Getting plastered!

Yep, we got plastered today!  Well, to be more precise we had a skimming lesson from friend Phil.  It's his birthday tomorrow, so I scrawled a big Happy Birthday message all across one wall (I think you can just about see it in this picture).  So, when someone renovates this cottage in 100 years they'll wonder who Phil is!

Skimming is one of those mystery arts that sounds just too tricky to do yourself and, actually, I don't think it is really!  It's quite amazing to watch.  Basically you put a really thin layer of plaster (just 2mm) all over really spreading it out by pushing quite hard.  At that stage you don't wory too much about lines and marks, just try to get it fairly evenly covered.  Then let it dry a bit and put an even thinner second coat on which is really to fill in any uneveness.  Then you have to have a cup of tea.  When you've done that, the plaster should be beginning to harden and you use a water spray and clean trowel to 'polish' it.  Again you have to press quite hard with long sweeping movements and the water softens the high points so you are removing the excess and at the same time filling in any scratches.  The finish really is quite polished.  We did two walls in the utility room - well, I'm not that sure quite how much was our own work.  Phil had to keep going over our bits.  Be interesting to see how we get on by ourselves!

While we were doing the walls, Phil had a go at one of our curved window reveals - it looks brilliant!  You really start to get a feel for the finished article.