The best way to imitate stone from simple materials!

Hello everyone, this is Senya, and today I will show you how to make such a rock using the simplest materials. We will analyze in detail all the secrets of this technique, and you will learn a super simple way to paint a rock that does not require artistic skills. A fork, a spray spoon and the rock is ready to serve. The first thing you need to do is create the main volume of the future rock using polystyrene foam. I have already cut it into small fragments. Now take a regular fork and make notches on it. This side of the polystyrene foam will stick to the base, and the scratches will improve adhesion. We do this with each element. Now take the mounting foam and apply it to the first part. First, I distribute it along the contour with a small indent from the edge, and then add a little to the center. To make the foam expand faster, I wet it with water. And now you can glue it. We glue all the polystyrene foam and now we fill in the large cracks. Also at this stage we can not only remove large depressions, but also create additional volume in places where it is lacking. If you do not want to create a very voluminous stone, then you can use only polyurethane foam, without using polystyrene foam. After the foam has completely dried, cut off all the excess with a stationary knife. You just need to remove the two sharp corners of the polystyrene foam and trim all the protruding foam so that it does not interfere with this in the future. The next step is to create a reinforcing layer using cement glue and fiberglass mesh. It must be cut into small fragments and well crumpled in your hands to make it easier to work with. Now take the cement glue and apply it to a small area. For this layer, I recommend using glue specifically for polystyrene foam, and not tile glue, since specialized glue holds better and creates a stronger base. When working with fiberglass mesh, the glue must be both under it and on top. Carefully apply it and press it into the glue with a spatula so that it follows the shape of the polystyrene foam as much as possible. It is much easier to do this when the mesh is cut into small fragments and pre-crumpled. Place the mesh. Now I take a brush and smooth it again, applying an additional layer of glue to it. In this way, we fill the entire surface of the future rock with small parts. The main thing here is to join new mesh fragments with an overlap of 5-10 cm. As a result, we should get a blank like this. The reinforcing layer has completely dried, and you can proceed to the next stage of applying cement plaster. I have already prepared it. We will also need polyethylene film and a regular spoon. I will apply cement plaster using small spatulas. In the work, you can use glue for polystyrene foam or tiles. But to get a fine grain texture, you will need to create additional chagrin with a brush. I will leave a link to the video in which I show how to do this in the description under the video. At this stage, we fill the entire surface with plaster 2-3 cm thick. In the future, this will allow us to easily form a medium and fine stone texture. You do not need to apply it in a thick layer at once. The material is inelastic and does not stick well to the base. It is better to gain thickness gradually. This way, it is more convenient to work, since less plaster falls off and falls down during application. After filling a small area, take a spray bottle with water, wet the entire surface. Next, take the prepared film and cover the plaster with it. Like this. Choose a film that is not very thick, but not the thinnest either, so that it does not tear during work. Now take a spoon and make dents on the plaster through the film. During this process, you need to rotate the spoon a little so that the pattern does not repeat too much. Plus, you can make not only dents, but also small waves. In this way, we form the unevenness of our future stone. It is very convenient to work this way, because the spoon does not get dirty and the plaster particles do not fall off during application. Plus, this way we compact the material, and it sticks to the base better. In this way, we fill the entire surface and leave the plaster under the film until the next day. Have you noticed how the environment around you affects your mood? The space in which we live and work forms our feelings of comfort, inspires and even improves the quality of life. Now imagine that you can create such spaces yourself. Interior designer is a profession of the future that combines creativity, demand and financial independence. This skill will always be relevant, because people will never cease to need comfort and beauty around them. And a free and rich mini course on interior design from Skillbox will be an excellent first step to this profession. 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We soak the surface a little and you can start trimming. I will do this with a stationary knife and a butter knife. I start by deepening the texture. It needs to be made more expressive. This is the simplest element of the work, since we simply emphasize what has already been created in the previous stages. Also, in some areas, I make cracks that begin deep in the texture and go along the top of the stone. There is no need to try to cut the material very deeply. First, we simply mark the crack and then trim its edges so that it is more noticeable. The plaster contains coarse sand. And this is good for this kind of work. The edges of the cracks are jagged and look very natural. We cleaned the cut with a brush and selected another stone with a hard knife. In the upper areas, where the spoon left smooth waves, we