I'm a new member and new-ish to using lime. I am
quite intrigued with lime for decorative as well
as fine art purposes. My qestions are both about
lime washes as well as lime plaster.

I have had some resonable success in making up simple
colored lime washes that I have used to paint my apt
in NYC and a recently acquired 1860's greek revival
house in Columbia Co. NY.

I have proceeded in a sort of seat-of-the pants fashion
for the past year and I am now ready to take it a bit
more seriously.

1. I would love to get a (faxed or otherwise)
copy of the booklet containing the limewash
recipes.
2. I have seen mentioned that linseed oil can
be added to a lime wash to make it a bit more
resistant to abrasion. If so should it be raw
or boiled and what amount (roughtly)
3. Are there recipes for making an exterior paint

I have started experimenting with lime plaster and, as
you would expect had some suprising failures as well
as some resonable successes. Your posts regarding
making lime putty from hydrated lime have confirmed
some of what i have found experimentally. But I have
a number of questions.

Since i have mostly been patching and skim coating I
have been slaking and mixing smaller amounts of
material (about 5gl. bucket at a time). I have let
the Type N lime slake about a week before using it
and then scooping out a couple of "gobs" and working
it with a trowel into a smooth and creamy paste. To
this I have done everything from adding nothing (bad
idea) to mixing in sand, marble dust and plaster of
paris in various combinations and percentages. Most
of the problems I have had were cracking and in some
cases the cracked dried plaster fell off the wall.

I had settled on a mix of 2 parts general purpose sand
to 1 part lime and added 1 part marble dust. This
seemed to work, stuck to the wall (old plaster and
painted brick) and dried hard. I let this dry for a
few days and then would skim it with a mix of equal
part marble dust and lime. I found that if I sprayed
a fine mist of water on to the drying plaster I was
able to mimimize the cracking. (I dont know if this
is a good idea or is just a compinsation for some
else I am doing wrong)

Based on what I have read on the forum it seems that
the mixes I am using are not to far off what is
recomended.

In general I have two types of questions. The first
are regarging the mixes. Is a 2:1 or 3:1 sand to
lime putty ratio a good one for a general purpose
base coat (scratch or brown) and is there any point
to adding marble dust to this. What a good ratio
for a finish coat, is this where I should add the
marble dust. Do I need to add plaster of paris
(how much) and is guaging plaster another name for
plaster of paris.

Secondly, how much water do i need in the mix. I have
tried adding none and after a lot of working of the
mix with a trowel got a nice plastic consistancy only
to have it dry to an unusable crumbly mess before I
got all the material off the hawk. Should the plaster
be gooey and a little loose on the hawk and workable
on the wall for some time or should it be firm on the
hawk and set up on the wall rather quickly. Can the
plaster be wetted down a little after it set to a firm
paste. Is it when the plaster has set to a firm paste
that it should be trowled to a fine finish (and how
do you do that?).

I'm sorry for the long post I have been working
in the dark and as you can imagine I have a lot of questions.

Thanks

Michael