Gungnir's Stuff
Stone Color Experiences
Since I received several questions on how I treat my stones for the natural look I like I decided to add this page to show why I do what.

I would not call this a tutorial, I'm just posting some experiences and suggestions.
Basicallly, it comes down to the choice of dying plaster before or after casting. This is an example of some tiles that were cast of a mix of plaster and either black ink or acrylic paint. I tried both, but the results are too uniform for me, more like concrete than old stonework.
As you will see further down, I prefer the diluted enamels method for dying my stones, but there is a big drawback: the smell. I have to work in the attic, and when I dye a batch of stones you can smell it throughout the house. So, I tried the same technique using acrylics.
That didn't fly, the paint stays on the outside of the blocks and doesn't work itself in nicely.
So, I tried diluted black ink, resulting in the darker floor tiles shown here. While it seems to be good, the ink collected mainly on the top surface, an effect I was not looking for.
This is a floor done with tiles made mainly in the method I prefer, diluted enamels. I check the shops that sell cheap leftovers, and buy as many hues of the colors I need as I can find.
Each batch of stones - what comes out of one mold - gets a different shade. This is done easily by putting a little enamel in a bath of turpentrine, and soaking the thoroughly dry plaster stones in it. When they stop bubbling I take them out, and let them dry for a few days.
When I make brown stones, I use three different hues of brown. Since the solution is never the same, every batch gets a different hue. I mix at least three different hues before I start building anything
Grey stones are made with either just black paint, or with some browns added for variety.
This is a bunch of stones that are not completely dry yet, they are still much darker than when dry. They are dry enough to work with already, however.

These were colored with black, brown and a pinch of bottle green enamels. I start with just black, then add some more turpentine and a brown for each next batch.

The results are completely haphazard -  exactly what I'm aiming for with medieval stuff.

The same I have done with just browns, beige hues or reds.
Comments, questions, remarks? Please mail me!

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