Saturday, April 3, 2010

SlateLookRoofTiles








Imagine, 1200 slate-look tiles to make plus the ridge tiles! I think they are going to look authentic so there is no lack of enthusiasm to have them finished. We made the sandstone flooring with a similar technique that I detailed earlier.

We used grey 1 1/2 m.( 1/16") Bristol art board.

Step 1. Skim the board with drywall/spackle.
Step 2. Paint the dry spackle with your colour of choice.
Step 3. Mottle the board with dabs of white paint - quickly soften dabs using an old sock or tee-shirt fabric.
Step 4. Cut tiles into size. We chose 25x38m. (1"x 1 1/2") an laid the tile horizontally. Take about a third of the tiles and run a screwdriver along the edge to create more dimension - see white portions that are being repainted.
Step 5. Soften the cut edges of your tile by rubbing against a rubber gardening glove and repaint the white portions of the tile taking care not to have a build up of paint on the edges. Lay out on newspaper to dry. Dust each tile by wiping with a soft cloth. Now you are ready to draw guide lines on the appropriately coloured undercoat of the roof.

This is not difficult and I fell into an almost manic desire to finish the tiles. However now that the roof is prepared there are lots of things to be considered before we (my reliable and enthusiastic sidekick husband) can finally attach the top floor that includes the roof.

Note: During the experimentation to create the slate look we stumbled upon a wood look result by softly raking the spackle. If it was painted brown or even weathered grey it would make a very nice wood shingle. I have a photo of the result if anyone is interested.

28 comments:

  1. Oh your tiles look great! Thanks for the instructions, I will be needing slate tiles in my houses. And do post the pic of the wood looking piece, I really want to see it :)

    Great job,

    Ira

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  2. They look just like real slate tiles!! I can not seem to find Bristol Board in the US. Is it like matt board used in matting pictures?
    Jonna

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  3. Rudoo...yes, matt board is a suitable substitute. I saw a class recently (didn't take it myself) where the student were doing a similar process and it truly looks like slate! Fabulous!

    Tabitha

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  4. I agree, it really looks like slate. I've been pondering on what flooring to use in my shop, perhaps I'll go for a paler shade of slate or try creating stone, following your instructions. Thanks so much.

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  5. This is an excellent tutorial - the tiles look great! If I wasn't halfway through cutting my wood shingles I'd definitely try this. Thanks for the info!
    Cynthia

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  6. Thanks for an excellent post - these are brilliant and well worth trying.

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  7. The tile look great, very convincing as slate. Thanks for the explenation!

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  8. I meant 'tiles' plural, not just the one tile, haha. And it should be 'explanation'. Shows me not to watch TV and write comments at the same time ;)

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  9. Very authentic! Thanks for this priceless tutorial!

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  10. Genial!!!!
    El tuto muy bien explicado y el resultado de maravilla, enhorabuena!!!!
    besitos ascension

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  11. Everything looks so real, and the tutorial is excellent!!!
    I need to come up with an idea for the roof of my french house....puhh
    Synnøve :)

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  12. I wish I'd thought to add some spackle to the top surface of my faux slate shingles. I used multiple, uneven layers of paint to achieve something akin to what you have there, but the spackle certainly creates a realistic effect - especially with the chipped edges!

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  13. Gracias por compartir tu arte. Me encantan tus habitaciones.

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  14. Très bonne idée pour ces ardoises , le rendu est très réaliste.

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  15. Your slate tiles are perfect and look like real stone. The idea is simple but very effective!
    Thanks
    Ersilia

    P.S.:I have posted a link to your tutorial on my blog dadasdollhouse.

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  16. Good Morning Ersilia, Thank you for posting the slate roof tiles. I hope it will be helpful to your followers. Now summer has left us and my garden settled for the winter I have begun working on the walls for the closed garden. I will post our technique for the walls soon. I have almost finished the childrens room as well.
    All the best.
    Janine

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  17. It’s really a nice and useful piece of information. Thanks for the share.
    slate tile flooring

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  18. How do you think this treatment would work on provided wood shingles such as those that come with a dollhouse kit? I'd love to have a slate roof, but would like some of the shingles to be fish scale shaped rather than rectangular. I'd love to be able to use some of the pre-cut shingles rather than attempt to cut that shape myself. Thank you again for the tutorial!

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    Replies
    1. Dear Sarah, I am presently traveling in Western Australia and will be back home beginning of September.
      I think that if you make a thick slurry of drywall mud and colour it slate then paint it on to your provided wood shingles it may look like slate.
      I do love the fish scale look - did you see the roof that Otterine did on her Haunted House - very clever twist using wood shingles.
      Hope you come back to read this as I tried to find you to write to you directly but could not find where I could do that.
      regards Janine

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  19. Slate roofing tile is a wonderful look for any home.

    Iko shingles

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  20. would you be able to tell me the paint colors that you used and if you think that the tiles could be made in strips instead of individual tiles? This looks so real ! Thank-you for the help

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  21. this is so real looking! Would you be able to tell me what color paints you used? Do you think this could be made in sheets instead of single tiles?
    Thanks for the help

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    1. Hi, You could try it in strips but I think that the individual tiles give it more texture.
      The paint we used was an exterior house paint. No record of the colour, however I do notice that Hobby acrylic paint is often listed as slate. I would always use more than one colour in painting the cardboard as when the individual tiles are placed on the roof it helps make it look more natural.
      regards Janine

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  22. I truly like this post because a lot of work done in this blog, If any one want to know more about <a href="http://www.gshomecare.co.uk/>slate roof tiles</a>, they can get well defined blog.

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  23. Absolutely love the tiles ,I am on the research stage but its amazing will be definatley using this method.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Lizzie, I just wanted to mention that Elizabeth of StudioEMiniatures.blogspot.ca has a great tutorial on slate-look tiles made from foam.
      Do look for further inspiration.
      regards and thanks Janine

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