"Chris" wrote in message
om...
I had a room with 1 wall of fresh plaster (new skim), other walls were
old plaster but bare (about 40 years old - almost all paint removed).

Here are the steps I followed to create a finish with lots of mud
cracks:

1. Allowed fresh skim coat to dry for 1 week.

2. I gave the entire room a single coat of Polybond, straight from the
tub. Let to dry over a few days. I figured this would be good to seal
the plaster.

3. Applied coat of Dulux matt emulsion, 4/1 water/paint as recommended
on the tin. Let to dry. I didn't notice any cracks after this coat.

4. Applied coat of same paint neat. Looked fine going on but when it
dried I noticed lots of "mud cracks" (a photo of the worst part of the
wall can be seen here
http://www.chrismccarthysoftware.com/magnolia.jpg).

I applied the paint using a sheepskin roller.

Questions:

1. What did I do wrong? I'm guessing I should have either mixed the
polybond with paint, or thinned the second coat (or both).
2. What should I do to fix it? Somebody told me I may need to burn off
the paint - Please say no !!!

Any help much appreciated !
Chris.

Try he
http://www.paintquality.co.uk/uk/ps/.../cracking.html
If you browse the site you may find somethimg more relevant.
HTH