We’re going bold and complimentary to the brick with a teal venetian plaster. I love to create and apply the plaster. The art is ancient, from before the Romans, who as usual, copied it from the Greeks. The mixing is time consuming and meditative. I mix the plaster by hand in the same bucket I was given as an apprentice when we first stucco’d our building’s hallways in the early 1990’s. I’ve kept that stucco bucket all these years and I carefully scrap and clean it and put it away after each use. It is stained with the patina of all the colors I’ve ever mixed in it starting with the first butter yellow of our hallways.
I don’t know where this recipe originated. I’m sure that if venetian plaster artisans ever saw it, they would either snicker or groan. The ancient recipes include lime and marble dust. This is the recipe that was taught me so that I could help do our building’s hallways and it is the recipe that I have always used. It works, it holds up. The hallway stucco is twenty years old and it has only been refreshed once.
stucco veneziano in our hallway 1996
Here is the recipe: Mix 1 part flat paint and 1 part water. Add a dollop of wallpaper paste (the natural kind, called wheat paste). Mix in plaster of paris little by little as if you were mixing cake batter till smooth. Finish by adding a splash of milk to keep the plaster from hardening too quickly. Only mix a little at a time at first till you get the hang of the time it takes to harden and how fast you can get it up. Use a real stucco knife imported from Italy. You will not be able to get it smooth enough with any other tool. If you want to repost this recipe, please link back to this post.
It’s really hard to find the old-fashioned wallpaper paste that was made out of wheat. Now what they sell is full of chemicals. I had to make my own. I found this recipe. It was very easy and it is a good recipe to have if you ever need to make papier mache.
adding the plaster to the paint mixture
it feels like a cake batter
add a splash of milk to keep it from hardening too quickly
applying the plaster with a stucco knife
Next up will be the finishing touches and the “after photos”. Stay tuned.
Loisaida Nest 
This is awesome! I´m really going to try it on some wall. Thank you, Ileana!
I will help you and bring over my stucco knife.
Do you have to prep the wall with anything?
It will look amazing…
Hi Sandra, I have done this with at least a primer coat over sheetrock. That I would think is the minimum. Thanks so much for your note.
Wow! That’s an interesting and fun way to add some personal touch to your walls. Ancient style but truly awesome. 🙂
~Lisha
Thanks Lisha, I like how your office is turning out.
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Wow, the recipe is not that far off. I learned this in school for historical restoration ( Stuttgard Germany ). We used Lye soap and instead of just milk, butter milk. Thats do to the fat content and calcium for binding. This recipe is hundreds of years old.
Hi Michael, thank you so much for writing. Your comment made my day. I was glad to hear that what I’m doing is not so crazy. I will try the buttermilk the next time.
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love the walls. Where will I purchase online an Italian stucco knife??
Thank you for visiting and reading. I still use the same trowel that I have used for more than 20 years (I take very good care of it, by cleaning it well after use). This website has the same trowel that I use. It is 803 Pavan trowel 200x80mm. http://www.paintandplasters.com/categories/Pavan-Trowels/
Good luck!
how does it hold up in a bathroom/humid environment, would there be a change to the recipe?
Hello Bethany. Thanks for reading. It holds up great in a bathroom. I had stucco in my bathroom for about 15 years and it looked good. No change to the recipe. Just make sure that you put the top coat of the ivory soap on it and no direct hits of water just as with any surface that is not a tile surface. Good luck!
Because this is a recipe that is extremely reminiscent of the ancient recipe, it should be extremely durable and do great in humid environments. It is, after all, “Venetian” plaster. Any plaster that can last hundreds and hundreds of years on a city built on top of water would have to be able to take the wet.
Just finding this blog, so the reply is a little bit belated. Wondering what you used for a colorant in the plaster? Thanks so much.
thanks for visiting. I use regular white latex paint and then I mix in a bit of dark paint in the color I want until I get the shade I like. remember that it will be a tad lighter than what you mix up because you will be adding the plaster and then it will dry lighter also.
Hi,my name is Jerry and I am going to give your plaster a try,but what exactly is the purpose for the wheat past. Please let me know. Thanks
So sorry that I was unaware this comment was sitting there for so long. I believe the wheatpaste acts as a glue, holding the plaster together to adhere to the wall.
Thanks for sharing the RECIPE Ileana, I have tried to make findings but wasn’t getting what i needed to know. With this i’ll give it a try and will share, whatever the result turns out to be.
wow, always have loved all of this and did something similar with joint compound on a wall one time. it was pretty cool but I did a more textured, bumpy surface. Question, outdoor cleveland ohio but covered porch, one wall open to outdoors on this room. will get some sunlight and changes of temperature. it is the top half of a wall. will this work? what was that about ivory soap on the surface?
Hi Sue, sorry for the late response. I’ve never tried this outdoors. The ivory soap coating works well in a bathroom but no water ever touch it, only the normal moisture present in a bathroom. Good luck!
I have a glossy painted brick fireplace in a 1925 Spanish Revival home that I want to cover with venetian plaster. How would you recommend prepping the surface so it adheres well? Roughing it up? Removing the paint? Covering it with 1/4″ backer board?? Thanks and can’t wait to try your recipe.
Hi Kim, sorry for the delayed response. I have never tried this on a surface other than sheetrock. I’m not sure it brick and venetian plaster would be friends. The other thing to consider is once you do it, if you don’t like it, you would have to do a lot of scrapping to get it off. Good luck!
Novice asking: how much plaster? What consistency do you want? Cake batter? What color of paint did you use? Thank you!