Once upon a time in 2008, perched on a ladder in a city far, far, away, I was repairing the century old crown moulding of an apartment I was living in with joint compound, tiny paintbrushes and my fingertips whilst listening to an audiobook...
As I was lost in a mix of my own thoughts and that of Margaret Atwood's, I began to think about using the joint compound (not spackling paste or polyfilla - it's related, but a slightly different beastie) as a substrate for a kind of modern take on fresco.
As I'd pilfered the nearly empty gigantic pail of joint compound from my then-boyfriend's professional house painter brother, and as I wasn't about to ask for more, AND as I was really rather strapped financially, it was just something that sat in the back burner of my brain for... 9 years.
Well, I mentioned this idea to Neil at the beginning of our painting and drawing taster rotation week... and suddenly: POOF! a wee bucket of Polyfilla appeared in my hands. "Try it," he said. Eyed it, I did... I wasn't sure how this strange, fluffy stuff would work in comparison to the dense, thick joint compound.
It's very light, but if you add a little water (as in shake a few drops off a size 10 paintbrush) to create a bit of added density and it suddenly behaves very nearly like joint compound, but with the added benefit of not shrinking (one of the factors that kept me from investing in a pail of joint compound to use as a fresco substrate).
I can't say that I'm entirely happy with my results so far, but I've only been doing it for 3 hours so far. Patience has never been one of my virtues.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_compound
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spackling_paste
