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What is Venetian plaster? 

Venetian plaster is a famous Italian feature wall and ceiling finish  that can be applied by a professional to create a stone, marble or concrete-like look quickly, on a few millimetres thickness.

Venetian plaster is sometimes called polished plaster, decorative plaster, marble plaster, polished stucco, Italian stucco and Venetian stucco.  

Venetian plaster is a durable, eco-friendly and light-weight decorative option that can last hundreds of years and has been used since Roman times. 

We can discern between traditional, lime-based and acrylic Venetian plasters  and even though many of them can produce the same look, they can be of completely different consistency, with different characteristics. These differences help the applicators to choose the right plaster for their style and specifier to find the plaster with the right characteristic with the same look.  

Venetian plaster can be considered an applied art and is generally applied by specialists as the skill level and experience needed to create a specified look is high. 

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The History of Venetian plaster  

Venetian plaster was first used in ancient Rome because of its look, durability and lightness. Vitruvius the famous Roman architect was the first to write about the compact lime finishes with a marble look in his De Architettura which were applied on as many as eight coats on the exterior of noble houses.   

Sometimes people confuse the origins of Venetian plaster with that of lime and lime finishes and state that it comes from ancient Egypt. That's is a misunderstanding as although Egypt had access to ample quantities of lime, but never had any marble quarries, unlike Italy, so it's impossible that it could have developed a finish without a resources that would be naturally available. Admittedly, the use of lime plaster was first documented in ancient Egypt. The same is true for placing the origins of Venetian plasters in France where actually marble is rare and is primarily available in red colour only whereas white is needed for Venetian plasters. 

The Venetian plaster technique was largely forgotten in the Middle Ages and it was only revived in the 16th century by the Italian architect Andrea Palladio, who re-discovered these decorative plasters when he was searching for light-weight solutions for the palazzos of Venice. He used the left-over marble powder and small chunks of the Italian marble quarries that once grinded, mixed with lime paste and organic to imitate the look of real marble, without it's weight or cost. 

The third, modern age of Venetian plastering started when the famous Italian architect, Carlo Scarpa, influenced by Japanese minimalism and Italian traditions started to use and develop acrylic and some lime-based Venetian plasters. One of the hist best work featuring Venetian plaster feature walls and ceilings can be seen in the Olivetti shop in Venice, close to the St Mark Square. 

How to Make Venetian plaster 

Lime-based Venetian plaster consist of lime putty, marble dust (and/or other aggregates) and organic compounds . These organic components used to be animal glues, but they were replaced by casein, cellulose and in modern times, resins. Acrylic plasters are made mostly of resinous materials, sometimes combined with different stone powders to enable them to create deeply textured effects.  

Both Venetian plasters of the 21st century are extremely complex due to their enhanced shelf lives, workability and drying times, may they be lime-based or acrylic. It is not possible to create consistent and good looking home-made lime Venetian stuccos without the three well-balanced components and a great degree of technical and chemical expertise. The effort of making Venetian plasters can be compared to trying to re-create emulsions at home - possible, but fruitless.   

Due to the above it is way cheaper and effective to buy the ready-mixed lime Venetian plasters from Impera Italia then to experiment with raw materials that even mixed will not produce a durable, pleasing (and competitive!) look. 

Venetian Plaster Cost 

The cost of Venetian plaster materials in the UK depends on the quantity, type and colour of the plaster used, but as a guideline starts from £4.60 and can be as much as £19 per metre square. wax and primer included. High-gloss Venetian plasters and multi-coloured textured effects with waxes generally cost more than slightly textured, satin or smooth finishes in a single colour. 

To buy Venetian plaster materials is way cheaper than supply and fit, with the latter costing somewhere between £65 and £120+, although it's not unheard of to pay as much as £400 per metre square for an especially durable finish with an outstanding design. 

Colour matches, a number of samples or sample walls can also significantly increase the cost of the Venetian plastering, not mentioning difficult access or special protectors for high durability requirements. 

The high price is due to the minimum 3 to 5 days work and the hand-applied nature of this stunning bespoke finish. 

Venetian Plaster Tools 

If you would apply Venetian plasters you will need the special tools that have evolved hand-in-hand with this prestigious finish.  

It was discovered quite recently that trowels with curved edges and round corners could the most beneficial tools for the Venetian plastering trade; these doesn’t scratch the surface of the finish and enable the applicator to create an extremely smooth, glossy or textured, stone-like surface by a process called 'burnishing'. 

The Venetian plaster tools offered by Impera Italia are of the highest quality, made by hand in Italy by Pavan, the foremost manufacturer of specialist tools. Every tool is a piece of art, made with patented handles, of stainless steel and comes with a lifetime guarantee. 

