In restoring our house, we try to stick to the original look or method where we can. It often takes more time and money, but it was important to us. This allowed us to learn about many old tricks and how ecological traditional Japanese houses are.
When we ripped the ugly veneer panels from the 70s in our doma (compacted dirt floor, traditionally kitchen and/or entry point) area, many parts revealed water damages and white ant problems. We had to use modern materials like concrete or paster boards but finally got to a stage where we could beautify a little. This was fun. In stead of being covered by dust, clean or assist my husband with chores, I got to do some plaster work.
We went to a hardware shop called “Kohnan” and got two types of Shikkui for wall coating. The traditional Shikkui is lime plaster mainly made out of hydrated lime and calcium carbonate which is extracted from reprocessed eggshells, some with seaweed extract. Fully recyclable and decomposable. It’S effective against moisture, biggest enemy of traditional Japanese architecture. The other type of Shikkui is a newly modified product for DIY plaster novice and it contains some gluing agent and doesn’t dry as fast so it gives you a bit of margin for error. This type of Shikkui costs 5 times more than the traditional one.
I first tried the modern version of Shikkui and I choose the smoothest surface; plaster boards. This was suggested by our rendering master, Mr Ishida. I thought I was pretty good but I did’t realise how hard it really was until I used the traditional Shikkui on the traditional sandy walls. With this new product, you don’t need to add water, it’s already mixed and ready to use. With the traditional one, however, you need to mix it preferably a day in advance and if it’s not the right consistency, you will pay for it.
After about half a day of practice, I think I got the hang of it. Still, nothing like my rendering masters work though. I could not go back to the new product, partly because I wanted to use the traditional material and largely because I could not afford to pay over $120 a bucket when I had the entire house to coat.
I only covered two areas of the house; doma and bathroom, after a week of plastering, applying about 26kgs of Shikkui. In the end I could not raise my arm but the result was very satisfying. The entrance/doma looks so much brighter now!
