Paint rocks to make St. Nicholas! It's a good project for individuals or groups. My neighbor, John Shea, painted over 50 of them and "hid" them around town for people to find. One was found here, another here. They may also be used for party or dinner favors. These rocks can be lots of fun.
These are my first attempt!
Materials
Rocks—call landscaping companies to find inexpensive rocks, purchase by the bucketful
Equipment
An art or craft supply shop will have just what you need. The Uni POSCA acrylic paint markers aren't necessary, but so easy to control and use.
Good artist's brushes
Angled flat tip, about 1/2 inch
Small straight tip, 1/4 - 1/2 inch
Fine tip for eyes and mouth small detail
Very fine tip, for eye pupil detail
Acrylic Craft Paint
White
Black
Red or purple for robe and miter
Tan for face
Uni POSCA pc-1MR Red acrylic paint marker, for fine detail like mouth
Uni POSCA pc-1MR Gold, for fine detail like outlining
Uni POSCA pc-1MR Black, for fine detail like mouth
Uni POSCA pc-3M, for cross and crozier
Uni POSCA pc-1MR White, to write date and/or initials
Fixative like Krylon Crystal Clear Acrylic Spray Coating, for a nice sheen and to protect the paint
Directions
Rocks are painted freehand. If you paint about 10 rocks assembly line style—for example, do beards on all rocks first, then they will be dry enough to start over with the next step, faces, and so on.
Prepare work surface with newspaper or waxed paper.
Paint beard with angled brush; straight down on the left, across, and up on the right; you may curve up to make a "mustache"
Paint face
Paint whites of eyes
Paint red miter, robe, and mouth
Add gold trim: cross on miter, crozier, embellish robe, outline miter, if desired
Add pupils to eyes—they can give expression
Add initials and date, if desired
When dry, turn over and spray the back of rocks with fixative spray
