Granite projects and questions

[Jackie McGowan]

Hello all,

Just thought I'd show off a couple projects. These are HD Granite. The Baby one is going to be a Christening gift for my cousin. And the other is my first multi tile image - only two tiles though - thought I would start out small. Cause I only did this one just to see if I could . They are both brightened with the opaque white from laser sketch and the baby one is colorized with water color pencils too. That opaque stuff I'm using is kinda hard to put on/take off... my arm hurts! (it's pretty thick) I know some of you are using the titanium white oil paint, which I have not tried yet but I will. When I do would I just rub it on with a rag and then rub it off right away? or do I let it set some? What's the best way? I'm assuming this would spread better. Also does anyone know what I can thin the opaque stuff with? I don't know what it's made of. I did try acrylic paint once but I couldn't get it on even and I couldn't get all the excess off. I also heard you can use printers ink??? Wouldn't know where to buy it... any input appreciated as always

[Jackie McGowan]

Here are the photos a little larger.

[onur cakir]

Jackie, those are great. I feel so upset when i see your granite works because HD granite is not sold here in Turkey

Also you saved my day by telling that you use water color pencils (we call aquarel). I was looking for stuff to color engraved granite !

Can you please explain brightening procedure a little bit more ?

First engraving and than brightening and coloring ? What is the order ?

[Frank Corker]

Love the colouring on your baby tile. I bet that took a while to do. As for the 'Le ravissement de Psyche' that looks sooooooooo nice.

[Tim Bateson]

Two thumbs up Jackie. You're light years ahead of me. I hadn't even thought of coloring a granite tile.

[Steve Clarkson]

Jackie,

I am SOOOOO jealous!

[Belinda Barfield]

Jackie,

I am SOOOOO jealous!

Steve, now you can add colored pencils to your matches list! I'm right there with you.

Beautiful work as always, Jackie. You are truly talented.

[Jackie McGowan]

Thanks everyone!

Jackie, those are great. I feel so upset when i see your granite works because HD granite is not sold here in Turkey

Also you saved my day by telling that you use water color pencils (we call aquarel). I was looking for stuff to color engraved granite !

Can you please explain brightening procedure a little bit more ?

First engraving and than brightening and coloring ? What is the order ?

Onur,
yes your order is correct engrave brighten then color.

To brighten I just dab the opaque white on with a cotton swab in a small area, work it in with a rag then wipe and buff it off with a clean rag. But as I said this opaque white stuff seems too thick. I would like to hear from someone using the artists oil paint to know the procedure for that. I'm assuming it's the same but just not sure if you should wait some before wiping it off.

The coloring took I'd say about 20 minutes- but that's the fun part, I use the water color pencils and then a cotton swab to blend or lighten the color.

[John W. Love]

Jackie those are gorgeous! I didn't know you could color the granite...now I want some of those water color pencils to try! Can those be purchased at any art/craft store like Michael's or Hobby Lobby or where do you get them? John and I have been using the titanium white oil paint, and I don't know if we are doing it "correctly" or not...but we just rub a fairly good amount on all over the tile and then rub it off again. It seems to work fairly well. I am curious if it would work better if we let it set some before rubbing it off, may be I'll try that later today after I figure out why my machine is acting up lol. I'll have to pry myself away from our roses to do it tho lol. We were actually also thinking that maybe we could use other colors of the oil paint to color our tiles...but with the way we are doing the paint I don't think it would work to do more than one color.

Alicia Love

[Bob McGinn]

Using the oil base paint works very good. Apply small amount and normally leave it overnight. Buffs off without lots of effort. Attached 12x12 HD tile with titanium white applied.

[Andrey Anfimov]

Jackie,
you are great artist!

[John W. Love]

Ok, I've reapplied the white oil paint to one of the tiles I did the other night will leave it on for about 8 hours and then remove. Once it's done I'll post the before and after pics and let you judge

Alicia Love

[Jackie McGowan]

John,
I got my water color pencils from Michaels. I know you could also use pastels or pastel pencils (the powdery kind not the oily ones). I was wondering if the oil pastels would work (I'll have to test those).

Bob thanks for the oil paint info.

The coloring is not as hard as it may look, the coloring will only stay where the engraving is and the image is already there (it's not like you are drawing it) Your just adding color, mostly you just need to know how to mix colors somewhat and get the feel for the pencil on the granite (weather to shade lightly or hard). I urge everyone who has not tried it to do a small one if you do the photo tiles.

[James Aldrich]

Jackie
How durable is the water color pencil on granite? Does it wash off, or do you put a sealer on it after it dries?


Jim

[Jackie McGowan]

James,

You can dust it with a dry cloth and it will be fine but It will wash off with water so It's not for outdoor use. I just pray artists fixative on it to protect it a little. I will at some point try the poly stone sealer over it to see what happens.