"Lobster" wrote in message
...
Uno Hoo! wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...

Can artex be bought in small pots? I gather it is like thick paint
which can be brushed on...

smooth strip right across the width of the ceiling. I originally bought a
small tub of pre-mixed artex and a proper artex stippling brush. I found
the stuff incredibly difficult to work with, however, and the finished
job looked nothing like the rest of the ceiling! I decided to scrape the
repair off and try again. This time I bought a bag of powder artex which
contained about four times as much as the pre-mix tub but cost around the
same!

My only dealings with Artex et al are when I find myself trying to get rid
of the bloody stuff; however IIRC aren't the powdered stuff and readimix
gunk actually fundamentally different, ie a cementitious material vs a
textured paint type stuff? I suspect the results will be very different
for that reason.

Whether or not they have different 'ingredients' I don't know - all I can
say is that when mixed up, the powder Artex was identical in texture and
consistency to the pre-mixed stuff. I was expecting it to be 'gloopy' so
that the bristles on the stippling brush would 'draw' the painted-on mix
into the familiar 'spikes'. In fact the mix (both pre-mixed and powder mixed
correctly) is very thick and does not 'draw' at all as you might expect it
to. To begin with, I found that dabbing at the surface with the stippling
brush merely left indentations in the smooth surface - it didn't draw out
into spikes at all! After much practice I found that you really have to
'push' the bristles into the mix on the ceiling and then 'draw' it not too
quickly. I suppose it's like plastering in general - it just takes a while
to get the hang of it. Unfortunately I did not have anyone experienced with
Artex to give me guidance!

Kev