Neil Braidwood meets Tom Balch, Director at Rose of Jericho, the trailblazing paint company that has really made a name for itself.
In the 1980s, it became clear that non-permeable renders, mortars and paints were actually damaging our historic buildings, despite being used on a vast scale.
Rose of Jericho was founded by Peter Hood around this time, as part of the ‘lime revolution’ that was happening across the UK. At last, there was a realisation that cement was not the correct product to render your 18th century house with. And a recognition that polymer-based paints could cause damp in Victorian tenements.
The company manufactured lime-based, breathable products (limewash and distemper paints to start with) for organisations such as the National Trust, but also interested historic homeowners.
Fast forward to 2003, and, after a string of different owners, the company, headed up by Peter Ellis, engineered a management buyout it is based in Dorchester in Dorset, occupying a series of farm buildings, where all the products are created by hand.
Director Tom Balch joined in 2018, with a background in history, film and building conservation. He takes up the story.
“We send a lot of our limewash products to Scotland – and our tallow limewash does especially well in the west of the country, where the rain is persistent and often horizontal.
“Tallow limewash is basically limewash (which consists of lime and water), with the addition of tallow fat. It is still permeable, but it resists the water a little bit more than normal limewash.
“We melt the tallow (beef fat) to a molten consistency, slake the lime with water and add the hot tallow as it is slaking so it disperses throughout the limewash. Simple limewash is very porous, but this recipe allows the rainwater to bead on the surface and roll off. It protects the building better in extreme conditions.”
So, where have these recipes come from?
“It’s an old, historical recipe from the north and west of the UK that’s been handed down the generations,” explains Tom.
“Our range is made up from a hybrid of traditional recipes that we have researched and discovered over
the years, as well as new, more modern emulsions and eggshells.
“On the traditional side of things, these recipes that we have were developed during the early nineties, when people were beginning to realise that impermeable surfaces like cement render and plastic-based paints were causing problems for traditional buildings that should never have been coated with these in the first place.
“We were at the forefront of what was then called the ‘lime revival’. There was huge interest in putting right the wrongs of the recent past, to help these buildings breathe again. We researched traditional distempers, tallow limewash and casein limewash from recipes dating back to the early 1800s, using natural materials and staying as true to the recipes as we could. We continue to follow that ethos to this day, and everything is made as close to those original recipes as possible.
“It’s interesting, because there were all sorts of things added to basic limewash – not just tallow as I mentioned. Alum and other salts were used historically, perhaps to help fix pigments into the limewash. Those Georgian and Victorian builders were just trialling things and if they worked, then they just kept using them.
“In terms of pigments, where we are adding colour to the limewash, again, we are using natural earth or mineral pigments – the type of thing that would have been available historically. Our colour palette is derived from Italian or Roman colours and we only use artist-quality powder pigments, which sets us apart from the majority of other paint suppliers. Our competitors might use liquid dyes or stains, as these are easier to mix. Powder pigments remain in suspension and react differently to light, giving a much more subtle effect.”
Is it hard to get the right type of pigments for the paints?
Tom continues: “The pigment industry has changed and if we are buying high volumes of powder pigment, we want to know where it comes from. Increasingly, we are finding that suppliers are being a bit vague on the provenance of the pigments available. We did some research on some suppliers and found that the pigments for sale were in fact synthetic and being manufactured. Needless to say, we don’t buy from those suppliers.
“Costs are going up and it’s hard to stay competitive when other paint companies are stating that they use ‘natural’ products, when we know they don’t.
Work it
“Distempers were traditionally made with a glue binder base. Historically it was rabbit-skin glue that was used, but that is becoming expensive, and it doesn’t set at higher temperatures. In the summer it is hard to get distemper to a workable consistency. What we use now is a gelatin-based size. It’s quite thick, and the pigment stays within the mix rather than settling. That product can be used straight out of the tin, although some users are a bit alarmed when they open the tin to find a kind of blancmange staring up at them. With good technique though, it can be brushed out straight onto a wall.
Tom recommends brushing for most of the company’s products. “Limewash is so thin that a roller couldn’t pick it up anyway, and although distemper could roll, because the pigment is in the mix, you can get spotting from the particles of pigment. It’s preferable when using distemper to have a ‘wet edge’, but a roller doesn’t allow you to get that as much as you can with a brush, so you can end up with unsightly marks.
“Everything is made on site and in very small batches. We make the white bases first, in five to 15-litre quantities and then tint them to order. So, if you ordered paint today, there is a high chance you would get something that was made within a couple of days of you ordering it. We could even tell you who made it, if required.
“As a hand-made product, it can be challenging though. With so many people now being more aware of paint products with green credentials, the demand is growing for our paint.
“We do offer a vinyl emulsion, however. It’s a moral dilemma for us, but we would find ourselves in a situation where there would be a modern extension tacked on to a historical property, and the owner wanted to use the same colours in both areas. Our traditional products adhere best to porous surfaces such as lime plaster, and these surfaces aren’t in the modern extensions.
“So, it’s there in our range but there is a disclaimer stating that it is not for use in historic buildings. Our eggshell range too, is a modern paint using alkyd resin, and we make water and oil-based version along with a flat oil with no sheen.
“We used to make lead oil paint, but once that was banned (apart from for Grade one projects), we tried to come up with an alternative. We tried linseed oil paint, but the drying times were a problem.
“This alkyd resin paint is a natural progression, we feel, from traditional lead oil paint. It is very robust and adheres very much like lead paint.
Gimme shelter
Shelter coat is one of Rose of Jericho’s lime revival products. It is a lime-based, sacrificial coating that can be applied to a stone statue for example, to protect it from delamination. Tom explains: “Essentially, it’s made up of lime, water and casein (as a binder) as well as stone dust – in the same colour as the stone you are painting – and in some cases a touch of pigment to help match the stone. It is really intended as a sacrificial coverage of decayed or at-risk stone. You can paint it on and sponge it off or build up layers to protect the stone underneath. Then it can become part of a maintenance regime, where you repaint every year or two.
“There are stories about having to apply 10 or 12 coats of limewash to get the desired effect, but with our limewash, we slake a measured amount of quicklime into a measured amount of water, so our product is quite lime rich, meaning that you would only need three or four coats to give you the coverage you wanted.
Consultancy
“A large proportion of what we do is consultancy work and we have a vast library of more than 6,000 examples of lime mortar and render. We are happy to do site visits to help and advise on any historic building project. An ideal scenario for us would be getting involved at an early stage, so that we can identify what we are dealing with and what should be used.
“We have worked on churches where there might be 500 years worth of decorative paintwork in situ and then a well-meaning parishioner goes out and buys a tub of B&Q vinyl emulsion, slaps it on and then we are called in to explain why the paint is bubbling and damp is setting in.
“What seemed like a good idea can end up taking months to put right and cost a lot more than that tub of emulsion. It is better to ask if you are in doubt about the substrate you are painting and to determine the best product for the job.
“We have a dozen staff on site, plus some working on a part-time basis. Peter is still involved in the business and spends a lot of time writing reports for contractors and architects. We also have someone hand painting our colour charts. We feel that this is the best way for people to see the true colour of the products. We also produce sample pots of all our paints.”