what is this design on the ceiling called?

I think its called 'crow's feet'. My in-laws had the same type of thing done in their kitchen/dining room. The guy used a plastic straw broom and kind of pushed the broom into the ceiling making the straw bristles splay outward making the design.

My 2c,

Matty

Matty,

Did he twist it at all, or just push and squish?

Crows something is correct.

Your stipple bush won't do this design. The correct brush is like two really flimsy sets of bristles.

I saw the correct brush at Lowes (probable) or HD (maybe).

You can't do the right design with the wrong brush and it is real tough to get a perfect match with the right one.

It's not necessarily circular though the plasterer might make it so. It's simply plaster, watered down joint compound often works well too, where the trowel was pulled from the surface rather than moved along it. You can even duplicate this with your hand in a plastic bag.

Jeff

It was a push, squish, quarter turn move...

My 2c,

Matty

In addition to the crow's comments. I have seen this done by using a brush like is being talked about, perhaps a wall paper brush with natural bristles. The brush is wet and left standing on its bristles to permanently splay it out. This would perhaps give you what you are looking for. Schmushing a straight bristled brush into the cieling will only make a mess.

Mark

Picture guy wrote:

Try this:

My experience in the past has been that there is no "set" pattern for stipple finishes. Your best bet would be to try to find "the guy" that did the original stippling and get him to patch. If your house is older, and this is impossible, you probably will never blend the patch perfectly.

I wonder if a regular ole corn broom could give you a look like this if all else fails call a professional