I have several ‘rock’ castings in place and would like to know what colors would be best to try my hand at staining them. I know Woodland Scenics makes colors but don’t have a LHS anywhere nearby, I do have a Michaels that carries the craft type paints though. What colors should I pick up and about what ratio to water should the paint be mixed to get a stain?
Thanks,
JaRRell
I use the cheap tubes of Acrylics from Micheals. I use black, white , the two Siennas and the two Umbers. I use very light washes. I sometimes have to use more than one coat. For dark colored rocks I will may put the paint on straight from the tube and then ad a lot of water with the brush, scrubbing it into all the little cracks. That works but makes a mess. It can affect track and electrical. I sometimes mix the paint and water in a plastic cup. A light spray of wet water first, helps.
I use a color about right for the first few washes. I will then use a wash of black to makes shadows in the creveses. I might then use a dry brush application of white to make sunlit hightlights. To make that look right, all the brush strokes have to be in the same dirrection and have the same amount of paint. Drybrushing takes a long time because of how little paint you can use.
Good luck. We can talk more as there are several of us who are learning this together. Some have gotten quite good at it.
Wal Mart’s 99 cent plastic bottles of acrylic paint. I have used Burnt Umber, a medium brown, yellow, white, black, a couple of grays, and that’s about it.
JaRRel, there is no easy way around this part of the hobby. You have to just wing it, dab here, slap there, spray it all with a white wash, or a black wash, add some dilute gray, and see what looks convincing. This is an experiential part of the hobby if other aspects aren’t…at least, that is what I have learned. A photo helps, but in the end, your own brush strokes or spritzes are what will leave the look.
I usually take some Burnt Umber, some gray, maybe a half drop of yellow, and blend it well. Then, I cover the entire casting. Once that is dry, see what you think. Needs some variation, some streaks,…? Mix a darker/lighter colour, and drive the tip of your brush into some crevices, or swipe a piece of paper dipped in the new colour over the parts that stick out from the mold the most. When that is dry, experiment with a wash…india ink in water/alcohol mix, and I have used other colours of wash, white included.
At some point, you say, “Hmm, I think I’m getting somewhere.”
Just for fun, I tried an old Linn Westcott technqiue for staining rock molds.
Coffee.
Worked great. Very effective. Of course, it isn’t an Officially Sanctioned Model Railroad Product, so you’d never hear about it in MR today.
Thanks for the input all, I’ll see what experimenting on some extra castings will do. Midnight, never heard of the coffee method, but there’s a lot I haven’t heard of… [:)]
JaRRell
Good luck. This is one of the places where expermentation is more important than education.
with cream and sugar or without ? (or sugartwin for those of us who raised our hands in the diabetic thread)
[:D]
sounds like something i should try . coffee is basically a brown wash as far as color goes . should work great . and the layout will smell good too !
Any of these techniques, incidentally, are a lot easier to do on the workbench before you attach the castings to anything.
My quick-and-easy method is to first spray the casting with cheap gray primer, which I get in a rattle-can from Lowe’s for a few dollars. Then I apply a very thin wash of India Ink in water. Usually, I put quite a bit on, and after it dries I may give it a second or third coat. The India Ink settles in the cracks, and really highlights the structure of the casting. Of course, this black-on-gray coloring is typical of Northeast granite, and may not match what you’re looking for
I love the smell, hate the taste, so when my wife found me brewing coffee…she was baffled. As much as she can understand when seemingly non-railroad stuff makes it onto the layout, coffee didn’t seem like one of those things!
Interesting because I have been thinking of experimenting with coffee as a weathering agent for rolling stock and structures. There’s an ample supply because I throw some out every day. I didn’t realize that Linn Westcott had used it. Just today I was going through a very old scenery manual by Bill McClanahan that Linn Westcott had contributed a couple chapters to. Even with a lot of new techniques and products that have come along in the last several decades, the old techniques still hold up very well.
As for coloring rocks, they come in a lot of different colors so there is no one right color. I like to experiment with various shades of grays, browns, and tans and often surprise myself with the results. Like anything else regarding scenery, the secret is in layering. I usually spray the rock face first with a gray primer. Then depending on what shade I’m going for, I will use various cheap craft paints thinned with water. Often I’ll do more than one layer with different colors until it looks about right. Then I’ll hit it with a wash of alcohol and India ink. The next rock face I do, I’ll probably try the coffee as well.
From my limited experience I can say that thin washes have worked for me, as has Arthill’s suggestion of pre-wetting the area you’re about to paint [old watercolourists’ trick] That works particularly well for the darkest colours [or ink] because it helps it to flow naturally into the cracks and hollows.
