The Textured Wall I.
The Raked Finish
In addition to being in love with the pained walls of Oaxaca I am also in love with the textured walls of Oaxaca. As far as I can ascertain, all of the buildings here are made of stone….brick, cement block, reinforced concrete...and plastered over, or, perhaps more correctly, stuccoed. There are very few wooden structures and I beg anyone who knows to tell me where the nearest firehouse is. Have you ever seen or heard a firetruck?
Stucco is cement, sand and water. In various recipes it has been in use for centuries. It has been used in many ways: troweled, molded, raked and flung.
The other day I passed a fellow hard at work spreading the material. Of course I did not have my camera with me. He worked on the horizontal across the front of the building in sections about four to five feet high. When the surface is to be raked it seems to be done on these horizontal sections and the finished facade will show horizontal bands of raking or combing as it is sometimes called.
Now which came first? Is the raking an attempt to create a permanent strie finish, or is the strie finish...scroll down for my entry on decorative finishes...an effort to imitate the textured wall. Sometimes civilization can be so confusing!
The Wikipedia article coves the subject very well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stucco
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