Before Clay Dunn puts the first coat of Italian plaster onto a wall, he carefully runs his hands over the walls surface to discover what challenges will emerge during the application process.


In that way, he talks to the walls for inspiration, he says.


The walls speak to me, says, Dunn, owner of Classic Italian Plasters, of Spokane. Every wall is different. They have unique challenges. I give a piece of myself to my every wall.


Italian plaster, an expensive finish for interior and exterior walls of buildings, can be made to look like polished marble or rough stone. Most types can be colored to any imaginable shade. Its a relatively hard surface that resists mold and mildew because of the limestone in the plaster.


It has been used for centuries in Europe, and for a shorter period of time in the U.S., mainly on the East Coast. Plaster on the exterior and interior walls of many buildings in Italy dates back to the Renaissance, yet only recently has it started to degrade due to pollution, says Dunn.


The Spokane businessman is banking on the substances appearance and durability to boost his fledgling business. He hopes it will become more popular with home owners and businesses here, and has spent more than $30,000 on equipment and trainingincluding a trip to a plaster school in Italy to get into the plaster game three years agoto bring his company along.


Dunn believes the investment is starting to pay dividends for his venture, which employs two part-time workers in addition to himself. He says Northwest residents are slowing discovering the plaster. Dunn believes his business is unique to Spokane.


I am finding that its an education process for people in the Northwest, Dunn says. People on the East Coast have had Italian plaster for years. Here, they dont know what it is, really. A lot people try to emulate Italian plaster with regular paint and they use the bag-and-rag technique. I tell people, Do you want paint, or do you want the real thing?


Dunn declines to disclose his operations sales. He says about half of its business is in the Seattle area, and half is in Eastern Washington and North Idaho. He mostly works on upscale homes, but hopes to expand his business into the commercial market.


I am doing about 1,000 square feet a month, he says. Its really picked up and its all word of mouth. Coeur dAlene has been very busy for me.


Dunn runs his business out of his home on the South Hill. His house is a showcase, with each room having a different type and color of the plaster in it. A rich emerald plaster, which looks like marble, in his living room always earns a strong response. Either they hate it or they love it, he says. I have softer colors of Italian plaster in other rooms, so they can see the possibilities.


Dunn says he uses 15 different types of plaster and for a job charges between $4 and $14 a square foot, depending on the type he uses and the size of each job. At that price, a living room alone could cost several thousand dollars to plaster.


He says he applies three to nine coats of plaster depending on what the customer wants.


He imports his plaster from Italy. Dunn can mix just about any imaginable color into most types of plasters.


The process of creating Italian plaster is very much the same as it was in when Italian artisans would take limestone from the bottoms of lakes and riverbeds, turn it into plaster, and apply it to walls, he says.


Dunn uses a trowel and brushes to apply the substance to walls. Some plasters are similar in consistency to paint, while others are thick like drywall mud.


It usually takes about a week for Dunn to finish a 300-square-foot wall. He has to prepare the wall by smoothing it out and repairing any damage. He also has to account for the temperature and humidity inside a building if hes doing an interior project. If the proper steps arent taken, a simple humidifier could ruin several hours of work by causing the plaster to fall off during the application process.


Once a wall is smoothed and prepared, Dunn applies liquid glue to the wall and adds a rough plaster base. Then, he starts applying coats of plaster.


The key is to not leave trowel, or brush marks, says Dunn. Edge marks look bad.


Customers are usually nervous when I am working on a wall because they cant see how its going to look at the end, Dunn says. But once its done, theyre pleasantly surprised.


Most of his customers are quite wealthy and theyre not concerned about price, Dunn says.


Its a different language with them, he says. They want to know the job is going to be done right. Thats it. Sometimes, you can price yourself out of a job because they think $14 a square foot is too cheap.


Customers contacted for this story seemed pleased with Dunns work.


I thought he did a fabulous job on our daylight basement, says Debbie Hugo, who lives in Seattle. Weve gotten lots of comments from our friends. I think its going to catch on. But its not for everybody.


Hugo says personal taste and the cost of the high-end wall covering could alienate some people.


Before discovering Italian plaster, Dunn worked at a variety of jobs, including as a motorcycle mechanic for Honda and as a building engineer for various companies.


I was looking for something my whole life and I finally found my passion, he says. This is my calling.


Dunn started playing around with Italian plaster in his basement about three years ago after a friend showed him a sample of it.


Intrigued and determined to learn more about the plaster, he took classes on the subject and started his business in 2001.


Dunn spent a month in Vernona and Mantova, Italy, last October at the School of Italian Plaster, which is operated by Safra Colors Inc., a Vila Franca, Italy, manufacturer. He says the training program is by invitation only. He declines to say how much he paid to take the courses.


They wont sell you the plaster unless youre certified to apply it, he says. We worked with the chemists, and they told us what you can and cant do.