
Expert advice
Featured expert:
Butcher Plasterworks
Original period details, such as plaster cornices and ceiling roses, not to mention mirror frames and fireplace surrounds are often what distinguish the charming home from the indifferent house.
If you buy a typical 18th, 19th or early 20th century house, the chances are that at least some of the original mouldings have been ripped out, or they have fallen into disrepair.
North London-based Butcher Plasterworks is one of the few specialist companies that still use fibrous plaster, which is both tough and versatile, since it is made from a mixture of plaster and hessian, to make bespoke architectural details.
Whether you want a run of cornice or something more fancy, this small company will be able to suggest a solution, either replicating what is there or using its own huge pictorial reference library.
Prices to supply and fix replacement cornicing from £25 per metre.
Butcher Plasterworks, Chalcot Yard, 8 Fitzroy Road, NW1 8TX.
Telephone 020 7720 9771 or see
www.butcherplasterworks.com.
Crafts
Crafts Council
The UK's national organisation for the promotion of contemporary crafts. The photostore allows you to search the database of craftmakers and view images from the Crafts Council's archive. There is also a resources directory with a database of more than 700 craft organisations, including listings on workshop spaces, short courses, craft-fair organisers, funding bodies and craft guilds. Plus web links to national and international craft organisations.
www.craftscouncil.org.uk