Plasterer's bucket and Mixing drill + Whisk

[legs-akimbo]

always always use clean water in clean buckets, unless there is a specific time you want what is termed a flash set.
Keep the first coat of skim around 2 or 3 mm and "flatten out" as it starts to go off untill it is as the term suggests completely flat. In other words do not lay a second coat immediatley onto the first ....trowell it out some, let it set some and flatten it fully.
Your "laying in coat" can now be applied nice and thin -1mm but because you have a good flat first coat this will spread perfectly and need very little attention. Always make a fresh gauge for laying in and never the remnants of your first coat. flatten the finish with your trowell and only apply the splash brush after you have pretty much got it practically finished perfectly with a dry trowell. run your inch brush along ceiling lines and internal angles to give clean lines. A good tip is to have a good splash brush, dip it in clean water intermitantly and holding it in your left hand run it gently, starting from the top horizontally along the wall followed directly behind by your trowell in the right hand ( unless you are kacky handed that is) keeping the trowell fairly flat to the surface so as to lay in the fat into the wall rather than ending each pass with it on the edge of the trowell. Once you have finished the last pass at the foot of the wall work a dry trowell vertically in passes from left to right along your wall. ten minutes later a final dry vertical pass should be your polish, or finish. Do not take the polish finish in a literal sense, the higher the shiny polish you put onto a wall the more backward steps you are taking past the best achievable point already passed.
When the finish is starting to turn purple in patches this is the time you should have the finish perfect and be polishing up... beyond this you are undoing your good work!
Of course every one has their own wayof doing things and if your way works for you and you are happy with the results then all is well. In brief that is my way and the finish is A1.

 

[Thermo]

polish it too much and an unhappy man the decorator you make!

 

[kevplumb]

great fun when the decorater is a pr*tt (yes been there done it)

 

[Panjandrum]

This is really top class advice, and I really appreciate what everyone is saying - printed for future reference.
Trouble is, I know what the words mean, and maybe if I had a lot of walls to practice on I could develop the skill.
This is as clear to me as what the surgeon told me about how easy it is to fix a hernia! My head understands, but I still wouldn't be able to do one myself.

 

[jbonding]

if your gonna do a job for someone make sure its as clean as when you got there sometimes even cleaner, most people will look at the floor before they even look at the ceiling, keep your beads clean and always clean your sockets out, you dont want to **** the spark off. if its a reskim unscrew any switches and sockets, turn the power off if your only just getting used to the trowel. also if youve got time clean the switches and sockets it makes your job look better. i learnt my lesson the hard way after insisting i clean the floor for the fifth time a customer said they would do it so i left them to it 2 years later i bumped into a friend in a pub who is with company and he shouts over to one off them isnt this that guy who made a mess of your floor she was obviously embarresed but it goes to show.