Powertex Stone Art – creating a faux stone effect

Powertex Stone Art is a product for creating fine textures, faux stone effect and of course air drying clay. Use with Powertex Universal Medium for convincing stone results.

Powertex Stone Art – Faux Stone Effect

Stone Art is a dried paper pulp that can be used to create a range of texture effects from a fine granular surface to building structure. It can also be mixed with Powertex Universal Medium to create an air-drying clay.

You can use use Powertex medium and Stone Art to create a faux stone effect on almost any surface. In this demonstration I’ll be using a piece of styrofoam. Watch the video for my demonstration or see my process photos below.

I’ve listed my supplies here.

Supplies

Ivory Powertex Universal Medium
Stone Art
Bister sprays
Plastic dish or plate
A container with a lid for excess Stone Art
Gloves
A damp sponge
Styrofoam shape

Step 1 – Applying Powertex

Put a little Powertex medium onto your plate and use your fingers or a brush to apply it unevenly to the surface, not too thin. It’s not necessary but you can wear a glove for this if you like.

Step 2 – Applying Stone Art

Use a dry hand to sprinkle Stone Art powder onto the wet Powertex. Cover it completely and be generous. Any excess can be saved for later. Press the Stone Art onto the wet Powertex firmly. Use your fingers to brush off any excess powder into a container, this excess can be used later or for other projects.

Repeat this process as many times as you like and vary the thickness to create your texture. I recommend leaving to air dry for an hour or so before moving to the next step.

Step 3 – Brush off loose texture

When you have your dry layers of Stone Art we want to remove any loose powder. Use your fingers flat over the textures, rubbing firmly to remove any Stone Art that’s not stuck down. Any loose powder can be saved into your container and used again. It will be more textured than the “new” Stone Art.

Step 4 – Adding colour with Bister sprays

To make the most of the textures, spray Bister generously onto the piece. (Protect your surfaces here, Bister can stain.) You can use any colours, layer them up and mix them together. Dry them off in between layers if you like. I like to be generous with my Bister colour.

Next use a damp sponge to wipe the Bister from the raised areas. This creates highlights and variation in the surface. Leave to dry or use a hairdryer.

Repeat these steps until you get a result you like. Bister is water based but it will stain the surface.

What surfaces can I use this technique on?

You can use this technique on most surfaces including glass, canvas and wood.

If you have a plastic surface it’s a good idea to prime the surface first with masking tape, gesso or a spray primer.

As Bister is not permanent you may wish to seal your project with varnish. You can use Easy Varnish for this but it might move the Bister around. A spray varnish will also work well.

Would you like to know more about Stone Art and Bister?

These products can be used for lots of different effects and projects and the stone effect can be applied to almost any surface with Powertex Universal Medium as the base. Glass, wood, metal or even fabric can be given an organic stone finish.

 

[Updated November 2023]