In the late 80s I did my first venetian plaster job.  Back then, only artisans from Europe, mostly Italy, knew the secrets of these plasters and I remember our confusion as we learned on the fly.  Venetian plaster is a broad term, but basically refers to a plaster product with additives of marble dust in varying degrees of amount and fineness.  These plasters are applied with trowels and burnished, from rough pitted looks to satin or extremely high polish like glass. Over the years the venetian plasters have become readily available and their use prevalent in anywhere from museums to stores and apartments. For the last decade the decorative painting field in our country has seen an explosion with inventive means of applying these plasters: from the imaginative use of the trowel in creating interesting movements to materials suspended in the plaster like shells, glass or straw.