Convince me against this?

Faux stone tiles
>3 separate silicone molds: 1st is 5mm tall, 2nd is 8mm, 3rd is 1cm-1.2 cm
>Pour concrete on first mold
>Once it's hard, extract concrete and place it inside the second mold, pour polyester resin on top of it, using a combination of direct pour ( example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Rn9KI_XxzQ ) for the base design/stone texture and using a brush to paint all the small details/veins
>When that hardens, take it out and put it in the third mold and coat it with Polyaspartic.

Explain to me why this wouldn't actually work.
For some context I'm a professional artist who has been drawing and painting for as long as I can remember, have all the time in the world to actually do each tile, over the last 30 days I have downloaded 5807 pictures of stone tiles patterns from multiple different types of stones + pictures of whole luxury house interiors to use as reference and copy.

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  1. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    Forgot to say, I'm not planning on selling the tiles, I'm planning to use them for a house I'm going to build, the idea is that they look just as good as ceramic/porcelain faux stone tiles while being significantly cheaper.

  2. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    Cheaper to just buy stone tiles, no?

    • 10 months ago
      Anonymous

      Concrete and Polyester resin are extremely cheap, the only problem is the polyaspartic since that's actually expensive however it doesn't yellow unlike Epoxy, which is why I opted for it.
      I believe that even if I use polyaspartic it will still come out cheaper than buying the real luxury stone tiles/stone imitation tiles.
      (the idea came to me because in my side/second job I create and sell objects casting polyester resin, which is why I know it's really cheap)

      • 10 months ago
        Anonymous

        you will have to practice a lot before you get good results, which cuts down on savings even more and requires more hours of work. if you enjoy the process then do it but its probably more worth your while to just try and pick up some overtime or even stand outside home depot with the mexicans.

        • 10 months ago
          Anonymous

          This anon is right, it's def possible and I've seen some fairly good faux stone work done in resins.
          I also want to make my own tiles for my house, but out of ceramic because I love working with clay.
          If you do it op you should definitely post your progress here.

      • 10 months ago
        Anonymous

        What about buying exterior flag stone and sealing it

  3. 10 months ago
    Anonymous

    Hey anon, I'm the stone guy who throws up threads every few weeks. Been working with slabs, stone, epoxies (polyester resins), artificial stone etc. for about 20 years now.

    >My first q is whar is your application for these faux slabs?
    If you plan on using these in showers or something, that polyester is going to delaminate from the concrete pretty quickly as moisture migrates into the tiny holes in the epoxy and they cool and heat at different rates.

    >my general thoughts
    This whole idea is overly complicated and won't really work.
    >glass chips
    Using glass is dumb, they sell artificial speckle stuff you can add to resins without resorting to smashing glass and expecting it to come out of a salt shaker, going to a stone shop and filling a bucket of patch (stone dust water mix) would he much better, but still that won't even work. The dust won't magically recombine into stone unless it's pressed under extreme pressur (eg. Quartz/Caesarstone is manufactured thus way)
    >concrete with backing
    That shit gonna break without rods or bar inside, backing mesh is great for stone slabs that have fishers and natural cracks, keeps it together, in concrete you really need rods or rebar.

    >My suggestion
    You can get huge slabs of faux stone porcelain for relatively cheap compared to your efforts. A very high quality "jumbo" slab of porcelain will run you $1000 and you get a 9*5 foot piece to work with and will look like stone.

    >BUH I WANT TO PAINT
    great, get some mdf, seal the shit out of it with a combo of wood glue and water, prime it and sand it smooth. Now paint away and use resin glaze coats and a buffer to get your results. Use mica flake (which is naturally occurring) or high quality speckle shit they use for currency as your sparkle if you wish.

    Just my 2 cents.

    • 10 months ago
      Anonymous

      how did you get into stone work? I must've missed your previous posts, they sound kino

      • 10 months ago
        Anonymous

        >be me, 16 year old artist in highschool
        >need a summer job, cousin installs marble
        >they realize I have a knack for reading stone patterns (unironically spectrum)
        >get sent to a shop to help them read and design patterns from blocks of stone
        >Do this and labor for a few summers
        >get a job in univerity doing repair work since laboring sucks
        >leave uni and start a company using my art skills regarding repairing stone, color matching, vein patterning etc.
        >do pretty good
        >I'm the top guy in my area and routinely work in 20-40 million dollar homes, to the

        • 10 months ago
          Anonymous

          Sent too soon
          Was just gonna say I work for the richest people in my area, they let me stay in their homes if it's far out of town etc.

