Rocks are great canvases for crafts. They’re hard to destroy, easy to find and even easier to leave behind without worrying about your impact on the environment. After painting rocks, I knew it was time to finally figure out how to carve rocks using a Dremel tool.
Several weeks ago we made Love Rocks. They were handpainted rocks that we decorated with messages that encouraged others or a simple heart design. Then we left them all around our favorite park for people to discover. The kids went nuts for this project. It was a great way to open up a conversation with them about how the little things we do for others truly does matter.
About a week later we went back to that same park and all of the Love Rocks were gone. Our mission had been accomplished.
But we can’t stop there. We all loved it so much that we’re going to keep going with our Love Rocks campaign.
That’s why we picked up a new bag of river rocks from the craft store. A few dark rocks have been set aside to try painting with white intricate designs but the other ones I knew I wanted to try rock carving with.
Paint might eventually chip or wear off of a rock but a carving is there until the rock breaks apart. It’s a lasting impression that I wanted to make.
I tried several different methods of rock carving from tutorials I found online and have used them to make my own system that worked well.
First you’re going to need to gather your rocks and a Dremel with a diamond carving tip and several different sizes of a grinding tip. All of these tips were included with my Dremel so check your drill bits before you purchase any. You’ll also need a cup of water and a towel.
Start with the diamond carving tip set on a slower speed. The slower speeds will give you a lot more control. Outline the shape of your design using light strokes. If you press down hard you will wear out your bit and it the carving will be more uneven.
I found that the smoothest carvings were from using the dremel tool at a 45 degree angle rather than using the tip straight up and down.
You want to make a rough outline of your shape and any shading you want done with this tip. It cuts deeper and better than just using a grinding tip.
Once you have your rough outline done, switch your drill bit to a grinding tip. You want to use the grinding tip to even out all the carvings. Simply go over the carving with the grinding tip a few times until you’re happy with how it looks.
A lot of tutorials online suggest pouring water over the rock while you’re using the Dremel to keep the bit cool and help it last longer.
I tried this and honestly it made the carving really hard to see. I found that taking a break every minute or so to dunk the rock in water and then dry it with a towel worked the best. It gives your eyes a break from doing small work and helped give the tip and the rock a time to briefly cool down.
How to write on the rocks – All of the lettering was done using the diamond drill bit. Honestly it’s easy to make mistakes. I recommend going very slow when writing and only make one pass. If you want to go over it again you can but I found that most of the mistakes were done when I tried to go over the writing several times.
You can also use the diamond bit to drill a hole straight through any of the flat rocks. Just be warned! It’s a messy job.
To drill a hole in a rock you do have to keep it very wet and use constant pressure on the Dremel. It will be messy and dust from the rock will go everywhere.
But I was able to make a cute carved pendant for my daughter’s birthday gift so in the end it was worth it.
These rocks are special. Later this week they’re going to join some other rocks and be scattered around our town. Hopefully the people that find them know that we spent time making them because they are worth the time we spent to make their day better.
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i like this idea very much. Am going to try it soon. Thanks
I adore your “love rock” campaign! What a lovely thing to do and teach your kids! Part of me wishes I lived near you so I could find one of these good-day-makers but another part of me is happy that I’m so far away so that my kids and I can carry out your thoughtful campaign here for even more people to enjoy, with your blessing, of course!
Hello, I just enjoyed reading your post! I have a question about dremiling rocks I can’t seem to find an answer to. No matter which grinding bits I use, my rocks end up with a powdery looking coating on them. Our it’s like a slick film. I’ve used aluminum oxide, carbide, and diamond bits, it doesn’t matter. What causes this powdery looking, dull, dry looking finish or skin looking finish and what can I do to fix this, prevent it from happening, and get that nice high glossy finish I see on everyone’s rocks? Thank You for answering me asap.
Where are you getting the rocks from? I’ve never had that happen by the rocks I used were from a craft store. It sound silly but could you have bought them somewhere that made a faux type rock?
Buffing reglosses the area and takes away the dusty look.
What about granit rocks..i found these in the dirt in dallas tx and they arent from aStone table top or anything. im a bit of a rock nut and am trying to cut a couple hearts out for a couple close friends of mine… its about an inch long an half that wide ann little over a quarter thick but i also have the ashy look aswell any suggestions on how I can fix this
Craftsmama and rockhound here to help solve your mystery. The film or powder you describe Is like sawdust is to wood. It is unavoidable if you are using stones or rocks that you find or are intended for landscaping.
Rocks purchased from a craft store (technically stones since they are smoothed) have been processed already to be smooth and most of the time some level of polishing has already been done to them even if the stones aren’t high gloss shiny. These rocks have already been through weeks in rock tumblers with various grades and types of sanding/grinding mediums. EVERY time the tumblers are emptied, the rocks are coated in this fine dust you are talking about. These rocks also tend to be singular composition types of rocks quarried for industrial or hobby usage. Using a dremel to carve relatively shallow etching and designs on processed rocks, pulls the polishing compounds down into the layers you are etching away – in a sense slightly re-polishing your designs as you etch them. In addition, the polish ALREADY on craftstore stones prevents any rock dust created from sticking to the polished portions of the stone. However, the lines of the etching or carving itself will have some duller dustier appearance than the rest of the rock.
Stones or rocks you find or that are used in landscaping are generally composed of multiple rock types containing everything from iron to limestone to quartz to various types of granite or even crystals. These multi-composition rocks almost always have components that leave a rock dust dull residue when carved or etched.
