July 10, 2010 at 4:17 pm

Stone Sandcarving

Hi everyone, below is a guest post by a fellow sandcarver named Glen.  He was nice enough to show us some examples of positive and negatives made by him and his wife.

The two photos clearly show the amount stone removed in a negative blast design. You need a strong resist that can stick thoroughly to the stone. I am using 3M 507 Buttercut resist and 3M #1 filler. Grit is aluminum oxide #80, pressure is 45-50 lbs. Nozzle size 1/8″. Use even passes like you are frosting a sheet of glass rotating the stone occasionally 90 degrees.

A rose stone carving example provided by Glen Morris.

Depth of the stone carved shown from the side by Glen Morris.

Thank you Glen and please leave him some compliments and comments below.  Or just ask him a question.  You can find the previous post I made about a simple rock sandcarving and the basic information about sandcarving glass and rock.  Let us know what you think of his work or if you would like to get exposure to your work, let me know.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

10 comments so far

  1. Jim O'

    July 11th, 2010 at 4:39 pm

    Glen,
    Beautiful is the only word that comes to mind after looking at your work
    All I can think about now is maybe someday

  2. Sam

    July 11th, 2010 at 4:40 pm

    Very nice, Glen. I had not seen reverse etching like this on stone before. Makes me wish I had the equipment to carve stone.

    Sam…

  3. Kelly

    July 11th, 2010 at 4:48 pm

    Thanks for sharing Glen (and Eric). I do a lot of woodwork and have done several signs. I am partial to the raised letter (similar to your negative etch) approach, so I enjoyed seeking your approach.

    To anyway who wants to play a bit more, consider picking up a variable speed angle grinder and some granite working blades, stones and pads (hook and loop).

    The blades can be picked up at Harbor Freight for a few dollars. Granite grinding stones are only about seven dollars (these are good sized stones used to round over and bevel granite). The pads are bit more expensive for a complete set. The ones designed to be used with a trickle of water last longer.

    Using the stones and pads, you can dramatically alter the outer surface of your rock etchings.

    You could also use the pads to lightly polish etched surfaces for effect.

  4. Rockie Gaddie

    July 11th, 2010 at 7:39 pm

    Wow…how great! New food for thought! Thank you for sharing this piece of stone art. You should be proud….

    Rockie

  5. Glen

    July 11th, 2010 at 7:58 pm

    Thanks very much for your comps. Regarding Kelly’s comment on granite fabrication tools, I have played around a little since May fabricating my own polished granite stone. I plan to use them for pet memorials as it isn’t cost effective here to try and sell polished and etched garden stones, I tried.
    Glen

  6. Shauna

    July 11th, 2010 at 11:14 pm

    Glen

    Your reverse etching is amazing. Thank you for sharing it with us!

  7. diane

    July 12th, 2010 at 4:42 am

    hi great carving, i wonder what you could crave on next!!!

  8. Eric Robert

    July 12th, 2010 at 5:03 pm

    Thanks again Glen and everyone that left a comment. I appreciate it and Im sure Glen does as well.

    @ Diane, it sounds like we need to show some carvings in wood next then! Anyone a pro at wood sandcarving that would like to share?

    Thanks everyone.

  9. Roy

    July 18th, 2010 at 9:10 pm

    Vary nice. Really is different from what you usually see in stone. Do you find it hard to paint and keep the colors where you want them

  10. Glen

    July 19th, 2010 at 12:43 am

    Thanks Roy for complimenting on my wife’s painting. It is not difficult as the areas to paint are raised. It is Lithichrome paint (solvent based) so if there is an oops it is removed easily with solvent. We occasionally use Krylon paint if we can’t get the color we need in Lithichrome. Although the prefered method to apply Lithochrome is an airbrush, she uses artist brushes.
    Glen

Leave a reply

Back to top