How to decorate, no.3: Don't use putty, use Dry Seal

Linseed oil putty seems to be the embodiment of the very best traditional methods and craftsmanship: it has been around, probably little-changed, for a long time; it is easy to work with; and it smells wonderful, like the naturally derived product it is. 

But as a method for sealing glass into traditional timber-framed windows it is prone to failure — indeed, ask 100 experienced decorators to tell you the curing time for putty, and you will probably receive almost as many different answers. 

In 2014, we bade farewell to our last tub of putty, and switched to Dry Seal, made by Repair Care. It is a considerably more expensive synthetic product, but it is truly superior to putty. Dry Seal remains permanently elastic and, perhaps best of all, can be painted — no arguments — within 30 minutes.

[Google Shopping link here.]

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How to decorate, no.2: Buy good paint brushes

There isn’t any way of dodging this ironclad rule: buy the best brushes and rollers you can afford.

Granted, buying professional quality paint brushes and rollers won’t suddenly and miraculously transform you into a professional decorator — but good equipment will maximise what ability you do possess. Or, to put it another way: it’s impossible to do a good job with poor quality equipment. 

purdy_brush

Let trusted brands, pricing and specialist shops be your guide:

  1. Never buy cheap-as-chips packs of own-brand brushes from B&Q, Wickes or Homebase, such as these. Never buy brushes from Poundland. 
  2. The names to look out for, and which are pretty much a guarantee of quality, are Purdy, Wooster and Corona. Start viewing £25-£30 — not £3-£5 — for three brushes as the going rate. 
  3. Specialist decorators’ merchants are a better bet than the big all-round DIY shops. B&Q do sell Purdy brushes, but much more expensively than elsewhere. The following outlets are all worth checking out: Whites Trade Paints in Honor Oak, south London .. Decorating Direct .. My Paint Brush

The closest we can offer to a sure-fire tip is to buy Purdy’s XL Elite 3-pack from My Paint Brush, which contains a 2″, 1.5″ and 1″ brush. If you’ve been toiling away with B&Q multi-pack brushes, these are going to be a revelation…

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Joseph Giles

Our eye was drawn, on a recent job, to this exceptional hardware: the casement stay, in particular, has the sort of allure one only ever finds when the designer has exercised thought as well as restraint.

Joseph Giles, based in Croydon, is the manufacturer. 

A casement stay made by Joseph Giles

 

A locking casement handle made by Joseph Giles

 

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In praise of Mirka: dust-free decorating

Our thanks to Vince at Mirka UK for supplying us with the full Deros system: sander, Abranet abrasives, 5m hose and extraction unit.

The full system isn’t cheap but we’re delighted with its capability, especially in being able to sand larger areas of fine filler with little or no dust created.

We’ll write more in the coming months about our experience…

The Mirka Deros dust-free sanding system

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