There is a huge difference between plastering onto plasterboard, and plastering onto wire lath. For a start, plasterboard is already flat and secure, so you're skimming/plastering onto a ready made surface. Plastering onto wire lath is far more difficult. The wire lath must be very taught, ( no sags), also, the wooden joists, studs or any other timber the lath is fixed to, must be covered with a strip of say plastic dpc, thick bitumin paint, (which i prefer), or anything else that stops the timber absorbing moisture, swelling up, and causing cracks.
Starting off coating onto wire lath takes time,, don't try to spread the bonding, render or any other material. You have to build it up,, build it up slowly, and don't push too hard on trowel/wire lath, otherwise the plaster etc will go right through the lath,, it's far easier to apply by working back in to what you're putting on, if you know what i mean. Once you have the first coat of bonding on, scratch it and leave it to set. Once set, it then becomes much easier to go over the ceiling/walls again, building up the float coat. You might want to set a few dots and a string line to form screeds to work from, but that's getting a bit too technical. As you can see, there's a lot involved overall, like Alastair said,, a lot of work.
