Marbleizing your Amiga/Mac or Clone / by Eric Rainbolt
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February 1995

This article is for all of you who want to do something creative with your Amiga's standard and rather boring, some might even add PC'ish, offwhite paintjob. Well, you can change that and make something really cool, and this article is about what I did and the methods I used.

First of all, I have to say that I am no great world recognized artist by any comparison. The process that I am about to describe here is simple enough for any and all amigaphiles to do. It should cost less than $25 bucks, will provide visual pleasure a lifetime, and will make your Amiga look very hip. ( like it isn't already ) ;)

The first thought to come to mind is what kind of texture and what kind of colour do I want to use? I decided on a marble texture; now I had to decide between Danube Blue, Tiffany Rose, Terra Cotta, Ivory, Black Onyx or Florentine Green. Since my favourite colour is the colour of money, I decided to use Florentine Green. Actually, I couldn't decide at the art supply store, so I bought all the colours. Florentine Green is made up of all the colours you would see on a dollar bill, looks pretty sharp as a marble finish also. I also think some psychologists think green is a good mood enhancing color to view, so what the heck, the decision was made.

I bet you are wondering where you can get one of the "Marbleizing Kits", but just hold your horses for a little bit, and I'll tell you at the end of the article. By the end of this article you should be completely set and educated in the fine art of marbleizing.

I hope you are convinced by now, if not, this just might not be for you, but I encourage you to read on, the application process is pretty interesting. ( Who says paint has to go on with a brush? )

It is simple to marbleize your computer. At first I was disappointed that the marbleizing kit said "Not recommended for plastic surfaces.", but I tried it anyway, and I can tell you, this stuff is stuck on like a painted bowling ball, it doesn't come off easy. All that is in the marbleizing kit are some acrylic paints, something called "extender", something called "thickener", a torn up sponge, a feather for putting on the marble veins and a sponge brush you can use for applying the basecoat ( in my case this was licorice black ). You have to acquire some clear polyurethane sealer for a smooth marble-like finish when you are all finished painting also.

The first step I did, and I did this the night before I started painting ( approx 1.5 hours depending on how good of a job you want to do ) was to prepare the plastic surface by using a very fine grade sand paper. I did three parts; actually four if you consider the keyboard separate. I lightly scratched the surface of all the plastic I intended to paint. I used horizontal sweeps and then vertical sweeps to try and give the surface a texture that would really help the paint grip. After I did all the surfaces on my monitor, my A3000, the keyboard and my printer, I thoroughly wiped all the dust off and removed all the grease and dirt with some glass cleaner. Surely, any household cleaner will work, as long as it doesn't leave any oil or wax on the surface ( stay away from products like Pledge or WD-40; I'm sure you have the idea.) I already started becoming impressed when I noticed my 3000 brightened up and looked like it was fresh from the box. I then took some 3" masking tape and taped off the monitor screen, the serial plates on back, and all the connectors.

The next evening, I started applying the basecoat. The marbleizing kit gives you enough paint to cover 12 square feet. This was plenty, and I had some extra when I finished basecoating my IDEK 17" ( this sucker is huge ) monitor, the 3000, the keyboard and my BJ-200 printer. The basecoat colour was labeled 'Licorice Black'. It looked pretty black to me, and when I was finished I was debating on just leaving it black. It started to look real cool all black, and I liked the idea of having a Stealth 3000. But then again, I had a goal in mind, and that was to go through with the marbleizing.

It is a good idea to let the paint dry for 24 hours, although the acrylic paints feels pretty dry after two hours. I should mention at this point that cleanup is easy. All the paints are water-based acrylic, so even if I got it on my clothes, I was able to easily wash it out.

Also, I elected not to use the sponge brush supplied with the kit. I think it would be a better idea if they included a brush to get at all the tight spots, like the vents on the monitors and the fins on the front of the 3000. A half inch to an inch soft brush is my best recommendation. After I was done basecoating all the surfaces and turning that boring white into an evil looking black colour, I put all the pieces aside and spent the rest of the evening hooking up my trusty 500 and checking my e-mail and reading the news.

The next evening I began the actual marbleization process. This takes a bit longer than basecoating, especially if you are nervous about it. The idea is simply to put the stuff on, and nervousness actually helps make it look better. The first thing you need to do is set up your palette. I used a cookie baking sheet, but anything that isn't absorbent and no smaller than a plastic plate will work. What you do is squeeze some paint in an irregular fashion all over the plate, the kit calls it Marbleizing Colour A, but it's basically the colour most of your marble is going to be, for Florentine Green Marble, Marbleizing Colour A was Summer Sky. Next you spaghettize { like spaghetti } Colour B on top of Colour A ( about 1/2 as much as Color A ). Then you add a little bit of white ( about 1/32 as much as you used Colour A ). The next step in making your palette is to pour on as much thickener ( a clear solution ) as color A and half as much extender solution. The thickener makes the colours mix in an opaque fashion and the extender solution makes the colours mix in a translucent fashion - like real marble!

Ok, now you have a load of paint ready to go on your palette. I recommend that you blur the colours together by tipping your palette forward and backward and sideways. This way, the colours mix and give you a realistic marble colour combination.

The next thing you need is a sponge with certain parts of it finger torn off to give the sponge a rougher texture. A good sponge size is about 2" by 4". You then wet the sponge, clench out any excess water and then gently rest the sponge, without pushing down too hard, on the palette of colors. The sponge will then have enough paint on it to do about 5-10 applications.

