TEN STEPS TO A REALISTIC GRANITE FINISH !

[~arph]

Ok, my dream was not right.   thanks for the tutorial, they look great. Can you also do darker granites with hints of green? or  try silver/gold paint as granite often has mysterious reflections inside.

[Steben]

BTW - If you stop after the first color coat and just clear coat it then, the technique lends itself to a whole bunch of other possibilities....

Looks like asbestos fibres to me. 

[DougH]

Nice tutorial, Andy. Thanks for sharing.

It looks pretty simple. I'll have to give this a try. My wife usually has some acrylic paint lying around. In fact, I bet she would really enjoy doing this too!

[David]

80 views....1 message...and it's not even about the tutorial....i guess i was just wasting time again.   

Au contraire...  You are one fiendishly clever dude!

[~arph]

well, that was in 1,5 hour.. and it was late at night in europe..

[earthtonesaudio]

Nice tutorial.  Yet another cool technique, awesome!

[Dragonfly]

Thanks guys - I hope you find it useful. Maybe it will inspire some new finishing techniques. If nothing else, your wives can use the technique to make everything in your house look like granite !

I was digging around on the net looking for how people were doing his style finish before...it involved crazy stuff like whisk brooms !
Even though my method doesn't use cool brooms, I have to say it gets the most realistic results of any technique I've seen.

[AL]

Nice !! Good looking boxes. I gotta try that 

One question? How sturdy is that paint. I have had zero luck in the past painting boxes and getting it to stay on very well. I have gone to using spray on truck bed liner or nothing.

AL

[Boogdish]

Ok.. last night I dreamed that I was reading this tutorial (before I actually saw it just now).. the technique involved putting some fruit on the enclosure and burning the lot...   Now.. I will read and see if I dreamt right... hahaha

I cannot WAIT for this tutorial.

Dragonfly, that looks very cool, especially the one coat of paint look in my opinion, I'm going to have to try this.

[runmikeyrun]

Nice !! Good looking boxes. I gotta try that 

One question? How sturdy is that paint. I have had zero luck in the past painting boxes and getting it to stay on very well. I have gone to using spray on truck bed liner or nothing.

AL

That stuff rocks... i sprayed it on my metal speaker grilles... then used it on a head box i built for an amp out of a combo.  It's like liquid tolex if you let it sit long enough and lay on 3 good coats!  I'll have to try it on enclosures.  Have you found it in other colors besides black?  What about lettering?

[MikeH]

I'm seeing lots of micas, and feldspars... hornblende... there's definitely orthoclase... but looks like less than 5% quartz.  This isn't granite at all!! It's Diorite!  ...maybe granodiorite...

[Dragonfly]

Nice !! Good looking boxes. I gotta try that 

One question? How sturdy is that paint. I have had zero luck in the past painting boxes and getting it to stay on very well. I have gone to using spray on truck bed liner or nothing.

AL

I've had one enclosure chip....one....so far with the acrylic paint. The key is to give it adequate drying time. Primer helps it stick better as well.

So...primer + color + lots of clear + drying time = durable finish   

[Dragonfly]

I'm seeing lots of micas, and feldspars... hornblende... there's definitely orthoclase... but looks like less than 5% quartz.  This isn't granite at all!! It's Diorite!  ...maybe granodiorite...

[MikeH]

That's right... some of us here practice nerdery on a completely different level!

[Dragonfly]

That's right... some of us here practice nerdery on a completely different level!

We all have our crosses to bear...

[Dragonfly]

I'm seeing lots of micas, and feldspars... hornblende... there's definitely orthoclase... but looks like less than 5% quartz.  This isn't granite at all!! It's Diorite!  ...maybe granodiorite...

BTW - you could add to the "mica effect" by doing this...

after the first color application (blue), sprinkle on a FEW silver sparkles (like the ones you get at Hobby Lobby)...don't go overboard or it would look bad....then continue on with the rest of the steps as shown. You should wind up with just a few sparkles "peeking through" the finish when it's done.

Not tested, but should work.....

[Ice-9]

Thanks Dragonfly, another great painting tutorial. I will have to give this a go when i get some new enclosures

[timo]

Thanks guys - I hope you find it useful. Maybe it will inspire some new finishing techniques. If nothing else, your wives can use the technique to make everything in your house look like granite !

The wife probably couldn't care less - but I've got some butt-fugly self-watering containers hanging around. Hmm... 

I may be stating the obvious but You, sir, are a genious.

[Dragonfly]

I took a better picture in the sunlight today....

[Dragonfly]

Thanks guys - I hope you find it useful. Maybe it will inspire some new finishing techniques. If nothing else, your wives can use the technique to make everything in your house look like granite !

The wife probably couldn't care less - but I've got some butt-fugly self-watering containers hanging around. Hmm... 

I may be stating the obvious but You, sir, are a genious.

I'm certainly no genius though. I'll leave that to Mark, RG, Gus, etc....