This greenhouse had been used as a painting studio. Painters don’t always get paint directly on the canvas…
We removed the gesso, paint and wax with a wire-cup-brush and putty knife. Gave the floor a scrub and mop and repaired the small holes with new adobe mud.

Carole Crews prescribed a burnt umber and casein wash. Casein is the main protein present in milk and (in coagulated form) in cheese. It is used in processed foods and in adhesives, paints, and other industrial products. It harded nicely and kept the pigment down.

Then we used a product that I had never used before. Howard Feed-N-Wax. It’s made with a blend of besswax, carnauba wax and orange oil. It’s a alternative to linseed oil and it doesn’t stink as bad… it smells like oranges. It left the floor waxed, polished and protected.

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This adobe wall suffered a water leak. I inspected the adobe bricks beneath and filled with an earthen plaster. Local materials were sourced for the plaster. Some of the mud came from a near by ditch and some came from the wall itself.
In the end the 10 foot walls received a lot of mud!

Kelly, the owner, sculpted a very nice relief on the finish plaster.

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