          Pretty cool gig. Hiring people sucks though.

          • 10 months ago
            Anonymous

            Basado. I recently entered a similar line of work, it's not stone work, but it's a highly creative job that requires a good attention to detail. A large portion of the projects I have to design, plan, and execute end up being one-off jobs that we charge the customer anywhere between $5k~$80k.
            I didn't even know jobs like this existed and I end up producing work that exceeds almost all my peers in the industry.
            I want to do more, get paid better, but I'm new to this sort of side of business and I don't even know where to start looking.

            • 10 months ago
              Anonymous

              Work on being reliable, consistent and socialble. My network started when I was 16 not even realizing I was making an impression on those contractors who would poke fun at me for my piercings, Mohawk etc. Eventually I grew up, stumbled through starting a business but excelled mainly on skill and reliability. I can work myself and or with another worker or two, I at one point had 9 guys and it was hell. So if you need a lot of workers to succeed I can't really offer any advice, however if you can do it solo or with one helper it's a lot easier to get going.

              https://i.imgur.com/unjkt2A.jpg

              >get some mdf, seal the shit out of it with a combo of wood glue and water, prime it and sand it smooth...

              FWIW, a solvent based sealer is more appropriate for thise kind of thing; the heat/pressure process used to create mdf causes the outer layers to become tempered and resistant to penetration...wood glue and water won't get very far at all.

              Just for fun, toss a scrap in a bucket of water and watch how it swells...the outer surfaces will barely move except to cup away from the core even as a 3/4" piece swells to 1 1/2" thick

              But more importantly, if you want to make faux stone with mdf or similar pressed fiber materials, an old theatrical set/prop builder trick is to cut small tile or block shaped pieces and cleave them the same way you would real stone...the material will separate leaving a surface that's remarkably similar to natural stone and can be easily worked to simulate more refined finishes, ashlar masonry, etc.
              This also gives you a surface that's very receptive to penetrating sealers and also has a texture that is perfect for washing/wiping techniques to introduce color depth.
              I wouldn't use it on a floor but you can make faux stone this way that is virtually indistinguishable from the real thing on a wall or other decorative surface...it's also a good way to make plugs for molds to cast other more durable materials in.

              For decorative surfaces that don't get any appreciable contact, Homasote works great and can be stiffened with resins...it's very popular with set builders and modelers for doing faux stone and random rough surfaces.

              Cool Pic, I know very little about fauxing it, but I see many of my Instagram followers are guys who do smooth textured painting on mdf panels to make decorative "stone slab" panels for walls, niches etc. None of it used around water though for obvious reasons.

              I do wood glue and water on my diy speakers since the mdf sucks paint like crazy and gets gritty if I don't.

              • 10 months ago
                Anonymous

                I've always worked alone, or assumed that anything I needed to get done I had to figure out how to get it done myself. But that's partly out of me not trusting others to do work to my standard and partly because I don't like bothering people for help unless I absolutely require it.

                I don't really get to see anyone, I work in a small shop and don't ever interact with clients or even any of our suppliers or contractors, which I think is one of the bigger things holding me back atm. I am fairly good at sales and talking to people, I used to do cold calling back in college for a summer, but my boss doesn't want me to do that.
                Eventually this past month I actually met one of the contractors they shook my hand and said it's finally nice to meet me after hearing so much about me.
                I must've given him and my boss the most confused and puzzled face because I have no idea how he would've known about me unless my boss talks about me, which I find hard to believe.

              • 10 months ago
                Anonymous

                People talking bout you is a good sign, sounds like it's time to document your work, keep lists of products you use, suppliers etc. And maybe start thinking formal website and format for showing off your skills. I had a very honest convo with my boss at the time but it didn't go well, had a one year non compete before being able to tap into old clients I met while with them. Was unenforceable but I work honest and have a good relationship with them even after all these years.

        • 10 months ago
          Anonymous

          Nice. That's super cool anon, and finding a talent like that at a relatively young age too

    • 10 months ago
      Anonymous

      >get some mdf, seal the shit out of it with a combo of wood glue and water, prime it and sand it smooth...

      FWIW, a solvent based sealer is more appropriate for thise kind of thing; the heat/pressure process used to create mdf causes the outer layers to become tempered and resistant to penetration...wood glue and water won't get very far at all.