Rocks we find are not generally shiney and polished unless they are beach or river stones nature polished by water and sand. When using stones that have been “tumbled but not polished” for landscaping or stones you find at a park or your yard, you WILL experience this residue from carving or etching.
If you want to use rocks you find and process them yourself, its best to process them BEFORE ETCHING OR CARVING.
For best results in getting your stones or rocks to have that shiney glossy appearance you seek, I recommend picking up a rock tumbler kit from a kids discovery type store or online. You can then tumble and polish your rocks/stones until they have the desired level of shine. You will also need to purchase a polishing compound specifically for rocks (silver polish, auto polish etc won’t work on rocks) AND sanding mediums for use with tumblers.
Another option to get rid of the residue is to use your Dremel with carbide grinding bits of increasing grain size WITH WATER to grind the rocks until they are smooth and use polishing bits WITH polish to make them shiney.
If you want to polish AFTER carving or etching designs, DO NOT USE SANDING MEDIUMS AND Rock Tumblers. You will need to sand and smooth by hand (or dremel) and be careful not to grind away your carvings.
If you want a quick polish fix that doesn’t take weeks of tumbling or hours of hand grinding; but, is NOT PERMANENT for outdoor placement of rocks, you can use a coating or two of High Gloss Modpodge. Make sure to do a fairly thick coat and let dry 24 hours before applying a second coating. Unfortunately, Since rocks are porous, aerosol spray mediums like clear gloss spray paint don’t work effectively to shine up rocks and give them that “wet” look.
Good luck!! Hope this helps.
Hi Bobbie-
This was a real nice blog post and how you visual step by step showings as compared to other that would have only said with words. In my small town we, got all the schools together and created a type of campieghn against bullies, because of three trajec self inflicted deaths from being bullied in school and exspecially on Social Media.) So we had every grade from K-12 decorate and create positive messages n thier rocks, once dry, each class were escorted around each of our four tint schools, about four blocks, each direction, N E S W, to hide their rocks TOGETHER, even with those they may had not been friends with, but the mission hide and allow the community to find, but the twist…. take a selfie with, where, when you found the rock, and post on Facebook, a POSITIVE FEED, on social media, and then they, the person whom found was to rehide for someone else to find. Similar to chain letters only teplaced with inspirational and motivational notes startin Memorial Weekend, and beleive it or not…. it is still in full action and its a true and pure happiness as I see these kids find or search for the rocks and the priceless looks upon their face, no matter the age, even adults, and helping them feel better because of maybe whatever then were facing. So I know this is long winded, but who would think the smallest, almost FREE activity would have brought an entire community together as such as ours little “Cheers”, ” Where everyone knows your name,” town of 9,000 .
It was, well still is an amazing idea and as I am out taking photographs and I am lucky enough to witness someone finding a rock, I mean even Senior citizens would laugh and gigle, and then look to start re-hiding, I guess words cannot explain the Joy of ART and a ROCK brought to so many people. Great and wonderful with Love Rocks also and I hope you get a chance to witness one being found, because all the time, mess, even money no longer matters.
Again thank you for this wonderful post, because so many Have turned this into an UGLY BULLING GAME IN SOME PLACES UNFORTUNATLY( you can find ton of negative|hurtful videos in YouTube from these people)
MANY Blessings….
Luckee
PS oh yeah my children found 42, they are homeschooled so they were excited to be involved as well…everyday was a beg mom to go walking day, and guess what…. I GAVE IN EVERY TIME , but hey on upside I walked off all those calories I ate from all the Ice Cream cones, as part of the deal with mom going, Chocolate peanutbutter, YUMM, oh we have an ,”Ol” Time themed, mid 60’s (I would say, but was not close to being alive yet so going off grandmothers thoughts) Fountain|Ice cream Shopp -it is wonderful, friendly, down to earth people and service you NEVER find anymore (can c pics on my site Tuesdays re-launch)
If you would ever like to guest host, blog, on a Thursday, when I discuss Tweens and Teens|Behaviors and the impact of Love Rock pkease DO LET me know…..
APOLOGIES TO EVERYONE: I am sorry about the misspelling in the first post, I hit publish to quickly.
BLESSINGS-
I’m making one of these for my girlfriend… male penguins search an entire beach looking for a special pebble to give to their mate… I thought I’d carve something in a pebble and give it to my girlfriend and tell her about he penguin thing… maybe it’s a good idea? ?
That sounds like an amazing idea!!
I am from Honolulu, Hawaii and have become interested in carving a rock ever since I found THREE PAINTED rocks which the persons who left them behind noted to go to fb and share where the rock was found, then return it out there for someone else to find. Never heard of such a thing, had no clue people were doing this to spread a little cheer, but I myself am cheerful so I passed the rocks on. Now you may be asking what does this have to do with carving a rock? Well a simple word, “SMILE” is all it took for me to want to spread the ALOHA “love” that maybe at that moment I may have needed to brighten up my day or even week. That got me thinking about something more permanent which would mean even more to me to do. I hope my story of something so small so far away on a little island in the middle of the ocean will inspire EVEN MORE PEOPLE to get out there and spread cheer across the miles as well as their own communities as yours has mine. Mahalo for the great share and inspiration .
I love this story. Thank you so much for sharing.
I’m engraving a simple design and lettering on a pice of flagstone as a memorial for our recently departed dog. Is there any suggestions for a product that is applied to make the engravings standout?
A lot of people will swipe a darker color paint over the engraving and then wipe it away before it dries, just leaving the paint down inside the engraving.