have a thicker first layer.  For really thick  walls, sand with at least 80-grit or lower sandpaper, preferably with an orbital sander. Then dust off (clean) and prime the walls with an above-mentioned primer. Remember that even if the existing walls aren't perfect or totally smooth, and you're not going for a shiney smooth finish with plaster, your walls will still look natural and the way they're supposed to be.

Use your best judgement on applying over really old walls in bad shape. Try a small area first. Let it dry and make sure it sticks. Marmorino will breath with the wall. It won't allow for mold growth.
 

PLASTERING OVER WALLPAPER

If there is wallpaper, strip it, then prime the wall. If you are willing to play it less safe; be certain that it is firmly attached to the wall before applying plaster over it. Find a corner of the wallpaper and try to strip it dry. If it comes off with ease, is old and peeling, or has several layers it is best to strip it. If the wallpaper is on the ceiling; pay special attention. It is always best to strip the ceiling of wallpaper; gravity will not be your friend. If the wallpaper adheres well to the wall, prime it with an oil-based primer, such as Zinser's or Killz oil based primers (these primers can be messy and hard to clean). If it bubble when it dries, cut out all the bubbled paper out of the wall and re-prime that spot. Afterwards, prime with latex primer so the plaster can stick to that. Consult your local paint store for further advice.  Make really sure that you explain to them what you want to do as long as there is latex on the last coat before the plaster. In any case, stripping wallpaper is the best practice.

PLASTERING

 

IMPORTANT: Do this on at least a 2 square foot sample board before committing to the real thing.  It's easy once you figured it out.                

Marmorino can be applied soft and subtle for an elegant larger scale application. It can be applied with more texture, or thinner final strokes for higher sheen and variation of color. Check out other possibilities of applications in artistic techniques videos and text.

Our plasters are much lighter then when wet. Don't be surprised when opening the bucket.

REMEMBER: IT'S A 2 COAT APPLICATION. APPLY THE 1ST COAT, LET IT COMPLETELY DRY, THEN DO THE 2ND. EACH COAT TAKES AT LEAST 1 DAY TO DRY.

BASIC EXPLANATION

1. Trowel on a buttery coat of plaster. Don't scrape it on. Apply it so at least doesn't chatter, meaning make lines as a result of scraping the sand in the plaster. The more texture you have the more variation you you will get on your final coat. Let it completely dry. It will take at least a day.

2. On your dried plaster coat, apply the 2nd coat as you did the 1st. If anything, you can go thinner. Again don't scrape and chatter the plaster. You can make it very subtle, or burnish it for more drama.  Burnish it only when the plaster is at a clay like consistancy-not sticky and not totally dry. Let each area set up a little before you apply another thin layer and burnish it.

3. When the second coat is totally dry, you can unmask, leave it alone, or you can wax it or seal it. For the unburnished less dramatic method, we recommend sanding it with a worn fine sanding sponge or something similar, then wiping the excess dust off with a damp rag. This will slightly sand it, feathering out any unwanted microtexture, and this will help accent the wall with giving more color variation. You can sand out corners and other troubled areas with a a sanding sponge, or similar. You can apply more layers of Marmorino, Stucco or Veneziano for more durability or different look. Always let coats completely dry before the next.

DETAILED EXPLANATION

Getting the plaster off the hawk is easy is easy after about 20 minutes of practice.  First scoop a bit of plaster from the bucket onto the hawk. There are special tools for that that in the drywall or concrete section of a hardware store. Or you can use a spatula knife or whatever works.

The first time the hawk is used, it will react a little with the aluminum of the hawk. It will feel very slippery for a few minutes then stay on with no problems.

Sometimes plaster will be thinner than usual. Sometimes almost soupy. Deeper colors have more tint. In fact up to 3-4 quarts of tint per 5 gallon bucket. When we mix it, it can take some time to settle or thicken for easier use. If the plaster is soupy, put on very small amounts on the hawk. Like this it will air dry a little and be easier to work with. Take only small slivers of the plaster with your trowel. This will take longer, but it will be less messy. Another trick is to have a small paint roller and roll on small sections and trowel them out. You can make it look identical to a normal trowel method.

Finally getting the plaster on the hawk. Don't scrape it off the hawk. Cream it off the top compressing the plaster a little at the same time. You can take little or lots of the hawk depending on what you're plastering. Don't scoop the plaster from the hawk. This is what most beginners do. Just compress it and skim it from the top not scraping the metal of the hawk.  New trowels will be slippery at first with  the plaster. After a few minutes the plaster will stick better to the metal of the trowel, like the hawk. It's like 'priming the metal'.

