Raw Mud: Adventures in Natural Lime Plaster 01

I've been troweling buttery mud over the old damaged bathroom counter in our apartment. 

The mixture I've used so far is about half natural hydraulic lime and half masonry sand, and lots of water. No pigment has been used on this piece yet. I've left a lot of texture in the back-splash so you can see the gradient of texture available with lime plaster.

Lime stone is an amazing medium, used by the ancient Mediterranean masons in Greece and Rome. Lime has an amazingly harmonious, elemental cycle:

In the days after application, as the plaster dries, the surface is washed repeatedly with pure soaps and oils, making it more smooth and solid, as it smells amazing. After about a week the mixture drys into what is essentially solid limestone. The stone fixture has a strangely powerful and calming energy, it's own presence.

For some applications this raw surface could be waxed and finished, but for this project I am planning on doing one final pass to the counter top and bottom edge of the back splash. The mixture I will use for this final pass will have a much finer grit, like marble dust (calcium carbonate), creating a very smooth surface, then polish with soap again and then treat with a natural wax.

I have already lined up two clients who want a similar natural treatment like this with experimental pigments (black? purple? chartreuse? layering different tones and marbling?) and experimental minerals (sparkly rocks and powders like mica? and inlaid crystals? and shells?).

If you are curious about more lime possibilities, type "raw lime plaster" into pinterest... https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/344455071471097681/

I love mud.

#mud #limeplaster #diy