Faux Granite is a simple faux finish that you can do in many different colors depending on what your decorative needs are. Unlike marble, there are (usually) no veins with granite or directional drift which makes it easier to render than marble.
You can do granite in either oil or latex.
Tools & Materials:
Primary Tools Needed:
- Plastic
- Vinyl Gloves
- Pail with Roller Grid
- Sea Sponge
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Base Coat & Glaze/Paint
Base Coat
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Paint Colors
BIN Shellac
The base coat for granite can be either Zinsser's BIN shellac primer, or latex (or oil for that matter). I prefer BIN because of it's fast dry properties which allows me to get onto the glazing layer more quickly.
The base coat for china gray granite is white. The glaze colors are shown above. Granite can be done with either latex or oil glaze / paint. If you use oil, be sure that your white paint doesn't yellow over time. The newer compliant oil paints are notorious for yellowing badly. If you are not sure if it will yellow or not - use latex. White latex paint (as a rule) won't yellow.
Your glaze mix for oil will be approximately 1 part satin sheen oil paint, 1 part oil glaze, and 1 part mineral spirits. For latex glaze: 1 part latex satin sheen paint and 3 parts latex glaze, then adjust as needed from there. If your mix is too thin add paint, to make more translucent, add more glaze.
China Gray Granite
Technique
I use crumpled plastic (a cut up plastic trash bag will work) to apply the glaze with granite. I like plastic because the size of the mineral particles are random. You can use a sponge along with the plastic, but don't overdo the sponge. The sponged on granite that I usually see looks too much like "sponging" not granite.
Plastic bag pouncing
Work the glaze on small manageable sections at a time and join the sections together as you go.
Take a crumpled piece of plastic and dab it into your black glaze and pat the excess off on the grid in a roller pan. After you dab a few dabs with the black, add some white glaze, a little on top of the black and some directly on the white base coat.
After you get some color onto your base coat (about 50% black and 50% white) take a clean piece of plastic and dab and pounce on the glaze you have already applied.
This will blend, mesh, and soften everything. After you have a section blended and softened, add a touch of the beige glaze here and there - (don't overdo the beige), blend and soften the beige into the section with a clean piece of plastic. Once you have a section done, move on and repeat until the whole surface is done.
Don't over blend or you will get gray "mud". Blend just enough to soften or push in the beige as needed.
Because this is a "positive'" applied technique, you should be able to join sections without a noticeable lap mark.
Glitter
For a little extra pizzazz, you can lightly spray some fine glitter (silver, gold or clear depending on the granite) which comes in areosol spray cans available from art supply stores.The glitter adds nice metallic and "quartz like" particles to the granite which is very convincing.
Finishing
If you are in a hurry, you can get by without clear coating at all - if you used semi-gloss paint with your glaze.
Finishing with a non-yellowing clear coat always looks better.
Non yellowing clear coats are important for granite or marbling. Most water based finishes don't yellow. I use water base clear finishes over water based glaze. I use fresh, clear shellac over oil based glaze.
If you used oil, you can finish off with a couple of thin coats of shellac. Use fresh shellac. Old shellac may not dry properly, and old shellac that has been sitting in a metal can will rust the metal can and the shellac will pick up some of the amber coloring from the rust. Fresh clear shellac, will not yellow your granite - if you keep it thin. Don't use oil varnish, it will yellow over time.
Click here to see Universal Surface Preparation Rules:
Faux Granite
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