 
1st coat:
Spread the first coat about 1/8" to 1/16" of an inch thick over on the wall. Work top to bottom. Trowel it like butter. Always trowel at an angle. Never lay it flat. Whatever texture you end up with on the first coat will determine much of final variation of color  on your finished product. If you want texture and more interest, give the first coat a little texture here and there. As it starts to dry, you can go back and mess with it a little- adding here, taking away there. As it dries, it will tend to tear a little on your trowel. Spraying water on the plaster will help with this issue. Your second coat will will act differently from your first. This is because of the difference in absorption and drying.

Use smaller tools or even cut pieces of plastic to get into tight areas. The best way is adding water to a little plaster and making a thick slurry. You can then brush on the slurry to areas, like tight door jams, pipes, wires, covers, etc.

2nd coat:
Apply the plaster from top to bottom at about a 1/32" of an inch.  Apply it so you're not scraping it. If you scrape the 1st coat, you will get chatter.  You'll have thinner and thicker areas. Allow each each layer to set up a little, like clay, before you apply more on top.   You can also leave some of the first coat exposed here and there. The layering technique will give you more depth and variation, even if it's subtle one. As it starts to dry, you can compress the plaster with the edge of your clean trowel holding it at an angle. This is burnishing. Do this lightly once or twice. The more you do this the more dramatic your color varaitaion will become. So don't over do it if your going for a quiet classic look.

You can also apply it without layering anything. Just a uniform coat, then burnishing as it dries, giving a very soft look.

If you have used Veneziano, it is the same exact priniples, except you're applying thicker coats and you have to wait longer before burnishing.

You can apply the second coat with  alot of texture and basecoat coming through or keep layer ingit, filling in any unfilled areas, contantly smoothing it out, then burnishing. Thos will give you a more compact and uniform sheen without that 'old world' element.

As you will learn on your sample, if your over burnish it when it's still a little tacky or wet, it can crack or tear. If you keep burnishing with too much force, it can also tear. Make sure you apply plaster wet on wet so you don't get lines where you stopped. Do the whole wall at once. If it's a large area, mist water on the areas where you stopped, without letting it streak down the walls. That way you have more time to work with.

GETTING A STRAIGHT EDGE ON CORNERS

Before or during your last coat, you can run a small brush with plaster on it in the corners of the tape and the wall. You can also smear your finger (while always wearing gloves) against the tape and edge of the plaster. This insures getting a clean professional line when you unmask it.

GETTING INTO HARD TO TROWEL AREAS

If you're trying to get into nooks and crannies, use a smaller tool.  Get a spackling knife or even a square of plastic from a milk jug...whatever works. Use your fingers. Sometimes you'll find special tools for this at the hardware store. Try painting the plaster on with a brush in those tighter spots.

Use care or a corner trowel for corners. Use a flexible rubber 'half-moon' trowel or your hands for bullnoses.

UNMASKING

If you feel that you're done, you can unmask it.  If you have chunks of dried plaster on the tape, you'll have a harder time and you might rip out a few fragments of plaster along the way.

A good idea is to mist the tape with water softening the plaster a little. Also,  it's not a bad idea to gently score the tape line with a razor before unmasking. Careful you don't scratch the wood if doing this.

SANDING

Sanding is sometimes essential with Marmorino. LIghtly sanding it with a soft sanding sponge will smooth out any undesired microtextures and give more depth and mottling to the wall. You're not really sanding. Instead you're kind of compressing it a little and giving it a little accent here and there. The more the plaster was burnished lightly, the more 'pop' you'll have when you sand. You don't have to scrub hard...just a few times in the same area. It feathers out imperfections and get rid of little bits of plaster sticking up. Sand over bullnoses and corners. Stop if your scratching the plaster. It means that you sanding implement is still too hard and gritty.

Make sure to wipe the dust when you're done. If you have areas that you're not happy with even after it dries, try wetting the area with a spray bottle (or whatever) and gently sand the area in question. The plaster will soften a little and the sanding will take off a very thin top layer of the plaster. Try this first on your sample board. Do this very gently and slowly at first. You can wipe out any 'mud' that you made on the wall with a rag. Let it dry and see what happens before you do larger sections.

If your burnished Marmorino is done perfectly and you have the whole thing smoothed out, you can unmask it and walk away. More often than not there will be something you might have to fix. Fixing burnished Marmorino is a little tricky. This requires wetting down the area you are about to work on, then very gently sand the wall. You can then burnish it with a trwel as it is still wet. Sometimes whole walls in this manner to give it a different quality of sheen and 'feather' it out making it more natural. Wet sanding Marmorino is a little more difficult than doing it with Veneziano, because you have to fight the sand of the Marmorino.

