Putty-compatible Wall Glaze: Little Effort - Big Effect

Creative design techniques are often considered to be time-consuming and therefore expensive. Are there any materials that can be easily and quickly brought to the wall and still surprise with a wow effect? The painter's sheet took a closer look at a multicolored, trowelable glaze.

Author I Photos: Susanne Sachsenmaier-Wahl

Sometimes I just want to know. Then I swap the computer keyboard for a brush, roller or trowel, put on my work clothes and sniff the air at the construction site again. This time I dealt with creative wall design. Are attractive looks and simple implementation fundamentally mutually exclusive? Or are there also products that can be processed easily and quickly and with which effective results can nevertheless be achieved? The task was to find out. My choice fell on a spatula-compatible wall glaze for the design of multicolored surfaces, about which you can read on the homepage of the manufacturer Caparol: "With Capadecor ArteVelvet, the wall becomes unique in just one or two steps with the simplest processing." Aha! Well then, go ahead and try it out!

Filler-compatible wall glaze tested on a large area

Sometimes renovations are even convenient. It was thanks to one of them that I was able to test the trowel-ready wall glaze not only on a sample panel, but in a child's room with a wall area of almost 30 square meters and numerous corners and niches. The substrate consisted of gypsum fibreboards that had already been filled and sanded. So it could start right away.

The manufacturer recommends a special primer paint on a dispersion basis as a base coat. In order to keep the later appearance as homogeneous as possible, this base coat should already be tinted in the color of the top coat. Since the children's room was later to be occupied by a seven-year-old girl, the choice of color fell on a delicate, dull rosé with the sonorous name Barolo 55.

The tinted primer, which is about 10 percent diluted with water, is rolled up and brushed, as can be read in the technical data sheet. This will blur the rolling structure. Up to here is everything - how could it be different in the children's room? - child's play. Those who can handle the roller and brush should be able to master the first step without any problems. Also (or myself ?!) for me as a somewhat out of practice painter this step was completely unspectacular. The result was an even color surface, gently structured by light brush strokes.

Light particles in the fillable wall glaze bring the effect

So I was all the more excited about the top coat. After all, this should give the wall its special effect!

According to the manufacturer, the light particles contained in the glaze do not mix with the other color pigments when tinting. So I was a little curious when I opened the container and reached for the stirring stick. How much can you stir without destroying the particles beyond recognition and thus destroying the multicolored effect? But as much as I "tortured" the paint with the stirring stick - the particles actually remained. 1: 0 for the manufacturer!

The glaze is pasty, which means that application with the short-pile roll, as recommended by the manufacturer, is possible without any problems. I chose a small and therefore more manageable roll because the material can be applied crisscross in short movements. Nevertheless, the work went quickly. Those who prefer to work with the brush can also apply the glaze in short, directionless strokes.

It is important that the material is smoothed with a plastic trowel after a short flash-off time. The light particles are crushed slightly and there are gentle “streaks”. The right time for smoothing can be seen from the fact that only the added bright particles shine wet. If you miss the right time, the particles can no longer be crushed and they remain as speckles. If you smooth out too early, you run the risk of the particles mixing with the colored glaze and getting a uniform “soup”. In order to avoid these dangers, I only ever presented about one square meter, then smoothed the glaze and left the edge areas open so that I could continue working on them. This was also quite manageable on its own - even if it is certainly much more relaxed when one employee presents the material and a second smoothes out.

A material that forgives (almost) everything

Because I was so stressed with the application and the subsequent smoothing, I hadn't given myself the time to look at my work from a distance. In retrospect, I have to say: that was a good thing! Because when I finally wanted to take a breather after a larger wall area and lay a few meters between myself and the wall, I started to sweat. My work was so spotty and uneven that I almost felt dizzy. How should I present this optical catastrophe only to the little room occupant ?! I quickly read the manufacturer's technical data sheet and found a sentence in it that normalized my pulse again: "If the surface looks very uneasy after the top coat, a second top coat can even out the look." Okay,then I would just do a second round if necessary …

With a slightly calmed conscience, I turned to the other walls. When the entire wall surfaces were finally coated, I could hardly believe my eyes: the first wall had dried completely evenly - even at the critical points, such as around the light switches and sockets or on the window reveals, a homogeneous, uniform, subtle pattern was evident. The stains were only due to drying differences.

Lively but not pushy

My conclusion: the processing of the effect glaze is, as promised by the manufacturer, quick and easy. And how is the effect received? My seven-year-old “client” gave her top marks, which - I have to admit - may also have been due to the color. But even if you are not a rosé fan, you can certainly gain a lot from the technology. I am personally convinced by the subtle multicolor, which enlivens the wall without being intrusive. If you opt for a darker shade, the multicolor is even more pronounced.

The material application also determines the result of the wall technology. This became very clear to me when I compared my self-made wall surface with the sample surface of Caparol application engineer Patrick Lamola. While its execution is relatively lively, the appearance of my wall is rather reserved. The reason for this, in addition to the individual “handwriting”, may be due to the material application: if you leave more effect glaze on, the particles “smear” more when smoothing than with a smaller layer thickness. Bright "lakes" form. If the material (deliberately) is distributed more unevenly on the surface or less smoothed, the appearance is somewhat more restless.

The wall design gets additional plus points from me for its smooth surface, which is easy to grip and - as the name "Arte Velvet" (composed of the Italian word "Arte" for art and the English term "Velvet" for velvet) - almost something velvety to the touch. Not only, but certainly a welcome side effect, especially in a children's room!

You can find more practical tests at:

Caparol application engineer Patrick Lamola rolls up the colored base coating with the short-pile roller.

In order to equalize the rolling marks, the primer paint is reworked with a brush after application.

The effect glaze is rolled onto the dry primer - also directionless - with a short-pile roller.

Photos: Caparol

After a short flash-off time, the surface is smoothed with the plastic trowel. This creates the characteristic “streaks”.

PraxisPlus

The transparent decorative glaze "Capadecor ArteVelvet" with bright effect particles can be mixed in numerous colors using the Caparol tinting system ColorExpress based on the Caparol 3D system plus.

www.caparol.de