saves much needed time as this process is a race against the chemical reaction. Laying on From the mix table the plasterer scoops some "mud" onto the center of his hawk with his trowel. Holding the hawk in his off-hand and his trowel in his primary the plasterer then scoops a bulging roll of plaster onto his trowel. this takes a bit of practice to master, especially with soupy mixes. Then holding the trowel parallel to the wall and at a slight angle of the wrist he tries to uniformly roll the plaster onto the wall. In a manner similar to a squeegee. He starts about an inch above the floor and works his way upwards to the ceiling. Care is taken to be uniform as possible as it helps in the finishing phase. Knocking down Depending on the setting time of the plaster. once the moisture of the plaster starts to be drawn by the board a second pass is made. this is called knocking down. it is much like applying paint with a roller in wrist action and purpose. to smooth out any lines and fill in any major voids that will make extra work once the plaster starts to truly set. very little pressure is applied and the trowel is kept relatively flat towards the wall. Setting Sometimes an accelerant will be added to a mix to hasten the time delay from the initial mixing phase to when the plaster starts to set. This is normally done on cold days when setting is delayed or for small jobs to minimize the wait. Once the plaster is on the wall and starts to set (this can be determined by the table that sets first), the plasterer gingerly sprinkles water onto the wall; this helps to stall the setting and to create a slip. He then uses his trowel and often a wetted felt brush held in the opposite hand and lightly touching the wall ahead of the trowel to work this slip into any small gaps (known as "catfaces") in the plaster as well as smooth out the rough lay-on and flatten any air bubbles that formed during setting. This is a crucial time because if the wall gets too hard it is nearly impossible to fill in any gaps as the slip will no longer set with the wall and will instead just dry and fall out.