The physics of this whole wet sanding process is exactly the same for polishing marble and granite. This is a very touchy process, so make sure you practice. It's a good thing to know if you have to patch a burnished wall. It's sometimes the only way to fix it.

Unlike Veneziano. do not try to use electric sander with Marmorino.

SEALERS

There are natural sealer and synthetic sealers. Read more on sealers in our maintenance and sealers section.

NATURAL SEALERS

Are used when you don't need waterproofing protection but a mild resistance against minor dirt, stains or dust. These sealers include natural beeswax and soap. When you seal plaster, it's often much harder to repair the plaster and some of the environmentsl aspects are lost.. Don't use these on exteriors, shower stalls or more 'extreme' areas. These sealers  prevent any possible 'rubbing off' of really dark tinted colors off the wall or  lime dust refusing to get off the wall.

Natural beeswax can be applied with a rag, applying small amounts then buffing it out right after. Beaswax is a very traditional way of sealing plaster only on interiors. You can use clear beaswax, or try different colors for more variation and depth (mostly for accent areas). Wax gives it great dirt and minor stain protection. Wax is very easy to reapply any time. Wax / colored wax is great to on polished plaster to give it a more uniform sheen, covering all the areas which weren't burnished. When waxing Veneziano, it's easy to get streaks. Dampen a soft rag with Lacquer Thinner and go over the wall polishing it at the same time. This will give you a mirror like sheen and also take away any accidental heavier spots of wax.

The biggest downside with wax is that it stinks. It smells really bad. Once it dries the odor completely disappears withing hours and there's no off gassing. Wax has solvents. You have to wear a respirator and gloves when applying.

Colored waxes go really well over colors you want to deepen in tone, like deep reds.

We recommend BriWax. Try getting the Toluene free version for less odor. Unfinished furniture stores almost always carry the stuff (as it's great for raw wood). Ace Hardware always carries it.

Some waxes will darken your plaster too much, so apply clear wax first, then your colored wax. You can even color your own waxes out of the clear wax and even add pearlescents and metallic powders.

There are lots of waxes out there. Our customers are always finding new products we haven't tried yet.

And as always, try the sample board first. Wax is a real committment. Once it's on, its on. If you ever have to go over wax, you have to scuff / sand the whole wall with 180 or lower sanding paper until every inch has plenty of 'tooth'. You can replaster it right on top, or you can prime it, paint it, or whatever you need. If the wax was very heavy, scrub it off first with a rag and lacquer thinner.

Soap is great and easy traditional way of sealing plasters in interiors. It takes away the 'dustyness' of the plaster and give a little more deepening of color. It also feathers out the variation.  Here's an interesting and inexpensive way to make your own soap sealers:  buy unscented, uncolored pure castille liquid soap. These totally natural soaps are hard to find in most stores. Any liquid clear soap will do the trick. This is available in most natural fancy food stores. Cut it with about half or more with water, and apply it with a rag trying not to let it streak down the wall. Carerful going around corners. If you double it up too much, it might darken a little more in those areas. This is a really great way to finish plaster.

Tinting soap doesn't work very well, so don't bother.

SYNTHETIC SEALERS

You can seal it if it need the waterproofing protection. The downside of sealers is that it's harder to fix or change the wall once you do this. You shoudn't have to do it in whole houses. This is best done in kitchen backsplashes, shower stalls, public areas, some high traffic exteriors, extreme weather exteriors and alike.

We recommend solvent based penetrating sealers. The same ones used for natural stone tile and countertops. These are found at most tile stores. We sell sealer, but it's just as easy to go to the store and get smaller quantities. Make sure you but 'non'enhancing' sealers that won't permanently darken the plaster (unless you want to).

Follow the instructions on the sealer can on how to do this. You can usually wipe our brush it on. For extra protection, do 2 coats.

There are many synthetic sealer products on the market today. Many acrylic and many don't seal as well as they should. So far our favorites are Miracle Sealants 511 Impregnator (or Penetrating Sealer) or Dry Heat products from Australia. Use other sealers at your own discretion. Test them out before you do a large area. Acrylic sealers (and there many) will tend to darken your wall by 5-100%. They will  leave a plastic sheen behind, whereas the solvent based usually are completely invisible. Acrylic sealer on the other hand can significantly improve the durability of a wall, whereas solvent based just give really great water protection.  Sealer technology is always changing and improving. It's a technically complex industry. Try it what you think might work, and as always, on a sample board first,

TROUBLE SPOTS AND FIXES

GETTING STRAIGHT EDGES
If the line where you taped wasn't straight or was unmasked with a jagged edge, either wipe clean any excess plaster / paint with a rag and water, score dried edge with a blade.   Add water to the plaster, making a slurry out of it, and dab small ammounts of the plaster with a small brush.
 