Far better to apply the paint too watery rather than too thick. And I’d keep a paper towel handy to quickly mop back any parts that stain too dark. Colours I’ve used are raw umber, black, purple mixed with a little brown, orange, green. I think you’d get away with practically any colour provided it’s painted thinly enough so as to remain transparent. I don’t think there’s any single right way, though, and it will depend on the type of rock, obviously.
Have fun experimenting! Looking forward to seeing the results.
Mike
You got the idea, pratice on some left over pieces, just make sure that they are of the same plaster mix. Also, you can crush some of the left over chunks and stain it with the same stain (put it in a coffee can and pour the stain over the chunks, then drain) to make the tallus (loose rock) at the base of your rock faces.
Good luck,
Jarrell,
You appear to be at a critical point for your scenery.
There are many here on the forum to give the pointers needed. There’s Darryl, Harrold, Joe F., Bob G. and many others to link to their sites or offer DVDs.
I would suggest that you check into Dave Frary’s lastest Model Railraod Scenery(3rd edition) www.kalmbachbooks.com/ . Even though my methods may differ in many cases, the steps explained throughout the book can allow a novice to produce some fantastic scenery.
You will eventually find the techniques and materials that work best for you.
One thing I found that has worked for me in coloring plaster castings, whether rocks, concrete, stone and retaining walls, is coloring the dry plaster first with powdered masonry dyes. I try to find a good base color and then build upon that with the acylics for tones, streaks, veining weathering and highlights. If the base color is not dark enough, then apply the washes to further deepen the shadows of the cracks and crevases. the wash can be done just after setting the castings or even after highlighting to knock down colors if too vibrant.
So much trail and error and thousand of techniques out there, you will find yours.
Thanks for all the tips and suggestions. I’m trying it with the el cheapo brand acrylics diluted in lots of water and I’m getting ‘pretty much’ what I’m after. Like everyone has said, rocks come in all colors, shapes and sizes, so you just have to experiment.
About the coffee stain method, what do you do… just dip a brush into the coffee and apply it or do you add more water to thin it down? Sounds interesting.
JaRRell
Jarrell,
If you have any trouble with surface tension affecting the wash, experiment with adding some alcohol or a bit of wet water when diluting the paint. I find that very thinned washes of water alone can cause coverage problems.
I sprayed it on full-strength using a household pump sprayer. Worked well, had to hit it a couple of times to get the right color.
Dangit Art! You stole my process [:D] Seriously, I do just like Art, with one exception. My first coat is a 1/2 to 3/4 strength black. I also use wet water to dilute the paint so it gets in those cracks. Finally, just before I dry brush or add highlight colors, I do a 1/10th or so spray of black… this settles in the cracks, making them dark, giving a bit more depth. Like art, drybrushing is CRITICAL. It really makes the rocks “pop”. Takes a bit of practice, but wow, what a difference… All in all, it takes me 4 to 6 coats/washes I bet per wall of rock, plus drybrushing? Oh, and as Art said, the wet water misting first is VERY key… just cover that track for all the mess… Is this method intensive… yes… but I like my results… Good luck. You will probably start your own method and it will look great!
Brian
On the next hill I’ll try the india ink/alcohol wash. Or would that be a thin black paint/water with a drop of detergent? I guess either way will work. I’m wondering though why some use a spray bottle to do this step, since the spray covers the complete rock face, instead of using a small brush to get it down in the cracks only? And does it help to hit the rock with a mist of wet water just before doing this step?
JaRRell
I’ve been using premixed drywall compound to make terrain like hills, rock faces and cut-outs. I saw a tv show where they showed the Woodland Scenics method of coloring bare plaster, which is what the drywall compound is, and I got the idea to try it on my layout. Basically you mix some color up and then use a spray bottle to apply it to the plaster, gravity does the rest, and you merely need to blend colors and add some foliage to make a super realistic rock formation.
I looked at Woodland Scenics products and decided they were a bit too pricey, and started to look around for a sustitute, I decided to try the RIT brand dyes, black, brown, green, beige and tan…I mixed each of them in a large glass container, using about 3\4 to 1 gal. of warm water, then I poured some of the black into a spray bottle and sprayed it onto the plaster, it ran down through the crevices and cracks, and really brought out the details, after it had dried for a 30 mins. or so,I sprayed some brown dye on the black, this really gave the plater a realistic ‘‘rock’’ look, I continued experimenting with different colors until i had the desired effect, dabbing the wet surface with a sponge helps distribute the colors unevenly for a reralistic appearance.
In the future I will mix some gray or brown latex paint in with the drywall compound so the white won’t show through…but all in all…I really like the technique, it makes the plaster look exactly like rock.
I’ll agree, WS products are a little on the pricey side. Thank you for the tips on Rit dye and mixing a little paint in with your plaster. You have some good ideas there.
JaRRell