simply chip off their edges to get sharper edges. Excellent! Next, we cut off this rounded area so that there are not many wavy parts of the stone next to each other. The main work in this technique is exactly this. It is necessary to sharpen the smooth areas formed by the spoon and remove most of the texture of the folds left by the film. The main thing here is not to overdo it, otherwise the rock will look as if it was cut with an axe. You need to find a balance between sharp edges and smooth elements. Be sure to make small defects that are found in natural stone. Here I just lightly tap the rounded edge with a knife blade and cut it, making various chips and potholes. And yes, during the work we do not remove the entire film at once, but do it gradually. Under it, the material does not dry out longer and it is comfortable to work with. Plus, the cut plaster, falling down, gets on the film and does not get washed into the recess of the texture. Therefore, we start from the top and gradually move down. It is much easier to work this way. After you have done the main work on one area, clean it well from sand. Plus, you need to smooth out a little those places where the plaster was trimmed. Wet it with water and smooth it. It is also important to consider what kind of lighting there will be in the end. Hard light directed along the rock, due to the light and shadow pattern, will visually add volume and greatly affect the visual appearance of the rock as a whole. It is better to think about such things in advance. I smoothed out the plaster, took a knife and started cutting it. The most important thing in imitation of a rock is chaos. There are many types of stone, and you need to decide on the option in advance. They all have their own special features, and you should not combine them in one work, otherwise the result will look strange. Therefore, look at the photos of different options and choose the texture and color in advance. Each stage of the work will depend on this, from cutting and gluing polystyrene foam to working with the smallest detailing and painting. You need to understand that the technique used in this video is not suitable for all types of stone that exist. For example, to create some layered rocks with very flat tops and smooth relief, you will need to change the main volume and the tool used in the work. I came up with this technique, based on the option that I found in the photos. I like that it had small, chaotic, rounded dents. And that's what gave me the idea of using a spoon. And the film helps here more not for the convenience of forming the texture, but to even out the drying of the uneven layer of plaster and slow down this process. Plus, I always try to show techniques for creating decor, in which the artistic result is achieved mostly mechanically, so that you can simply repeat the application stages and get a good result due to the sequence itself. A person without artistic skills, taking into account the advice that I give on the work, will do all the previous stages, simply cut off the smooth areas left by the spoon, and will already get a texture that he would not be able to get by doing it in another way. Well, do not forget that before starting, it is better to make a small sample and practice creating the selected stone texture. This will help not only to understand how the materials behave, but also, if necessary, to adjust the application technique. At the same time, you will choose a tool that is easier for you to work with. Try, for example, making prints with different spoons. This will make the relief more varied, and after removing the film, it will be easier to get a chaotic and varied texture. The plaster has completely dried, and we can proceed to the most interesting and creative stage of painting. For this, we will need this white dispersion paint. It is applied using the dry brush technique. This means that a very small amount of paint is needed. We remove excess material. And now I paint all the peaks with such a semi-dry brush. We make the first movements carefully so that the paint does not get into the recess. Choose a color to match the stone you like, but it should be the lightest in the palette. As a result, we get such a light whitish coating. After the paint on the peaks has dried, we proceed to applying the color. I will use white, black, blue and sea wave color. I collected these two colors and now I apply them to the recess. This painting technique is quite simple and does not require any super skills. I applied several shades like this. Then I take a spray bottle with water and blur the colorants until the white paint applied in the previous step begins to be visible. The pigment mixes with water and flows down the texture, coloring it in a medium color. At the same time, the more water we add, the less saturated the color is. Since the color of the paste does not dry, but only absorbs, if necessary, we can go back and blur it again. Where there are two bright spots, for example, like here, we take gray and add a little of it on top. In this way, we can muffle two pure, bright colors without losing the saturation of the corrected area. If you simply blur it with water, the place will become too light and you will have to apply the colorants again. As you can see, the painting technique is very simple. The main principle is that cold and darker colors are applied first, starting from the recesses of the stone texture, thereby emphasizing the volume and creating a shadow effect. When choosing a current for such work, the most important thing is not to buy a colorant paint. Only a universal colorant paste will do here. It does not contain a binder, and