Creativity And Rock Painting

A while back I was asked if I could help come up with a craft project to help with a local craft fair. 

Sure, but what could I do?  So, after a whole lot of back and forth with ideas I finally decided I would give rock painting a try. Although it's something I haven't really done much of, I was still willing to at least give it a try.  And, of course it gave me an excellent excuse to go for a long walk and hopefully collected a decent supply of rocks for me to try.  

I searched through everything I could find on simple design ideas, themes, and tips. Pinterest was a great starting and ending point as I found some great ideas.  Although it did take me awhile to get it all done, since I was fitting it in between so many other things. But I managed to get what I hope is a good number done and still have a few days left over before the craft fair.

How I did it. 

Basically we searched for more of the non porous rocks, preferably smoothish on at least one side and in particular size range.  I washed them up with some water and baking soda and left them to dry.  Once they were dry I took a medium sized paint brush and brushed on a base coat of Mod Podge (which is a "water based glue, sealer and finish").  I mostly used water based acrylic craft paint but I did use markers on a select few. 

I would either draw out a template that I could cut out and placed on a particular rock and then used a pencil to trace out that shape. Or I would draw out a rough image on a rock that I could adjust before adding paint. Some surface's show the pencil lines really well and others are harder to make out. When the pencil lines were to hard to see I used a toothpick (the smallest end), dipped in paint to make tiny dots strategically all around my template. ( I should also note that dark paint, especially black also allows you to see the pencil lines really well too.)

I really like using the dot designs and best of all it didn't require any expensive tools. I used toothpicks, yup I said toothpicks.  Especially the ones that had one pointed end and one blunt end. They were perfect for getting different size dots. And yes, I absolutely had some that did not turn out. But that turned out ok in the end too, because I just add an extra coat or two of paint over the entire thing and try again.  

Once all the rocks were painted and they were completely dry I did a final coat of Mog Podge to seal it and give it a protective coating. Once that was dry, my project was done. All in all, I found I enjoyed learning and making them despite several failures. I ended up finding it rather relaxing once I got the hang of it. 

If you're looking for some great rock painting ideas I've added some to our Christmas board and Stuff You Can Do When Your Stuck At Home on Pinterest.