BEFORE:
AFTER:
You may be thinking: "but, but, but it looked pure, and simple, and beautiful before the mural. Now it's a bit too much; visually overwhelming, even. It takes attention away from the gorgeous foundation stones, and adulterates the curve of the roof."
I've thought the same things. However, it was an experiment, and a fun one at that. I don't think I'd ever do it on my own house.
But as far as positives go: it makes the house very unique - I specifically avoided certain subjects in my mural that I find corny and overused: hands, the sun, moon, stars, happy faces, flowers. It looks especially good from far away, like in the garden, which is where most people first see the cottage. I hope that it draws crowds down through the garden fence to get a closer look. Most importantly, the lime plaster covers up all the unsightly cracks that opened up in the earthen plaster beneath it. In fact, the shapes in the mural (including the Footed Toothfish and Evil Chicken) are based on where the biggest cracks were that I wanted to hide. The art created itself as I went along.
I don't know much in detail about the process that lime goes to - Mike is always able to explain it more fully (he was a chemistry major). Basically, limestone is mined, crushed up, and then heated in an extremely hot kiln. During this heating process, CO2 is released. (Then a lot more happens....) When you buy lime in the United States, it is sold in dry, powder form. The powdered lime is "slaked," which means that it is mixed with water to form a putty. The putty is stored under a layer of water to prevent it from being exposed to air (which will cause it to harden). The longer the putty is stored, the better it gets (can't remember why) - the putty I used has been sitting in a 55-gallon drum for 4 years! The putty is mixed with sand to make a plaster. When the plaster is applied, the lime pulls CO2 back out of the air, and goes through a chemical change, turning it back into "stone." So a coat of lime plaster on a wall is essentially a coat of really thin (and breathable) stone. It is more durable than an earthen plaster, which is why we used it on the exterior window sills (no photos, sorry) where rain water might sit for longer than on a vertical wall.
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