Silk Plaster Training Day Review

I’m a professional decorator and have been for the majority of my working life. I also blog for the Decorators Forum UK. I notice the different specialisms that come along within our trade and some of them look pretty cool.

One thing I’ve had my eye on for some time is Silk Plaster, which is huge in Europe, really taking hold in Ireland, but is basically unheard of in England, Scotland or Wales. I’m in Northwest England and fancied having a crack. Not just for fun, but I want to see if I can make some money at it. and offer Silk Plaster moving forward as a decorator.

I attended the Silk Plaster application course in Lincoln a few days ago and I thought I’d take the time to sit down and talk you through my experience, as well as my expectations moving forward.

The course lasts for one day and costs £100. It is run by a company called Silk Plaster Liquid Wallpaper, who also distribute the products to installers across the country. They also install the product themselves for homeowners. It’s fair to say they are experts at what they do.

I rocked up at the unit and was instantly greeted by the instructor, a friendly chap called Vadim. Funnily enough he needed to nip out for some milk, leaving me to explore the unit on my own (bit dangerous)!! I was like a kid in a candy shop!! Loads of exotic materials and displays for me to look at, touch and even smell.

I was dubious about the course. Not because I didn’t think I’d get the hang of it, but I didn’t know whether there was a market for Silk Plaster in the UK. Those first 15 minutes in the unit alleviated any doubts I had. Some of the materials look a bit dated, but there are loads which would be popular with the clients I already have as a professional decorator.

Anyway, the instructor came back and we got started. There was two of us who attended the course and I’d booked it with a mate of mine, which made the day enjoyable. There was a lot of info to take in, but everything about Silk Plaster was explained thoroughly. Then we had a go at application. It isn’t as easy as it looks, but we mastered it by the time the day was over. We practiced and practiced on a feature wall until we were both confident in our abilities.

So now we knew the basics about Silk Plaster and how to apply it, but can we make money from it? I knew the biggest hurdle would be to take what we’d learnt and build a business around the knowledge.

I explained this to Vadim and asked for anything he could give me to showcase Silk Plaster to a potential customer. We ended up coming away with sample boards, colour charts and a display chart.

I’m so glad I attended the Silk Plaster application course and I’d recommend it to anyone. I aim to make some good money going forward, but even if I don’t, the day was enjoyable and very interesting.

You can find Silk Plaster UK on Facebook if you need to reach them.

Silk Plaster is a product from Latvia, and on first impression I have to admit I wasn’t convinced. But don’t stop reading there! Once I trailed the product it was a short-lived concern.

It is in my opinion a very ‘foreign’ finish, the kind you expect to see when on holiday abroad in your hotel room, a restaurant or even the foyer. And when abroad many of these finishes or techniques they use look amazing in that country, but once taken out of context and plonked into our very ‘British’ style they don’t fit quite as well, they stand out and not always in a good way.

‘Silk plaster’ or ‘Liquid Wallpaper’ are regularly, when abroad, used on every wall and ceiling. I don’t think the UK is quite ready for that. But I do 100% like the finish and in my opinion, I think it makes a great feature wall or feature ‘area’.

I have trailed the light grey 941 in the SOUTH collection and it is subtle and beautiful in its own unique way. I like it a lot. Not only do I like it, but it has also received compliments on the business page and also guests to the property.

It is incredibly easy to use, the small plastic trowel is more than adequate to complete the install. It will have been left to soak for 12 hours so the product is saturated on install, more water can be added if required so you aren’t dictated a time scale to complete the job. Although admittedly, time is money and we need to apply quickly as a tradesperson. But it isn’t ‘hard work’. You can stop for a cup of tea and continue, and we all like a nice cup of tea!

I did find sometimes you can over work a section and trowel back over and pull off a section you have just applied, or accidently gouge a corner of the trowel and loose a section. But they are short lived errors and you have smooth it back over with another sweep of the trowel and fix any discrepancies. I highly suspect with more practice these issues just wouldn’t happen.

There are a few pros and cons of Silk Plaster as I see them;

PROS:

• It really does cover a multitude of sins! Its doesn’t matter if the wall isn’t flat this will take the bends and curves. If the wall has any visable hairline cracks, this will just hide them.
• Its simple and easy to install.
• Eco friendly
• Requires few tools.
• Other than standard prep all you need to do is paint the wall white.
• It really is unique over here at present.

CONS:

• It cant be used in areas of high humidity.
• Because of the nature of how you remove the product (water and scrape) it won’t be suitable for a bathroom. Although they do say you can use apart from ceiling and behind actual shower. Id be a little cautious though.
• My biggest concern is that on all my jobs I constantly push hardwearing, scrubbable finish. We seal nearly all wallpaper we install so that is can be ‘scrubbed’ and it can be cleaned.

Silk Plaster, however, can’t be cleaned, I don’t think I would use in any high impact area of a house, But I have children and a dog! I can see this would be less of an issue for some people.

The finish can be sealed with a Polyvine varnish to make harder wearing, but I haven’t tried this a yet.

Ultimately, I love Silk Plaster, it has some garish colours that aren’t popular in the UK currently in its sample book. But if you stick to the simpler colours and options, I think it could offer a great finish to add to our portfolio for customers. I will also install it in my next house when I’m at decorating stage and I will be offering it as part of my range of services as a decorator.