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Concrete Decor - Index

Concrete Decor - Concrete Decor Magazine, The Journal for Decorative Concrete - Index

Circle Reader Service Number 108
64 | www.ConcreteDecor.net | Dec. ’07/Jan. ’08
White portland cement lightly airbrushed with
teal and purple adds to the arctic illusion created
by these acrylic resin icicles.
match the rock texture. Then about four
hours later the major cracks are carved
to match rock panel cracks.”
Color makes the difference
While the mass of the rock, and the
bulk of the work, lies in the structure, it
is often the color that makes or breaks
the project. Long calls it the 90-10
rule. “If the last 10 percent — the color
and fi nish — are not right, the whole
job is ruined. On the other hand, you
can sometimes save bad rock work
with creative color.” Jenkins says. “In
replicating rock, coloring is the most
obvious key to success or failure. It
either rings true or it’s a near miss.”
Both agree that the secret to
natural-looking synthetic stone is
creating randomness and variation using
multiple colors. Jenkins claims that the
average rock, even one we might view as
gray or red, contains at least 14 different
colors. For a trade show booth, he
created rock using 28 different colors.
Coloring synthetic rock is an artistic
endeavor, with the panels in the place
of the painter’s canvas and a variety of
tools for applying all kinds of media. In
fact, craftspeople often modify existing
coloring materials or create their own to
get the effects they are after. Research,
experience and a lot of trial and error
— “about 3 million trials and errors,”
according to Long — are behind the
most successful stone panel contractors.
Typical concrete coloring agents
can be used to color GFRC stone panels,
Photo courtesy of Lakeland Co.