Cob: book finds! - plasters, paints, finishes, washes, etc. etc.

[John Schinnerer]

Aloha,

Just stumbled over two books with great info on all manner of
natural/old-style/historical plasters, paints, finishes, washes, etc. etc.
etc. - they're "art books" genre-wise but have tons of stuff relevant to
natural building plasters and finishes.  Great pictures of historical
buildings, inside and out, as well.  And...they're both in print!  Here we
go:

"Applied Artistry" by Jocasta Innes, Bulfinch Press (Little, Brown & Co.),
ISBN 0-8212-2242-2
Subtitle:  'A complete guide to decorative finished for your home'

Includes detailed info on building lime, gypsum, plaster of paris, compo,
stucco (it ain't what it used to be!), etc.; project details for slaking
lime, rough plastering, lime rendering, etc.; then a whole section on
colors, pigments and paints including limewash (and tinting it),
colorwashing, pigments, historical palettes, etc.


"Classic Paints and Faux Finishes," by Annie Sloan and Kate Gwynn, Reader's
Digest, ISBN 0-89577-523-9

Much more finish-oriented:  earth, mineral and plant pigments; plasters,
glues and sizes, simple coatings, limewash, size paints, glazes, caesin
paints, water-based paints).  Also a big section on paint and equipment,
plus interesting tidbits like how Stockholm tar (a type of wood tar)
eventually replaced pig fat as a protective layer on houses in Scandinavia,
Germany and Holland.


A lot of what's in these two books could be used to transform a 'modern'
white-walled box (if that's what one's got at present) into a much richer,
more colorful and welcoming bunch of spaces just with surface treatments and
details.
Both books have lots of info on "natural" materials, for example Finnish
cooked paint - "This traditional Scandinavian paint is cheap and durable,
lasting from 30 to 50 years.  It has been used in Sweden and Finland for
centuries.  It is made from rye and wheat flour boiled in water, iron
sulfate, and earth pigments."
Both also include information on "modern" materials (latex paint, concrete,
etc.).  Both have step-by-step how-to's, with photo sequences and examples,
for most of the main materials and techniques they cover.

Found these through an artist friend who loves to do the surface treatments
and decorative natural finishes and so on - she and her husband are planning
to build a cob/hybrid house and use a variety of these finishes (yeah, sure,
I said, just wait and see if you've got the energy left after building the
basic house...! ;-).

John Schinnerer