During the 1800’s, before the addition of a Church Tower, the entrance to St Lawrences was via the South Chapel of Remembrance. While restoring the Chapel, we uncovered an original pattern that once adorned the former porch.
Years of non-permeable (AKA non-breathable) paint coverings meant recovery of the original pattern would be a difficult and expensive operation. As an alternative, the Chartered Surveyor Lynda Jubb of JubbClews proposed that we protect under limewash to preserve the original.
The pattern could then be recreated with Earthborn Claypaint colours. Claypaint is moisture permeable that allows the walls to ‘breathe’. This is an environmentally friendly paint ideal for applications onto lime plasterwork.
We agreed that the colour range that Earthborn offers would meet our requirements. From the 4 colour samples, only the green background was additionally mixed by us onsite from 2 of the range selected.
Our templates were traced from the original patterns uncovered, then carefully transferred to create stencils. Each stencil was laser lined into transposed positions, and the individual sections of each line of the pattern had been created by a separate stencil.
Using stencil brushes, our co-founder Scott Little dabbed the claypaint into the templates which were then overlayed in a slow process due to drying time. Finally the solid lines were added and the fittings replaced in the chapel.
We extremely enjoyed being a part of this unique opportunity at the Church where we have undertaken many aspects of the restoration. The church congregation have been welcoming with our team and taken great interest in these specialist works.
