Here is our simple stone tutorial a step-by-step on how-to sand carve a stone.
We made this stone tutorial years ago, if we made it today it would be a video.
Welcome to our stone tutorial. Pick and clean your stone. We masked off the part we will cut away. This is so the stone will stand.Using a wet saw with a fine diamond blade, cut the bottom along the tape line as straight as possibleThe stone should stand freely. You can also use the cut off as a paperweight, so don’t toss it.Cut, weed, and mask your 3 mil vinyl stencil. Leave tiny detail unweeded.Position your vinyl stencil on the stone.Since the stone is curved, first burnish areas that will be blasted.After burnishing all areas, remove the transfer tape. Don’t worry about heavy wrinkles in areas not to be blastedUse a heat gun and rivet brush to further
burnish vinyl into the pores of the stone.At this point, you should finish weeding the tiny details. As shown above.Use masking tape to mask off any area around your stencil so that it will not be blasted.OK, I will share my secret with you on how to blast porous stones. From about 12 to 16 inches away you blast the vinyl to burnish into the pores of the stone.The pressure pot along with the convenient foot pedal. Pressure pot contains Silicon Carbide blast 120 grit.This small blast booth is just right for the size stone we will be carving. It comes with Plexiglas door and rubber gloves attached.Blast the stone. Use 35 to 40 lb pressure with a 3/16″ nozzle, moving from left to right at an even pace, at 90 degrees to the surface.When complete you can see depth and detail. Now remove it from the booth and clean with compressed air lightly.We will be using 2 colors of paint. The text will be black so we tape off the graphics.It is most important to give the stone 2 light coats so it will not try to bleed under the vinyl.Now that the black paint has dried, and tape removed. Now tape off the text so that the graphic can be painted.The final color completed. Allow drying before removing vinyl stencil as I have said use two light coats of paint.At this point, you can remove the stencil making sure that any paint from the vinyl does not smear onto the stone.Using an Exacto knife remove any small pieces of vinyl from the stone.You may choose to spray a clear acrylic coat to protect the stone. Mostly from hand oils that can discolor your stone.Have fun getting
“stoned”
In conclusion,If you follow these steps and take your time, you too can etch a stone of your own.