'Double-mask' spots like edges re-tape the area and run your brush or finger along the tape. Double taping means that you masked both sides of the trouble spot exposing only the sliver of the spot. That way, you won't have a smudge or an obvious looking fix.

PATCHING
If the plaster takes on damage, like a major ding or nail hole, simply take the plaster and apply it onto the spot like putty. Even it out level to the wall. Let it dry, and then sand it, or wipe it with a damp rag, or plaster slurry to make it look seamless. Remember to wipe away sealer or wax before doing this. If using an acrylic sealer, sand the area a bit, patch, then re-seal or re-wax.  Try the wet sanding method if your not getting the results you want.

PEELING
If the plaster drags or peels when burnishing, stop and let the plaster dry a bit more. If this still persists, spray the area lightly with water and try burnishing again. Usually peeling is a result of over-burnishing an area or burnishing when it is too wet. Otherwise, it is an adhesion problem with the wall. Sometimes, the first coat is scraped on and there's not enough plaster for the second coat to adhere and absorb into, crackling or peeling might happen.

BUBBLES
Bubbles mean that the base coat is expelling gas. If you mix your own colors, sometimes using an electric drill at high speeds can whip tiny bubbles into the mix. You can usually cut them down by floating them out, or you can reapply another thin coat over the area. Once in a while you get tiny bubbles from minor chemical reaction when certain aspects of the products didn't have a chance to settle out. After a a few days or sometime a few weeks, your plaster should 'settle' and stabilise.

PLASTER IS NOT ADHEREING TO PRIMED WALL
It could be that the plaster was layered much too thick. At some point, the plaster gets too thick and will crack. It's designed to be applied in thinner coats. Another issue may be that the primer was too chalky (cheap product) or the base coat was oil-based instead of acrylic, or there was dust on the wall.

Sometimes, the room or wall was too cold: do not apply plaster in less than 45 degrees Fahrenheit. Another weather related issue is that the plaster can freeze, thaw out and be degraded. The plaster dried too quickly or is too near a heating vent or direct hot sunlight. The base coat sucked the moisture out of the plaster too quickly. Wet the base coat next time.

LIGHT SPOTS AFTER BURNISHING
If after burnishing, if there are undesirable lighter spots that you missed; spray water on the areas and polish them with 600-grit sandpaper, re-burnish the area with a trowel as you go. Small trowels work great for this. 


OVER BURNISHED AND THERE ARE DARK SPOTS
First try lightly sanding the area with 600-grit sandpaper and wiping it with a damp rag. If this doesn't work try 400-grit sandpaper. If that doesn't do it, wet the area, and repeat the sanding. Be gentle. Wipe with a damp rag afterwards. Then, make the plaster into a slurry by mixing with water. With this slurry, dab the areas with a small brush, or trowel a very thin layer over the area and sand it out when it dries.

GAPS BETWEEN WALLS AND TRIM
This is because the trim is not caulked or the wall and trim are separated. You can prevent this by caulking larger gaps before you start. The smaller gaps can be filled with plaster on the second coat. Often on new construction, wood is not fully dried and the trim shrinks. This is why after a year or two, you see cracks in the caulking of the trim. In older homes you usually don't have to worry too much about this. For newer homes, try taping the trim a little closer to the wall, so if it does move, it's not too obvious of a defect.  Try the 'double taping' where you mask only revealing the sliver of the gap and caulk or plaster it then.

CLEANING AND MAINTENENCE
Marmorino is easy to maintain. There's nothing to do unless it needs cleaning. You can wipe it with a damp or even wet cloth. Always try your worn sanding sponge over the area to erase minor dirt, then 400 grit or lower. If it's burnished, you don't want to scratch it with low grit paper.  If that doesn't work, just put another skim coat on the area and then sand it. You can also add water to the plaster making a slurry, then dab it on with a brush or rag. If Marmorino is unsealed, do not clean the adjacent trim with oil. If it gets on the plaster, it will discolor. Wipe walls only with water, unless cleaning difficult dirt. If it is sealed with any type of sealer, then you can clean the trim with oil.

If you're applying plaster where you don't intend to have floor trim, make sure you seal the bottom 5 or 6 inches with an invisible non-enhancing stone sealer.

For tougher stained areas, try rubbing the spot out with Lacquer Thinner.