Decorative clay plasters with Bill and Athena Steen

 
   
 
 
 





This is some of the beautiful decorative plaster work by Bill and Athena Steen of the Canelo Project. This design is made by plastering the wall in several layers of different clays or with different pigments. The design is then made by cutting and removing the various layers to reveal their contrasting colours.

   
 
     
 
   
 


This particular wall, in Slovakia, was plastered on one of their European tours when they take the opportunity to share their design and clay skills.

Bill and Athena prefer to use trowels from Japan (left) and say they make the plaster-work easier and much more enjoyable. For the first pass they use a stainless trowel of medium rigidity, rectangular in shape. For the second pass a slightly smaller stainless trowel that is more flexible and trapezoidal in shape. They are available in the USA through Tom and Satomi Lander of Landerland.