Have absolutely no experience with this, so how would I go about painting something I’m making out of wood to look like granite?
Rustoleum makes a spray paint that looks like granite. They sell it at Lowes.
If you are looking to make it resemble granite blocks, then layout your ‘block pattern’ on the wood. Then using chisels make your ‘blocks’. If you are making 1/2 inch tall blocks then use a 1/2 inch chisel for the vertical lines.
You could then spray paint the block with a flat medium to dark gray. Then spray the granite. Then before the block dries use an utility knife for exacto knife to remove the granite from the lines.
I saw that “stone” paint at Home Depot yesterday, but they didn’t have the gray - confirmed online when I got home that they made it in gray. I’ll have to try that.
I’m actually cutting individual pieces which will be assembled into a structure, so before I put them together I want paint to them, then touch up the overall structure.
So from what you said above, since this is raw wood, should I prime it first? Or put an undercoat of gray? Or both?
If you are using raw wood without knots, then primer is fine, if you can get gray primer even better because you won’t need to paint the primer gray.
If there are knots in the wood, then use a sealer first, the primer. This will seal the knots to prevent them from bleeding through/staining the paint.
IRON88ROAR is good at this. Also found faint labeled concrete. Last I got a few months ago, went to ACE and had it mixed to a chart color that looked like concrete.
A few thoughts:
If you want a marbled look, try starting with a light tan (almost white) base coat and then flow thinned acrylics like Georgia Clay, sienna brown and light gray over top. Tilt the work surface up around 45 degrees and then just let the paint run down into a drip pan below. You can even just dip smaller pieces into the drip pan for interresting effects. that’s the technique I used to make the “granite in nature” look of Big Thunder Mountain.
You could use a thin material like cardstock, posterboard or even styrene. Do a large suface area and then cut out blocks and paste them on the structure in random order for a more realistic appearance. Flow thin black acrylic paint between the “blocks” to give a look of cracks and joints.
Personally I like to make Hydrocal castings for stone walls. I use chipboard for backing and I build sacrificial balsa forms on top for an average 1/4" thick wall. After if hardens I scribe the walls with an X-Acto knife and a ruler to create the individual blocks. The nice part of this process is that in the scribing process the “blocks” develop rounded edges, cracks, chips and pits that make them look better in the end. Last time I did it I used thinned Woodland Scenics earth tone acrylics and the structures looked good.
Becky
KRYLON’s Textured Elegance or Suede have both been used on my layout with good results. You can locate these spray paints at Jo-Ann’s and Michael’s. Be sure to test on a similar scrap piece of wood before blasting away.
Don’t be afraid to weather your structure with cracks and striations, as it all adds to the affect.
Another great Krylon product is called Make It Stone.
http://www.dickblick.com/products/krylon-make-it-stone-spray-paint/
Rich
I’ve already got a piece which I painted with the gray primer. Unfortunately was very busy over the weekend with Corey’s B-Day, but will try to put a coat of the gray granite on it tonight and see how it looks.
A couple of quick pics.
Here’s the primer:
Here’s the granite color:
Lookin’ good.
Rich
Quick shot from last night - trying to get some contrast between the arch stones and the wall:
Wow, very,very nice.
Rich
Looks nice, to give it some contrast you can give it a black ink wash that has been diluted with alcohol. Keep us posted on the build.
Got a bunch done today - will post more tomorrow, trying to get Tyler and Corey into bed. Linda’s passed out already. Anyway, quick picture of the 2nd set of under arch stones with their paint. Emptied out a Valspar can of primer and switched to a Rustoleum primer - the Rustoleum goes on darker and seems to have a slicker surface - very surprising for a primer. Here’s the shot:
Lots more to show, but probably won’t get a chance to do that until tomorrow.
Hmmmmmm…
