"I hope you can understand my curiousity about how you apply it if you cannot even spread it around to apply it."

Couldn't a very experienced person apply just the right amount, so they don't need to be spreading (moving) excess all over the surface? It only vaguely relates, but a very experienced drywaller or plasterer will apply the exact amount needed and find it unnecessary to keep moving the mud around. In the case of most plasters, the less you work them, the better the results.