Tadelakt Times

On the heels of a successful two day veneer plaster course in the summer of 2024, and by popular demand, New Age Artisans curated their own "hands on" tadelakt class.  It was full of eager minds, crafty hands, infectious laughter- and it won't be our last! With our online classes running at full steam, it was a common request by many members of The Plaster Portal community to provide in-person tutorials for the 2000 year old technique.  

Having learned from Marrakech masters, and bringing many of the learned skills home, it was important to pay homage to the country of Morocco, yet also push the plaster in a progressive direction with modern tools.  After just a few days of advertisement, the class sold out-bringing most students into town from afar.

Day 1:

 On a sunny Wednesday after election day, plasterers, designers, and homeowners from Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, and Washington joined alongside a few local Montanans to start their tadelakt journeys.  With formal introductions and a brief question and answer period, we jumped right into the historical importance of the technique and the inception of its creation as a coating in ancient cisterns.  We discussed the lime cycle, and the burning of limestone.  Most of the quicklime in the US is burned in controlled factories, and the resulting hydrated lime is pure and clean.  Due to its rudimentary technology, Moroccan lime contains remnant ash that serves as a building aggregate inside the plaster to provide structure.  

Our plaster BLENDS contain marble sands that provide the necessary bulk to achieve the layered finish and mimic the Moroccan version.  In addition to science and humanities, we detailed modern construction in the USA and discussed different adhesion strategies for a variety of wall systems.  

With mesh and cement board being the primary domestic materials, we spent several hours detailing the need for proper preparation and masking followed by adequate waterproofing to satisfy state codes. After a delicious lunch, we applied scratch coats on our sample boards.

Day 2:

Thursday consisted of "brown" coats.  This second layer of traditional plaster renders key into previously applied "scratch" coats and serve as a stable and thirsty coating for the tadelakt finish.  In order to attain necessary suction, it's imperative to have a proper bed surface to lay your plaster onto. The thick, yet flat surface provides ample suction that pulls the moisture down along with the larger aggregates.  

Any undulations in this coat will certainly telegraph through to the finish, so we discussed in detail the importance of being accurate with your trowel strokes, and timely with your sponge floating, and compressive wood floating.  

As the day progressed, many students began to question the cubic forms in an alternate bay of the warehouse, noting that the dry material on them seemed to be similar in form to the plaster they were spreading.  They were RIGHT!  

Timing is just about everything in life as well as in tadelakt. As a company, we've had the good fortune to befriend many of our clients post plaster installation, and Haley and Josh from Meridian Boutique are no exception.  

Their kindness radiates from their storefront out into our community.  When asked to plaster their tables to match their other beautiful surfaces we've coated throughout the years, we were honored, yet consumed by other contracts.  We just couldn't fit it in, and the project lost traction amongst other pressing priorities.  Weeks before the class, on a "think tank" run, I pondered the upcoming class and wanted to create the opportunity for the students to work on real life projects to hone their skills.  At that moment, I stopped dead in my tracks on the corner of North Black and Main Street as I glanced at the tables in the entry underneath a beacon of light.  Just hours later, MK joined Haley for a consultation to discuss color choices.

Cue MK's perspective:

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I met Haley at the boutique, armed with color fan decks and Tadelakt sample boards from our Signature Collection. Haley has an eye for color and design, as evidenced by the gorgeous choices she has already made in her store. The walls and shelves are a warm white plaster, the perfect backdrop for the beautiful clothes and accessories adorning the racks and shelves. The checkout area is a rich, deep teal, that perfectly matches the moody vibes in the customer restrooms at the back of the store. I knew we needed to hit this color out of the park, and I must say, it is without a doubt a home run.

We initially looked at some earthy greens, various shades of whites, grays, and neutrals. They all would have been excellent, safe choices, but we needed something bold. We thought about a deep teal to match the checkout area and restrooms, or a lime green as a contrasting color. Then I pulled out the Iron Ore SC-400 sample, and we knew we had a winner. This deep rust was the perfect complement to the other colors in the Meridian palette. It was an excellent substrate for the clothes and shoes that would be displayed on its surface, and it even pulled out the flecks of rust that otherwise went unnoticed in the dark slate floors.

If you want to see what Iron Ore SC-400 might look like in your space, Rookwood Terra Cotta by Sherwin Williams (SW 2803) is a pretty close paint color match. In the Benjamin Moore Classics line, Burnt Sienna (BM 1196) is similar, as is PPG’s Warm Up (PPG 1067-6). As always, samples of this color and all of the colors in our Signature Collection can be ordered through The Plaster Portal, and I’m always available for color consulting!

Now, back to Jeremy’s account of the tadelakt workshop!

Day 3:

When the first trowel stroke was applied, I stared with fear as I fully comprehend the color choices ramifications in novice hands and on our warehouse floor.  But after a few drops, the strokes became more and more accurate.  

As each layer of finish coat was applied, we took pause during the "tack" period to talk about the importance of contiguous moisture, floated surfaces, and detailed corners amongst the dynamic cubes.  After the fourth and final coat of finish was applied, several hours had elapsed and the students began to slick their cubes vigorously and precisely with fine grade Japanese and Co.Me trowels.  

Contoured corners began to take shape and come alive, as the large aggregate was compressed and the fines rose to the top-revealing a glossy shine.  Several hours later, our olive oil soap was applied, and polished with stones, revealing bright and big smiles.  

The banter and palpable enthusiasm amongst the group served as evidence that the three day course had rendered ten more fanatics in the world of architectural plaster coatings, and we couldn't be happier.

Today, the tables sit proudly as a testament to the creative impulses and the design genius of Meridian Boutique.  Stop in, buy yourself a beautiful garment from the friendly staff, and of course-refer a friend to our next Tadelakt class.  I wonder what we'll plaster next??

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