      Just for fun, toss a scrap in a bucket of water and watch how it swells...the outer surfaces will barely move except to cup away from the core even as a 3/4" piece swells to 1 1/2" thick

      But more importantly, if you want to make faux stone with mdf or similar pressed fiber materials, an old theatrical set/prop builder trick is to cut small tile or block shaped pieces and cleave them the same way you would real stone...the material will separate leaving a surface that's remarkably similar to natural stone and can be easily worked to simulate more refined finishes, ashlar masonry, etc.
      This also gives you a surface that's very receptive to penetrating sealers and also has a texture that is perfect for washing/wiping techniques to introduce color depth.
      I wouldn't use it on a floor but you can make faux stone this way that is virtually indistinguishable from the real thing on a wall or other decorative surface...it's also a good way to make plugs for molds to cast other more durable materials in.

      For decorative surfaces that don't get any appreciable contact, Homasote works great and can be stiffened with resins...it's very popular with set builders and modelers for doing faux stone and random rough surfaces.

    • 10 months ago
      Anonymous

      Sorry for responding late, I just woke up.
      >My first q is whar is your application for these faux slabs?
      Some context before the real answer: I'm 24, been working as a professional artist since I was 17 and I kind got bored of my job now and have enough money saved, my mother has retired but I see she still wants to work and she used to work as a civil engineer 20 years ago, she worked for other people and made buildings but she also built houses of her own that she sold, the idea is I will design the house in Revit to the tile and will slowly create all the tiles that are needed for all over the house, including slabs in places like the kitchen or bathrooms.

      Real answer: The original plan is for the slabs or tiles to be used as decoration in walls or floors like they normally do, the idea came from multiple sources, one was from those yt channels that create epoxy countertops, in my personal opinion they are ugly as sin but it's because they don't understand the patterns of the stones they are trying to imitate, which I do.
      -I'm opting for concrete as it's cheap and doesn't need to be heated to harden
      -I'm opting for polyester resin as I've worked with it for many years, it's also cheap and doesn't yellow as fast or to the same extent as epoxy resin does.
      - polyaspartic still isn't the final decision, I guess I will make some trials with different materials but I'm almost positive that I won't be using epoxy as the coating

      >that polyester is going to delaminate from the concrete pretty quickly
      This is probably my only concern, guess that only by trying will I find out if it will happen or how to mitigate it, if nothing works I can just change for it all to be polyester resin and no need for concrete it will come out being slightly more expensive but still nothing compared to buying the real stone slabs or their faux alternatives.

    • 10 months ago
      Anonymous

      Cont.
      >glass chips
      It's not really glass chips, the idea came while I was walking my dogs in the morning, I saw small sparkles in the concrete pavement which were from a broken glass bottle, it reminded me of my own marble's floor sparkles and I thought that I can probably imitate it that way, when I say "hammer the glass bottle into dust" I mean it.
      >they sell artificial speckle stuff you can add to resins
      Yeah I'm aware, I just don't think they will quite imitate the effect I'm going for, it would also come out coming more expensive, and it isn't as fun.

      >That shit gonna break without rods or bar inside, backing mesh is great for stone slabs that have fishers and natural cracks, keeps it together, in concrete you really need rods or rebar.
      not sure if you are misunderstanding me, or if I'm misunderstanding you, the picture isn't showing a mesh, it's the pattern that tiles have in their backs in which the thinset/mortar is applied, the silicone mold already has the pattern in it so when the concrete is poured and hardens it comes out with that shape.

      Probably should have specified in OP but I don't live in the US, all the houses here are made of Concrete bricks

      >A very high quality "jumbo" slab of porcelain will run you $1000 and you get a 9*5 foot piece to work with and will look like stone.
      Sure, but why do that when the polyester resin alternative will come out even cheaper and I can imitate any stone I want for it to match the interior design of the room.

      You brought some valid concerns, specifically the delamination, I guess only through trial and error will I find out what works, if the glass dust doesn't work I'll try with the flakes you suggested.
      Thanks for the advice, I genuinely appreciate it.

      This anon is right, it's def possible and I've seen some fairly good faux stone work done in resins.
      I also want to make my own tiles for my house, but out of ceramic because I love working with clay.
      If you do it op you should definitely post your progress here.

      >If you do it op you should definitely post your progress here.
      I will post the pictures in a few months, I just need to create the silicone molds and do some trials to see what will actually work.

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