Seattle Architectural Finishing Studio Blog

Our weekly roundup of Venetian Plaster and other Natural Plaster stuff on the web

OK I’m a little behind on this one, but I promise to try and get this done every week.

Dutch manufacturer of natural lime and clay plaster Tierrafino has very nice gallery of Tadelakt finishes here…Gallery

(FYI - if you’re interested in using Stucco Italiano’s natural lime Tadelakt  you can find more info here)

Environmental Building Strategies Blog mentions Venetian plaster as alternative LEED compliant wall finish: A rarely ever discussed subject is the alternative wall coverings that exist out there…Blog posting

Review of Michelangelo and the Pope’s ceiling on VP artisan’s blog: It reads more like a story…Blog post

Mud for Everyone is a blog that talks a lot about, not lime, but natural earthen plasters: The form of the building is almost complete and now for the artistic part! It’s time to plaster the mud brick walls to help protect them and add strength and beauty to the building…Blog post

Master Vancouver BC area plaster guy Steve Manby has lots of good photos of some recent exterior installations…here

That’s the roundup for this week. If you have anything you’d like to share let us know and we’ll take a look.

3 Comments | Posted in » Business Tips, Event, Green, Intonachino, Marmorino, Projects, Stucco, Tadelakt, Techniques, Tips and Tricks, Venetian Plaster, photos

Introducing our weekly roundup of Venetian Plaster stuff on the web

OK starting today, Dear Reader, every week we’ll try and anthologize some of the more interesting things we’ve seen regarding Venetian and other decorative lime plasters from around the internets including articles, blog posts, photos, whatever.

If you have a project or photo or an article or a post you’d like to have considered for inclusion please submit to info@stuccoitaliano.us

Here’s this weeks’ roundup:

Friend and talented colleague iLia Anossov releases new DVD: Fresco School is proud to announce the official release of the DVD Tutorial - “FRESCO PLASTER” from their “BUON FRESCO FOUNDATIONS” video set…full news release

Short article from French News source on Tadelakt: One of the most dramatic expressions of the multifaceted qualities of lime must be Tadelakt…Full story

Accent walls in kitchen from Sunset magazine: The kitchen and dining area are defined by Venetian plaster sealed with wax, which brings depth and sheen…Article

French artist’s blog: I just finished a course in Tadelakt which took place in the hills around Maubec, south of France…Blog post

Informative article on Venetian Plaster’s natural mold resistance: Not only is real Venetian Plaster a great addition and upgrade–and a green building product–it is absolutely beautiful. What many people are unaware of, however, is that it is also quite environmentally-friendly…Full article

Intonachino Project BC: I recently started a 1700ft lime based plaster project in Langley, B.C…Blog post

That’s it for this week.  Seattle remains snowed in.  Hope you’re all staying warm and not stuck in an airport this frigid holiday season!

No Comments | Posted in » Business Tips, Event, Green, Intonachino, Marmorino, Projects, Stucco, Tadelakt, Techniques, Tips and Tricks, Venetian Plaster, photos

Download our Venetian Plaster presentation brochure here:

We have a presentation piece for designers and architects available for download.  This includes several photos of various finishes from distressed to smooth, interior to exterior, plus general information about specifying our earth-friendly Italian lime plasters.

If you need a small sample presentation kit with actual 5×5 samples just email us here: info@stuccoitaliano.us

Click to download our full Architectural / Designer presentation flyer.

1 Comment | Posted in » Business Tips, Venetian Plaster

The Seven Stages of Twitter

I’ve started really getting into Twitter.  You know, that odd social marketing phenomenon where all the odd social marketers are talking endlessly to each other in 140 characters or less?

I have to admit I’m in an strangely good mood since I started using it.  Usually I’m a bit depressed and/or anxious during the holidays - maybe because there’s no light in Seattle.  I also needed something to replace my obsessive tracking of every political blog leading up to the election.  So now I just quasi-obsessively check my Twitter account.  Hmmm.

I don’t pretend to know a whole lot about Twitter yet.  I only have 83 followers right now which makes me quite puny in the Twitter world.  Some people have around 10,000 followers.  Followers.  Sounds cult-like.  You can follow people and they might follow you back.  That’s one way to become popular.  This morning I checked Twitter Grader which told me my score was 76 (of 100) and I was the 99,990th most important person on Twitter.   So then I went to Mr. Tweet and he(it?) showed me a bunch of other Twitterers that might be good for me to follow so I followed a few and some of them followed me back and then a little later I checked my Twitter grade and it was up to 82 and I became the 71,000th most important person.  Moving on up!  There’s a huge array of peripheral tools and information attached to Twitter like this I know nothing about.

Here’s a quick list of my own early take on what the seven stages of Twitter may be.  I think I’m in between stage five and six.

• 1 - Ignorance
• 2 - Disdain
• 3 - Curiousity
• 4 - Confusion
• 5 - Bemusement
• 6 - Addiction
• 7 - Enlightenment

You should try it.  I can’t find too many artisan types doing wall finishes or murals or plasters that are on there yet, so I could use some company.  Actually I found one excellent plaster artisan, Darrell Morrison, who I know real well up in Vancouver BC.  Here’s Darrell’s Twitter page.  I also am following (and being followed by) a talented woman who’s twitter “handle” is Artistagirl.  She lives in Colorado and I’ve seen some of her work and her website and I know from her tweets that her son plays lacrosse.  Now since I grew up in Long Island and played lacrosse at that division 3 powerhouse Connecticut College, I feel connected in a way I would not have if I just looked at her business site.  So that’s one way it must work.  I never could get into Facebook or MySpace, but I’m pretty sure now I will continue to use Twitter.

So, here’s my twitter page:  http://twitter.com/StuccoItaliano

Check it out.  Even if it doesn’t ultimately help your decorative plastering/painting business much (but I think it will somehow), perhaps it will help keep you in a better mood when the weather sucks.

10 Comments | Posted in » social marketing, twitter

New Photos of Stucco Italiano class in Italy

Manuel Saenz is a pretty good photographer as well as a plaster artisan. He just sent us a link to his photo gallery from the Stucco Italiano trip to Italy, including beautiful shots of the scenery…

interesting Italian finishes…

and of course, photos of Gianni teaching the students at the Stucco Italiano studio in Vicenza…

Take a look at more of Manuel’s photos, or our Stucco Italiano class group photo pool, and let us know what you think.

No Comments | Posted in » Italy