I don't know about adding sand but,
I bet that the Dryloc texture can be created with plaster of paris or baking soda or both together. The baking soda would add more texture and the PoP would speed up hardening time. I haven't actually tried this, but it seems like it would work. Test at your own risk...I haven't attempted this!
I haven't used sand. I use mortar mix (like the concrete stuff)
I vary the amount depending on the prop I'm working on, but I've had great success with it. I usually keep it about 3 parts paint/1 part mortar mix, (it's not exact) but adding too much gives you a thicker sludgey texture that makes it hard to apply.
I've been working through a small bag of the mix for YEARS, and it only cost me $5.
It sets up the surface of the prop REALLY well. I've used it on tombstones, cemetery columns made out of cardboard (still going strong after 3 years), my crypt and some small angels and the like. I kind of figure the paint/mix sets up a thin concrete protective coating over everything, and adds great texture as well.
I hadn't thought of that FG. I do have a small bag I bought last year. I will have to give that a try. I will be using it on blue foam walls. Do you know if that might make them too heavy?
What is this for? Just texture? Not sure if this is the same thing, but I bought a bag (1lb?) of texture mix last year at Lowe's for 2 or 3 dollars. I mix in whatever amount I think will look good for that application. Just saying that it's cheap and gives you varying sizes of grain - sand-like to large bead.
Here's a picture of it in action - this is a blucky with a $1 foam sword glued to it... to cover the glue area, i just slapped on some latex paint with the texture mix.
The actual texture material is like ground up foam almost - very light weight.
An example on a foam obelisk I built last year (this was with a brush application):
As long as you're not applying 20 coats of the paint/mix, you shouldn't be able to tell weight-wise that you've got the mix in there.
I used it on my crypt, one coat of the paint with the mortar mix in it, and it really just goes on like normal paint. I have used both roller and brush, and the roller is easier since you get brush marks and have to do some re-brushing or cross hatching as you're painting in order to not get obvious trails in the mixture.
It works both as texture and as a sealant - any latex would be a sealant, but the mortar seemed to add a better seam coverage in addition to the texture. You've got limits on how much to add before it becomes goop, and I always used an airtight container to store any excess (it will pull all the moisture out of the paint and turn into a giant block of gray stuff if you don't)
If you've got some mortar mix sitting around, give it a try on some scrap foam and see if you like how it looks. Couldn't hurt, and at worse you'll just have to get the sand...
Thanks for the pic DT but the grains are a bit too large for my needs. This will be going on walls that TOTs will have access to and rub against. By the end of the night, my walls will be all torn up.
Any reason? I'm trying to get a good comparison. I have Oops paint. I just found out you can tint paint with acrylic craft paint and I have a bag of mortar mix.
I'm thinking the mortar mix will be more solid and last longer than the sand and paint mixture.
We use sand in our paint alot. It creates a hard surface and doesn't weigh much more but gives the foam just enough added weight to keep the prop from blowing over. It DOES seem to make the paint go faster so make sure and mix up enough. We recently noticed that the sand even changed the color of the paint when we added it to a beige color, it turned it as perfect shade of grey.
