Glossary of Terms

• Trompe l'oeil - French - "trick the eye" - a painted finish that looks real or dimensional such as stone blocks or moldings


• Decorative Finish - purely decorative finish that can be multiple layers. Generally, layering of glazes achieves more perceived depth in a painted finish, including faux finishes.
  
  
• Faux Finish - French for “fake.”  A painted, glazed or textural finish that depicts or mimics something that it is not such as marble, wood, or a carved relief. 
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• Plaster - a textural substance that is normally troweled onto a surface
  
  
• Venetian Plaster - Fine Marmorino is generically known as Venetian plaster. In actuality, an entire family of "Venetian plasters" exists. Traditionally, many of the Venetian plaster finishes consist of a multiple layered finish that is burnished to a high sheen and has a glass-like finish that remains cool to the touch.  Venetian plaster is actually an American term for the polished Italian lime based plasters that have a glass-like appearance.  They are a world apart from the plastic looking acrylic Venetian Plasters made in America and are actually less labor intensive and have a polish and luster that is beyond compare.  Artistic Effect Studio offers the best.
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• Artistic Effects Studio, trained by an Italian master applicator, offers only the finest of imported Italian lime plasters and was on of the first in the area to offer these beautiful plasters made of all natural ingredients. These plasters are manufactured to "green standards" and are composed of finely crushed marble (marble flour), slaked lime, and natural resins. Even the tints are mineral and all natural. With all natural ingredients which include an all natural finishing wax, Artistic Effects Studio has eliminated the need for any solvent based waxes.
  
  
• Trowel techniques vary with the different looks. There is a visual difference between the real Italian plasters and the imitation acrylics that are seen in paint stores. It really is a waste of time and money for a client to accept the acrylic facsimiles when contracting a classic Venetian finish.
  
  
• Traditionally, Venetian plasters were lighter & more neutral in color; however a wide range of light to dark colors is available, including custom tinting. Classic applications of Venetian Plasters require that a wall have a grade 5 finish. Venetian Plaster (Fine Marmorino) is not an advisable finish over imperfect walls unless repairs are made to achieve grade 5.
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• Buon Fresco - the technique of painting on wet lime based Italian plaster. A sketch or cartoon is transferred to the wet plaster when it has formed a skin. During a limited amount of time, the artist paints the details. As carbonization occurs, tiny crystals form, locking the colored pigments into the plaster as it cures. The Sistine Chapel is probably the most famous example of Buon Fresco. Artistic Effects Studio offers small Buon Fresco panels based on historic works from Rome, Pompeii, and Byzantium.