How can I make cracks on internal walls of my house invisible?

The walls are generally painted-over plaster. The cracks are long,
hairline cracks usually less than 1 mm wide. They aren't increasing in
size (they resulted from the plaster being made to dry out too quickly
a few years ago).

I'd prefer to repaint rather than put wallpaper up, but I'm open to
any reasonable suggestions. (I'm wondering whether repainting would
even work, so if anyone has experience about that,it would help.) I
dislike artex.

Are there maybe products specifically for disguising such cracks? (Any
such products would have to be available from a shop in London.)

Thanks in advance,

iffy

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Request for Question Clarification by aceresearcher-ga on 14 Nov 2002 18:44 PST

iffy,

In what country do you live?

aceresearcher

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Request for Question Clarification by morningstar2000-ga on 14 Nov 2002 19:24 PST

Dear Iffy - 
   There are ways to repair cracks in plaster walls.   IF you are not
adverse to a little work I have a full length description on how to
repair the cracks with plaster.   Let me know if this suits your needs
and I will post a step by step instruction on how to repair.   The
list of supplies should be easily found in London.

Thank you, 
Morningstar

Hi Iffy~

DoItYourself offers several excellent articles on repairing plaster.
For basic  step-by-step directions, visit:
http://doityourself.com/patch/repairhomeplaster.htm

For information on why plaster may crack, how to prevent it, and how
to repair it, go to:
http://doityourself.com/patch/plastercracks.htm

For another good article on the subject, visit:
http://mhschaefer.com/plaster.htm

A brief, but informative article:
http://www.remodelonline.com/directories/home/tips/home_repair/01500447.html

In each of these instances, you will need to repaint the wall once the
repair is made. Although there are some products made for repairing
cracks in plaster, the "old fashioned way" is still the best way.

Keywords Used:
repair crack* plaster
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=repair+crack*+plaster&btnG=Google+Search

iffy,

there already exist paints in the market that can cover hairline
cracks (i think ICI has a range -do consult your local Hardware store
folks).

But for any wall with minor cracks, its really best to put some putty
over it and smoothen out the wall before you re-coat the wall (at
least 3 coats) with new paint.