APTC Painting & Decorating

Beginning Pastel guides beginning artists through an exploration of pastel techniques and step-by-step projects for a comprehensive and approachable overview of the vibrant and unique pastel medium. From choosing the right paper, pastels, and colors, to basic techniques like blending, gradating, and masking, Beginning Pastel is the perfect resource for artists just getting started in the world of pastels. Starting with a blank canvas, each stroke and technique is clearly explained and beautifully illustrated. Master key concepts quickly, and then promptly put them into practice through simple step-by-step exercises.

Build up the skills you'll need for your career with this comprehensive new textbook published in association with City & Guilds and covering the 7908 and 6708 Plastering qualifications at Levels 1 and 2. Topic coverage includes areas such as internal plastering, applying external rendering, floor screed systems, mouldings and interior systems. - Test yourself and prepare for assessment with end of chapter questions and practical scenarios. - Build the skills you'll need to use regularly in the workplace with the 'Improve your maths' and 'Improve your English' tasks

Build economical and resilient earthbag structures using simple tools and techniques. Earthbag construction- building with polypropylene bags usually filled with earthen materials- is a versatile, easy-to-master, low-impact, and highly durable form of building, suitable for structures from houses to root cellars. Containing over 75 photos and illustrations, Essential Earthbag Construction is a practical guide to this affordable method of building.

A veritable cookbook of natural plaster recipes and techniques for beautiful, durable finishes Natural plasters made of clay, lime, and other materials mixed with sand are beautiful building finishes. Fun to work with, low-impact, and allowing infinite creativity, they are high performance and provide proven, centuries-long durability. Yet until now there's been no resource that has pulled together the best North American plaster recipes and how-to into one place.

Toolbox series breaks down the whats, whens, whys, and hows of each relevant tool or technique, clearly demonstrating its purpose and how to employ it to achieve your desired effects.

Welcome to the skilled trade field! If you’re interested in a career in trade, you’ve come to the right book. So what exactly do these people do on the job, day in and day out? What kind of skills and educational background do you need to succeed in these fields? How much can you expect to make, and what are the pros and cons of these various fields? Is this even the right career path for you? How do you avoid burnout and deal with stress? This book can help you answer these questions and more.

This book covers the wide spectrum of subjects relating to obtaining and using building stones, starting with their geological origin and then describing the nature of granites, volcanics, limestones, sandstones, flint, metamorphic stones, breccias and conglomerates, with emphasis being placed on how to recognise the different stones via the many illustrated examples from Great Britain and other countries. The life of a building stone is explained from its origin in the quarry, through its exposure to the elements when used for a building, to its eventual deterioration.