What you do is press the sponge on the surface, lift off cleanly, and then rotate the position of the sponge and do it again, responging some areas to give a very irregular and non-uniform colouring to the surface. The best place to start is probably on the back or underside of the computer or monitor to get some practice. Also, starting in the upper left hand corner of a side is a good practice. Pretty soon, you'll be amazed at the results. If the sponge begins to fade, simply refresh the sponge by pressing it onto the palette. Every once in a while you should clean your songe by rinsing it with water. Redoing sections over again enhances the irregularity and makes it really look real.

After you are done sponging the whole computer, simply let that dry for about 2 hours or until the paint feels pretty dry. Then you can begin the real interesting part of "veining" your marble. Real marble usually has veins of mineral running through it, and the veins are normally apparent on the surface. To imitate veins in your marble, you simply take a feather ( any common bird feather will do ) and a little white paint and some thickener and extender. It's better to use more thickener and extender than paint to give the marble lines a real appearance. Simply make a small palette of these three ingredients and stroke the feather through the palette until you have some soaked into the feather. Gently and nervously work your way across the marble finish. Veins in marble usually appear pretty much parallel to each other, so try to keep your veins pretty much parallel. Never make them intersect because this could ruin the look. Be very creative and apply as many veins as you like. Some parts you can give more veins than others. Whatever catches your eye is probably the best. If you can find a picture or two of real marble ( which is supplied in the kit ), you can get some pointers on how to properly paint the veins.

So, it is as simple as that. It is again advisable to let the parts thoroughly dry ( 24 hours ) before performing the last step which is putting on the clear plastic finish. This enhances the colours and gives the surface a glossy, polished appearance.

You can use an non-yellowing varnish or polyurethane finish. I preferred to use the spray can variety and one standard can does the whole job nicely. It stinks, so make sure you warn other members of the household. Spray the entire surface and let dry for another day.

I guarantee to you that no matter how lousy of a job you think you might have done, if you ask other people's opinion, they will think it's great. I personally think the monitor looks best since it is the biggest piece of equipment. It has the prehistoric rock and modern technology mix that looks cool.

I'm really glad I did this to my 3000. It really makes it stand out and I think your Amiga will like you better if you give her a paint job. Plus, as an added bonus, forget about writing down the serial numbers ( which will never make your computer turn up if it ever gets stolen ), just tell the cops that it was a marble computer and it will probably be found pretty quick.

This was a pretty fun thing to do, it looks great, and it was pretty cheap.

Here are a few more tips before you begin. If you are really worried that you might screw up, you can apply the varnish or polyurethane after each step, this way you can just wipe off what you just did and restart. Also, since I was going directly over plastic with the acrylic paint I thought a primer might be best. I did the 3000 with a primer coat and the monitor just with the marble paints. I must say that it sticks equally well ( I can't chip the paints off either ) with or without the primer. If you have more time and money, possibly use the primer, but all I'm saying from my experience it does not seem not necessary. Use your own judgment on deciding if you need a primer.

I just got finished tonight, and I took great joy in reassembling my 3000, since it was too sticky to use this last day. It took two days and three nights to compete. I got by just fine on my trusty A500 in the meantime though. I'm still amazed at the power of that little machine. I might just go ahead and marbleize her too. ( I have 3 of them actually ).

Marbleizing turned out to be the coolest way to add texture and colour to the computer. If you decide you want to add some external beauty to your Amiga, you can get the kits from some art supply stores, althought it took me over a month to find one. If you can find any around you ( I live near Chicago, and I only know one store that has the kits ), I can possibly order a whole bunch depending on how many fellow netters are interested, and ship them out to you direct. The price is $29 U.S. dollars for the kits. $5.00 shipping and handling. $10.00 shipping for international shipments. If I have any money left over I will consider donating it to my favourite charity - me :).

You can contact me at [email protected] or [email protected] or by snail mail:

Eric Rainbolt
405 South James Street
Carbondale, IL 62901
1-618-529-7471

The Marbleizing kits comes with the following materials:

1 Marbleizing Sponge
1 Marble Veining Feather
1 Poly Sponge Brush
1 Instruction Book
1 bottle of Thickener
1 bottle of Extender
4 bottles of Marbleizing paints

Kit Name.....Basecoat.....Marbleizing.Marbleizing...Vein Color .............Color........Color A.....Color B ========================================================================== Florentine...Licorice.....Summer Sky..Tartan Green..Wicker White
Green

Black Onyx...Licorice.....Licorice....Charcoal Grey.Platinum

Ivory........Wicker White.Gray Shadow.Straight Blue.Dove Grey

Danube Blue..Sky Blue.....Blue Bell...True Blue.....Gray Mist

Tiffany Rose.Cotton.......Berries 'n..Raspberry.....Wicker White
.............Candy........Cream

Terra Cotta..Desert.......Hacienda....Canyon Coral..Cherokee
.............Blossom

I've listed them in the order that reflects which I think is the coolest colour for computers. It's actually a tie between Black Onyx and Florentine Green. Both look real cool, although the others are not at all bad either. It really depends on your personal taste.

If you are able to find the kits at a local store or you made up your own combination and marbleized your computer, I sure would like to hear back from you when you are finished.

In March, I think I'm thinking about starting up a part time business from my home doing this for local computer owners. I've already dreamed of selling this service for about $250.00 dollars. It really adds alot of style to your computer and the effort is really worth it. Too bad most customers would probably bring in IBM clones, but heck, at least you can make them look cool.

My system: A3000 030/882 8 Megs Ram, 17" IDEK Monitor, CD32 w/FMV.

Eric Rainbolt [email protected] or [email protected]

...and my favourite quote from Mr. Amiga himself:

"95% of computers are used by morons, and you need a MoronOS to keep them happy. There are only two: Windows and MacOS."

-David Haynie Mon, 7 Nov 94 10:31:30 EST Top Gun Engineer &