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best selection of Venetian plasters in the UK!

What is Venetian plaster? 

Venetian plaster is a famous Italian feature wall and ceiling finish  that can be applied by a professional to create a stone, marble or concrete-like look quickly, on a few millimetres thickness.

Venetian plaster is sometimes called polished plaster, decorative plaster, marble plaster, polished stucco, Italian stucco and Venetian stucco.  

Venetian plaster is a durable, eco-friendly and light-weight decorative option that can last hundreds of years and has been used since Roman times. 

We can discern between traditional, lime-based and acrylic Venetian plasters  and even though many of them can produce the same look, they can be of completely different consistency, with different characteristics. These differences help the applicators to choose the right plaster for their style and specifier to find the plaster with the right characteristic with the same look.  

Venetian plaster can be considered an applied art and is generally applied by specialists as the skill level and experience needed to create a specified look is high. 

The History of Venetian plaster  

Venetian plaster was first used in ancient Rome because of its look, durability and lightness. Vitruvius the famous Roman architect was the first to write about the compact lime finishes with a marble look in his De Architettura which were applied on as many as eight coats on the exterior of noble houses.   

Sometimes people confuse the origins of Venetian plaster with that of lime and lime finishes and state that it comes from ancient Egypt. That's is a misunderstanding as although Egypt had access to ample quantities of lime, but never had any marble quarries, unlike Italy, so it's impossible that it could have developed a finish without a resources that would be naturally available. Admittedly, the use of lime plaster was first documented in ancient Egypt. The same is true for placing the origins of Venetian plasters in France where actually marble is rare and is primarily available in red colour only whereas white is needed for Venetian plasters. 

The Venetian plaster technique was largely forgotten in the Middle Ages and it was only revived in the 16th century by the Italian architect Andrea Palladio, who re-discovered these decorative plasters when he was searching for light-weight solutions for the palazzos of Venice. He used the left-over marble powder and small chunks of the Italian marble quarries that once grinded, mixed with lime paste and organic to imitate the look of real marble, without it's weight or cost. 

The third, modern age of Venetian plastering started when the famous Italian architect, Carlo Scarpa, influenced by Japanese minimalism and Italian traditions started to use and develop acrylic and some lime-based Venetian plasters. One of the hist best work featuring Venetian plaster feature walls and ceilings can be seen in the Olivetti shop in Venice, close to the St Mark Square. 

How to Make Venetian plaster 

Lime-based Venetian plaster consist of lime putty, marble dust (and/or other aggregates) and organic compounds . These organic components used to be animal glues, but they were replaced by casein, cellulose and in modern times, resins. Acrylic plasters are made mostly of resinous materials, sometimes combined with different stone powders to enable them to create deeply textured effects.  

Both Venetian plasters of the 21st century are extremely complex due to their enhanced shelf lives, workability and drying times, may they be lime-based or acrylic. It is not possible to create consistent and good looking home-made lime Venetian stuccos without the three well-balanced components and a great degree of technical and chemical expertise. The effort of making Venetian plasters can be compared to trying to re-create emulsions at home - possible, but fruitless.   

Due to the above it is way cheaper and effective to buy the ready-mixed lime Venetian plasters from Impera Italia then to experiment with raw materials that even mixed will not produce a durable, pleasing (and competitive!) look. 

Venetian Plaster Tools 

If you would apply Venetian plasters you will need the special tools that have evolved hand-in-hand with this prestigious finish.  

It was discovered quite recently that trowels with curved edges and round corners could the most beneficial tools for the Venetian plastering trade; these doesn’t scratch the surface of the finish and enable the applicator to create an extremely smooth, glossy or textured, stone-like surface by a process called 'burnishing'. 

The Venetian plaster tools offered by Impera Italia are of the highest quality, made by hand in Italy by Pavan, the foremost manufacturer of specialist tools. Every tool is a piece of art, made with patented handles, of stainless steel and comes with a lifetime guarantee.

Venetian Plaster Cost 

The cost of Venetian plaster materials in the UK depends on the quantity, type and colour of the plaster used, but as a guideline starts from £4.60 and can be as much as £19 per metre square. wax and primer included. High-gloss Venetian plasters and multi-coloured textured effects with waxes generally cost more than slightly textured, satin or smooth finishes in a single colour. 

To buy Venetian plaster materials is way cheaper than supply and fit, with the latter costing somewhere between £65 and £120+, although it's not unheard of to pay as much as £400 per metre square for an especially durable finish with an outstanding design. 

Colour matches, a number of samples or sample walls can also significantly increase the cost of the Venetian plastering, not mentioning difficult access or special protectors for high durability requirements. 

The high price is due to the minimum 3 to 5 days work and the hand-applied nature of this stunning bespoke finish