Stone Painting Kits: The 5 things you must know, revealed.

DIY
Stone Painting Kit

Today we’re going to explain all that you need to know, to be able to create your own stone painting kits. As well as give you the important steps to be able to do it yourself.

Also we’ll share some project ideas to get those inspirational juices flowing.

Painting stones is a fun form of art that simply does not get the credit that it deserves. Imagine a walkway in your garden, peppered with colourful stones bearing messages like ‘walk this way’ or even ‘keep off the grass” if that tickles your fancy.

What about some painted stones, suspended on the wall to hold necklaces?

It’s all about your creativity and personal expression and best of all – it’s easy and cheap to do.

Without further ado, here’s 5 things that you must know about stone painting so that you may enjoy this wonderful form of art and craft to the fullest!

What do you need for stone painting?

For your first stone painting experience you will want to gather a small collection of smooth rocks and/or stones. Once you’ve got these collected then a trip to your local art supply store is in order. Once there, you will want to obtain the following:

  • Some acrylic paint
  • Acrylic paint pens
  • Sealer
  • Sponge brushes
  • A cup of soap and water
  • Some cloth that you don’t mind getting dirty
  • Fine sandpaper
  • Some latex primer for walls
What do you need for stone painting?

Do you need to prime stones before painting?

Priming your stones first is a good idea. You don’t have to do it, but if you do, then you’ll get stronger, bolder colours that will really stand out.

This is because the paint will bond more readily, and it will take less layering to achieve the strong colours that you want your painted stones to have.

You can use the same kind of primer that you would for painting walls and it’s fairly inexpensive at your local hardware store. It’s well worth the investment!

What paint is best to use on stones

Without a doubt, acrylic paint is the best choice when it comes to stone painting. That said, there are 3 types of acrylics that are considered superior for stone painting. They are as follows:

  • Craft acrylic paint – Craft acrylics look good, but you may need a few extra coats to get the look that you are going for. Their chief advantage is the wide range of colours in which they are available.
  • Multi-surface acrylic paint – Multi-surface acrylics have the nice bonus of not requiring a sealer. That said, they can chip and crack, so don’t use them as a base coat, rather use them for small decorative flourishes on your stones.
  • Outdoor-use acrylic paint – While this paint will take 1 or 2 days to cure, it’s resistant to water and inclement weather. This is ideal if you are looking to paint some stones to make, for instance, an interesting pathway in your backyard.

Which kits did I buy?

My daughter, Katie, was 7 when she went to her friends house for the afternoon and discovered stone painting. We didn’t know much about it at the time to be honest, so we did what we normally do!

We bought a cheap starter set from Amazon, mainly just to see what it was like and if she’d stick with it. Her nan bought her one as well, so we ended up with two kits. (shown below)

Not much in it really but I feel the SES one was the better of the two, so if you only plan on buying one, so that’s the one I’d go for. (She liked the wobbly eyes)

After a while when she was more experienced we started buying better quality acrylic paints from our local craft centre.

However as a starter kit, to see if your children will like stone painting, you could do a lot worse than just buy one of these to try it.***

SES Decorating Stones

SES Creative 14843 Decorating Stones.

Real stones, use the extra printed materials to make the stones even more spectacular. The wobbly eyes make them great fun for children.

Check Price on Amazon

Garden Stone Painting

4M Little Craft, Making Kit, Kids 8+

Paint your own rocks and show your creative side. Scatter these painted stones along the path. Great for your child’s imagination and creativity.

Check Price on Amazon

What do you use to seal painted stones?

A great choice for sealing painted stones is Rust-Oleum Universal Advanced Formula. It’s crystal-clear and you get a glossy shine that really helps to catch the eye.

Plus, you can simply spray it on so application is a breeze. You can use other types of sealant, however, so if you’ve got a favorite already then give it a try.  

Incidentally, you can also seal your painted stones with clear nail polish in a pinch if you don’t have any sealant handy.

Some great stone painting tips and ideas

Now that you’ve got your gear and you know what kind of paint to use and the recommended sealers, we thought we might share some quick project ideas. For these examples we are going with a garden theme to keep things simple.

That said, you can certainly make other projects such as paperweights, necklace hangers, candle holders, stone animals… just use your imagination.

Marking your garden

If you like to grow vegetables or herbs, why not make some garden stones?

To do this, look for stones with shapes much like vegetables or fruits.

Long, thin stones may be painted to look like smiling carrots. Heart-shaped stones make excellent smiling strawberries. Find some round stones to make angry tomatoes.

Place the stones around the borders of your garden and it adds a sweet character that simply has to be seen and experienced firsthand to fully appreciate.

Give it a try and see for yourself!

Do you need to prime stones before painting

Fairy village

If you have some larger smooth stones, then you can arrange them throughout your garden with a lovely painted theme. Create a fairy village!

To do this, simply paint a door in the front and center of a stone, along with a roof at the top of your ‘fairy house’.

Paint one or two windows and add some flowers growing in front for an extra-lovely effect.

As long as you vary the door designs and the little gardens in front you can create a convincing little village. For instance, paint flowers in front of all the houses except for one, which has 2 cacti in front and a ‘Go away’ sign in the window. You can even add a small, wooden sign that reads ‘Fairy Garden’ or paint that on a stone as well.

You get the idea! Get creative, have fun with it, and be sure to share your pictures online.

Herb garden markers

Elegant in their simplicity, painted stones for quick identification of herbs in your garden are easy to make and they also make your garden more interesting to friends. This is because they can look down and learn what each herb looks like in a way that is both educational and aesthetically pleasing.

What you want to do is to pick stones that you can stick into the ground and first paint them black and allow that paint to dry. On top of it, paint the herb it will be identifying and put the name of the herb in the bottom right-hand corner (or wherever you like, they’re your markers!).

The effect is great and it’s also a fun way to teach herb identification to your kids.

Stone Painting Kits

Some final words on stone painting

Now you should have all the information that you need to make your own stone painting kit and to start on projects of your own.

Remember, creativity is key, so experiment if you get bored and you’ll be amazed at what you can create.

As we said, painting stones simply does not get the credit that it deserves. So, what are you waiting for?

Put your kit together and make something beautiful today.

You’ll be happy that you did!

Affiliate Links

***This post contains some affiliate links, I paid full price when I purchased the items and the review is my honest opinion. As an Amazon associate I will earn from qualifying purchases.

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