<p>It's totally possible to achieve but the result vastly <strong>depends</strong> on your painting skills and your spray paint quality. </p>

<p>Your can look at <a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/3D-Printed-Stone-Head/?ALLSTEPS" rel="noreferrer">this page</a> for a concrete example. </p>

<p>How it compares to stone filament is fairly subjective though. Painting a 3D print usually breaks down in 3 steps : </p>

<ul>
<li><strong>Smoothing out the lines.</strong> 
<em>Achieved by either sanding the print or using acetone</em></li>
<li><strong>Apply coating</strong>.
<em>Ensures a better adhesion for the paint</em></li>
<li><strong>Apply spray paint</strong></li>
</ul>

<p>If any of these steps are neglected, the final result won't look as good as using stone filament. However, if the quality of you stone filament is really bad, painting will offer a better result.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-28T10:04:03.673Z
2016-10-28T10:04:03.673Z
exb2800
<p>Has anyone tried painting a PLA (or other) print with stone-look spray paints? In particular, how does the result look compared to printing with stone-fill filaments? It looks a lot cheaper, but will it look inferior?</p>

<p>One such paint: <a href="http://www.krylon.com/press-room/press-releases/2013/04/add-a-touch-of-nature-to-your-next-project-with-new-natural-stone-textured-finish/" rel="noreferrer">http://www.krylon.com/press-room/press-releases/2013/04/add-a-touch-of-nature-to-your-next-project-with-new-natural-stone-textured-finish/</a>?</p>

<p>One such filament: <a href="https://www.matterhackers.com/store/3d-printer-filament?t=LAYBRICK" rel="noreferrer">https://www.matterhackers.com/store/3d-printer-filament?t=LAYBRICK</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-08T03:28:37.083Z
Walter Hsiao has tried putting prints into a tumbler with ceramic media. http://thrinter.com/vibratory-tumbler-ceramic/
K .
<filament><post-processing><filament-quality>
Stone-look surface via painting?
TextGeek
# Stone-look surface via painting?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-05-04)

Has anyone tried painting a PLA (or other) print with stone-look spray paints? In particular, how does the result look compared to printing with stone-fill filaments? It looks a lot cheaper, but will it look inferior?

One such paint: <http://www.krylon.com/press-room/press-releases/2013/04/add-a-touch-of-nature-to-your-next-project-with-new-natural-stone-textured-finish/>?

One such filament: <https://www.matterhackers.com/store/3d-printer-filament?t=LAYBRICK>

**Tags:** filament, post-processing, filament-quality

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Walter Hsiao has tried putting prints into a tumbler with ceramic media. http://thrinter.com/vibratory-tumbler-ceramic/  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2016-10-28. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

It's totally possible to achieve but the result vastly **depends** on your painting skills and your spray paint quality.

Your can look at [this page](http://www.instructables.com/id/3D-Printed-Stone-Head/?ALLSTEPS) for a concrete example.

How it compares to stone filament is fairly subjective though. Painting a 3D print usually breaks down in 3 steps :

* **Smoothing out the lines.**
  *Achieved by either sanding the print or using acetone*
* **Apply coating**.
  *Ensures a better adhesion for the paint*
* **Apply spray paint**

If any of these steps are neglected, the final result won't look as good as using stone filament. However, if the quality of you stone filament is really bad, painting will offer a better result.


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