After Your Venetian Plaster Course, A Practice Plan for the First Months

Short answer. After a Venetian plaster course, the most important thing is to keep practising while the feel of the trowel is fresh. Repeat the systems you learned on spare boards, keep notes, use the Zavoré helpline and course group when you get stuck, and take on a small wall before a large one. When the beginner finishes feel routine, the advanced course is the natural next step.

The first fortnight

Skills learned in a studio fade quickly if they are not used. In the first couple of weeks after your course, set aside time to lay the same finishes again on offcuts of plasterboard or spare boards. Follow the same order you were taught. Preparation, primer, coats, burnishing and protection.

Do not try to invent new finishes yet. The aim is to make the systems you already know feel automatic.

Keep a working notebook

• Write down each product, grain and primer you used for each board.
• Note how long you waited between coats and what the room was like that day.
• Mark what went wrong and what you changed to fix it.
• Photograph each board so you can compare your progress over time.

Try to vary the backgrounds you practise on. A board from the course behaves differently from a sheet of plasterboard, and both differ from an old painted wall. The more surfaces you have prepared and primed yourself, the fewer surprises you will meet on a client's job. Keep a few practice pieces in different colours too, because darker tints show trowel marks in a different way from pale ones.

Use the helpline and the group

Every student keeps access to the helpline and the course group. Use them. A short question sent from the middle of a wall can save a day of work. Other students in the group are often a few steps ahead or behind you, and their questions teach you too.

If you are unsure about drying times or when to wax, our guide to drying and curing is a useful reference to keep open.

Your first real walls

Start with your own home or a friend's spare room. A single wall at standing height lets you practise on a real surface without the pressure of a paying client. Then move on to small paid jobs.

We help every student find, price and win their first paid decorative job, so tell us when you feel ready. Be honest about what you can do well and what you would rather not take on yet.

When to go further

Once the beginner finishes feel steady, the advanced course moves on to artificial rock, textured Marmorino, stencil work, veining by hand, polishing to a high gloss, tinting and blending repairs. You can read a fuller account in inside the advanced course.

Be patient with yourself in this stage. Most people find that one finish clicks before the others, and that is normal. Keep returning to the finish that feels hardest rather than only practising the one you already enjoy.

If you are a past student and want help with your next step, call 07592 929191 or email sales@zavore.co.uk. Upcoming courses are listed on the training page.

Questions we get asked

How soon after my course should I practise?

As soon as you can. The first couple of weeks are when the feel of pressure and timing is easiest to keep.

Does the helpline end after a set time?

No. Students keep access to the helpline for life, along with the course group.

When am I ready for the advanced course?

When you can lay the beginner finishes evenly without close guidance. The advanced course assumes you have laid Venetian plaster before, on our course or on your own jobs.