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you can steam off artex although its not always that easy.
the best thing to do is use a floor scraper with a steel blade to scrape it back smooth, takes about 10 mins a ceiling, makes lots of mess though so use dust sheets or better remove the carpets, then when its fairly smooth just glue and skim, or if you wanted to reArtex you could caulk it by applying artex smooth with a trowel the day before, then reArtex a new pattern. there is a video that covers skimming plaster over artex