therefore it does not dry, which allows it to be used in this technique. Water and colorant do all the painting for you. The colors naturally mix and flow down, gradually saturate the cement, giving the surface the necessary shades. This is much easier and faster than working with paint. There, to get a similar result, you will need much more time and colors. Of course, there are simpler techniques for working with paint, and I showed one of these options in the previous video about chipping, but it requires a careful approach to color selection. I highly recommend watching it, since in that video I devote a separate part to tinting, where I talk about paint bases and show the features of using colorants. We do not add a lot of cold shades to the tops. I apply the colorant to small cracks and to the side edges of the stones. We do not need to darken these areas of the texture too much. Plus, the previously painted areas begin to dry, and we can darken some elements if they are too light or, conversely, tone down spots that are too blue or green using black pigment. The main thing is not to try to get too uniform a paint job at this stage. The colors will still even out. We are done with the cold tones, now let's add warm ones. For this, I use coffee and black. We apply these colors only to the protruding areas of the stone texture to darken them a little and give them an earthy shade. At this stage, we work a little differently. We not only wet the pigments with water so that they flow down and paint the surface in the desired shade, but also additionally rub them with a brush. Under the influence of water and a brush, the previous cold pigments also soak a little and mix with the warm ones. In this way, we even out the overall shade and get rid of contrasting spots. In general, when applying coffee and black colors, the plaster surface becomes more lively and stone-like. The excess gray shade, which looks too flat, disappears, and the entire rock gets additional volume. After drying, it will not darken much, but the influence of cold colors will be significantly reduced. We dry the surface well and now apply the primer using a sprayer. In this case, the primer plays several roles at once. It reduces the absorbency of the surface and at the same time fixes the colorant particles. If you apply it with a brush, then by re-wetting you can slightly soak the pigment and thereby additionally even out the color. We apply the primer and after it dries completely, we apply a protective layer of varnish. I use semi-matte parquet varnish. It allows you to create a protective layer and not bring in a strong unnatural shine. You can apply it with a brush. Since the pigment after priming practically does not mix with the varnish and the shades are not distorted. If you are going to use other materials for protection, stone impregnation or epoxy, then be sure to make a sample in advance, as these materials can greatly affect the color. Apply varnish, wait for it to dry. And here is the rock we got. Just look at what a cool result. The surface of the rock seems to have been formed by time. Chaotic dents, natural edges, cracks and chips create the feeling that we are looking at a real natural massif. The texture is not repeated, and this is its beauty. Small protrusions cast shadows and smooth bends go to neighboring areas, creating an interesting relief and volume. All this makes the surface lively. Special attention should be paid to how light works with such a texture. Even if you have not yet decided on the final lighting, be sure to consider how the lighting will fall on the texture. The first thing you need to pay attention to is natural sources. Even the harsh light of the sun through the window, sliding along the rock, will highlight all the edges and emphasize the volume. This should be taken into account and used wisely to enhance depth or soften it with soft directional light. With the help of additional artificial light sources, we can radically change the perception of the entire picture. Another important point. Choose in advance what type of rock you want to reproduce. There are a huge number of types of stone in the world, and each has its own characteristics. It is better to find a photo of the stone you like in advance and use it as a guide at all stages, from working with polystyrene foam and shaping the volume to small details and painting. In order not to make a mistake with your choice, I advise you to first make a small test sample. It will allow you to evaluate in advance how the texture will look, how the light falls and how the plaster behaves. This is especially important for choosing the color and protective layer. For example, epoxy resin will make the colors super saturated, and it will be very difficult to correct the work. To avoid alterations in large areas later, all this needs to be thought out and calculated in advance. In this video, we covered all the key stages, from working with polystyrene foam and polyurethane foam to reinforcement, creating volume and finishing painting. At first glance, it may seem complicated, but as you can see, with a step-by-step approach, everything becomes clear. The main thing is not to rush, be attentive and not be afraid to experiment. This technique was created so that anyone could repeat it. Even without artistic experience, you can do it if you move from stage to stage. As I showed in this master class, in one of the next videos I will make a tabletop, and this rock will turn into a super voluminous base for it. And we will see how it all looks together. And that's all for today. Subscribe to the channel, like, leave your comments. Good luck to everyone, hell, bye!